The Original: Double Underline Links In text advertising comes in many formats. The original and most recognized format for the hooks – the highlighted terms which carry the ad bubble – is the double underline. But there are other formats that could be more suitable for your website and it’s important to know the differences. I already wrote a tip relevant to this topic: use a distinct format for in text ads. In text ads should be subtle enough not to interrupt uninterested readers, and yet they should send a clear signal to readers informing them about available additional information. Using...

In Text Ads Go Display In the early days of in text advertising, the double underline links opened bubbles with textual ads, mostly alongside a thumbnail image of the ad’s landing page as a preview. With time, the text ads gave way to more and more graphic ads that looked more like the regular banners. This trend is still in progress and the balance between text ads and banner ads is not fixed yet. In fact, this balance is very different between markets and it seems that in markets where in text ads are still relatively new, text ads still hold the reigns, while in more mature markets, banners...

Where did the Bubble Go? When defining in-text ads, the little tooltip that opens upon a mouse hover nicknamed “bubble” was a fundamental part of it. But, as it usually happens with definitions, there are exceptions. Some advertising methods that insert ads dynamically within existing online content do so without the so called bubble, or with variations of it. Generally speaking, I find the bubbles to be a crucial part of the success of in text advertising. The ability of the users to view the ad before clicking it guarantees the double permission process – when hovering with the mouse, users...

What are Related Content In Text Links? They look like in-text ads with double underline links and a bubble that opens upon a mouse hover, but their content is different. Instead of commercial content from an advertiser, the bubble offers additional content from various sources. They are informational links. The offered related content can be in the form of links to potentially relevant pages from the same website or from other websites. Sometimes, and mostly when the content is originated in another free website like Wikipedia or YouTube, the content can be made available within the bubble itself,...