Not Just Ads: Informational In Text Links

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, so the users won’t be tempted to leave the website. One of the pioneers of related content in text links, Snap, focuses on the end user’s experience and describes them as a “way to give your users a more fun and interactive experience on your site or blog.”

Where’s the Business Model?

The initial problem with related content in text links was the lack of a business model. True, some website publishers found such tools to increase page views through internal linking, but these dynamic links were not counted for SEO, so they lost popularity. Also true, some websites liked the idea that Wikipedia and YouTube content, which users look for anyway, is made available within their websites, so they don’t lose the visitors, but such rich content bubbles add a lot of noise to the website’s design.

So, like it often happens, it all came down to finding a justifiable business model. Someone had to pay for the added bubbles. The problem was that the websites’ publishers were hoping to earn from such services running on their websites, and not pay for them. And Wikipedia and YouTube most certainly wouldn’t pay for this offsite distribution.

And then, in the lack of another business model, related content in text links shifted towards regular forms of in text advertising and started including paid-for content within the so-called objective related content. On one hand, services like Snap started adding advertising to the offered content, while on the other hand, in text providers began adding non-commercial content alongside the ads within their bubbles. This way, the advertising revenues financed the free service of the related content.

A Hybrid is Born – In Text Ads Plus Related Content

A new form of in text links was born – the Hybrid. Such hybrid in text links combine both seemingly objective related information and paid-for advertising content. While this could have been a nice way to pave new paths into the hearts of more conservative publishers, through showing off with the added value to the end users while explaining the ads as a financial must, I find it to be highly problematic, to say the least.

The Problem with Related Content In Text Links

As discussed previously, one the most attractive aspects of in text advertising in the eyes of the advertisers, is the fact that users grant their permission to get exposed to the ad’s content. Users show active interest by hovering with the mouse and then clicking, and by doing so, they bring with them the promise of genuine attention – the highest prize for an advertiser.

When in text ads are mixed with informational links, the visitors are deprived of the ability to easily identify which is which. The website’s visitors mistakenly hover or click on ads while hoping to get seemingly non-commercial content, and vice versa. While in the short term this could increase the click through rate, on the longer term, this mixture significantly decreases the effectiveness of in text advertising. The more distinct the double underline links are, the higher the conversion levels are, and with it the higher the CPC to the publisher and the satisfaction to the advertiser. And the opposite is also true. The higher the confusion between informational links and advertising links is, the lower the results would be for both publishers and advertisers.

Best Practices: Distinction

This analysis doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for informational in text links. Related content in text links could in fact add some page views and, in some cases, contribute to the overall user experience. However, to keep both visitors and advertisers happy, there should be a clear distinction between the types of links. And when we’re looking for best practices, the distinction should be very clear…! If the links have the same appearance, but the shade of color is a bit off, this doesn’t count for distinction. Visitors need to clearly understand what they’re hovering over – an informational link or an in text ad. Once they do, they will be happier and eventually so will the advertisers and publishers.