PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Wenyu Dou
AU  - Randy Linn
AU  - Sixian Yang
TI  - How Smart Are ‘Smart Banners’?
AID  - 10.2501/JAR-41-4-31-43
DP  - 2001 Jul 01
TA  - Journal of Advertising Research
PG  - 31--43
VI  - 41
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/41/4/31.short
4100  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/41/4/31.full
SO  - J Advert Res2001 Jul 01; 41
AB  - Smart banners, or keyword–activated banners that are tied to internet user search keywords, are becoming increasingly popular with major search engines and their advertisers. Understanding how smart banners work best is a challenge facing the online advertising industry. This paper examines how specificity in the meaning of search keywords may affect the accuracy of banner matches. Through analysis of banner matches obtained from 12 major search engines, the authors found that as search keywords became more specific, search engines returned fewer exact banner matches and more general banner matches. Implications of these findings for search engines and their advertisers are discussed.