What is targeting?

Targeting is an area of online marketing in which advertising campaigns are tailored to a specific target group. Different targeting techniques can be used for this.

Environment targeting, in which the advertising is placed exactly where the target group is likely to be found. Keyword targeting, on the other hand, is based on search engines and is part of search engine advertising (SEA).

Personalized targeting takes into account anonymized user information, such as age, gender or interests. User profiles are created on the basis of this information and suitable ads are displayed accordingly. If personalized targeting is used within social media channels, this is referred to as social media targeting.

If location-based information is used, this is known as geo-targeting, whereas particularly precise user profiles are referred to as micro-targeting.

In the context of search engine optimization (SEO), the method of retargeting is also frequently used, in which users are addressed repeatedly.

For successful targeting, it is essential that the target group (personas) is precisely defined in advance, regardless of the targeting method used. In addition, attention should always be paid to technical targeting, which ensures the correct display of ads on the respective end devices.