Marketing Terms

Text Ad

Definition

Advertisement using text-based hyperlinks.

Information

Text-based ads, although common in email, have been dominated on the Web by their graphical-based counterparts.

Affiliate marketing is one area where text ads have flourished. However, many mainstream advertisers are only beginning to discover the power of text. Google has caused a buzz with its text advertising options, generating a self-proclaimed “click-through rate 4-5 times higher than industry standard for banner ads.”

While lacking some of the advantages of graphical ads, text-based ads have some powerful advantages of their own. They download almost instantly and are not affected by ad blocking software.

see also: Digital Marketing Tools

Related Terms

beyond the banner

view all terms in the Online Advertising glossary or all terms in the Digital Marketing glossary

Articles

Less is More: ASCII Might Trump Rich Media
EContent (May, 2002)

Designing Web Ads Using Click-Through Data
useit.com (September 2, 2001)

Thinking Small Reaps Big Rewards
Guardian Unlimited (December 13, 2001)

Google Launches Self-Service Advertising Program
Google (October 23, 2000)

Eyetracking Study of Web Readers
useit.com (May 14, 2000)