Advertise

Updated: 10/23/2024 by Computer Hope
Pyramid structure showing various advertising media.

With the Internet, the term advertise describes text or images placed on a web page that promotes another company's product or service. A web page advertisement ad is often a banner or button on the top, bottom, or sides of a web page. Advertising helps allow online services remain free since the costs involved in creating a website can be handled with the money generated from the advertising.

An ad is each advertisement that is visible on the web page. For example, at the top of this page is an example of an ad. The most common ad is the banner ad.

Note

Ads has alternative meanings. For other ADS terms, see our ADS page.

Ad rotation

Because many sites or advertising campaigns have several hundred or thousand banners, an ad rotation is an ad rotated through all the website pages.

Ad network

The company responsible for handling a companies advertising. For example, Google AdSense handles advertising for web publishers and AdWords handles advertising for those looking to advertise on Google and sites with AdSense.

Why I shown a particular ad?

There are many factors that go into deciding what ad you're shown when visiting a website. First, an algorithm determines your interests based on the following factors.

  • Current page you're viewing and its related keywords.
  • How you use the Internet and the pages you view.
  • Searches you've performed in the past.
  • Products you have bought in the past.
  • Your location and the device you're using.

Ad companies may also buy information from credit card companies, social media websites, and other companies to help build a profile on what they believe most interests you.

Ads based on what the advertiser believes interests you are then placed into a potential ad market. Each potential ad can then place an automatic bid based on how much the advertiser is willing to pay to show an ad. Depending on who has the highest bid and best matches your interest decides what ad is finally shown.

How can I get ads on my website?

There are many ad networks you can use to help display ads on your website and pay you for showing those ads. A good example of one such network is Google AdSense. If your website gets enough traffic, you can sign up with an ad network and if approved place some JavaScript code on your web pages to display the ads.

Why am I getting random advertisements?

A common malicious tactic on computers and smartphones is to install adware or other malware designed to show advertisements on a device. This malware is installed with the hopes that you'll visit the advertisements and allow the malicious user to get paid from the advertisements.

Once installed, these programs can randomly display advertisements anywhere on the device and at any time. To remove these malware programs we suggest using an anti-malware program like Malwarebytes.

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