Jargon buster

All the important behavioural advertising terms explained.

jargon buster_small Advertising Network

A company that connects websites and media owners with relevant advertisers.

jargon buster_small Cookie

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers downloaded on to your computer when you access certain websites. Cookies allow a website to recognise a user’s computer. A cookie itself does not contain or collect information. Cookies are used in behavioural advertising to identify users who share a particular interest so that they can be served more relevant adverts.

jargon buster_small Contextual advertising

Advertising targeted at a specific individual when visiting a website. Automated systems serve adverts depending on the page content. For instance, when viewing a film review website, the user could be served new cinema releases, latest DVDs or film merchandise advertising. Contextual advertising is also used by search engines to display advertisements on their search results pages based on the keywords in the user’s query.

jargon buster_small Display Advertising

Graphical adverts displayed when users visit a particular website. These are usually in the form of ‘banners’ or a video.

jargon buster_small Online behavioural advertising

A technique used to make use of information about web-browsing behaviour to deliver advertisements tailored to individuals’ interests.

  • Otherwise known as: behavioural advertising, behavioural targeting, interest-based advertising or ad matching
  • See Wikipedia description
jargon buster_small Opt out

Opting out enables individuals to decline, stop or avoid receiving unsolicited product and service information. In this case, it is advertising aimed at them based upon previous web browsing activity. Click here to opt out of behavioural advertising by those companies complying with the IAB Good Practice Principles for behavioural advertising.

jargon buster_small Personally identifiable information

This is information that, either by itself or in conjunction with other information, can uniquely identify an individual. Examples of personally identifiable information include a name, street address, email address or telephone number. PII is defined in EU directive 95/46/EC.

jargon buster_small Signatories

Those companies that collect and use online data for behavioural advertising and have signed up to the IAB’s Good Practice Principles. Companies have to self-certify their compliance with the Good Practice Principles within six months of signing up. Companies on board.

If you’d like to know more about internet marketing visit the IAB’s website.

  • Otherwise known as: signatory companies
jargon buster_small Targeted Advertising

Advertising that is specifically aimed at a particular segment of users based on factors such as demographics or behaviour.

jargon buster_small Web browser

Software that retrieves and collects information resources and arranges and displays the results in a standardized form on a computer. Examples include Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

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