Every session I plan for Search Engine Strategies has to be related to search — and search marketing in particular — in some way. So the
launch of contextual ads in 2003 by Google posed a quandary to my planning. I don’t consider contextual
ads to be search, as many of my readers well know. People aren’t in "search mode," when they view these ads. Heck, you can even buy image ads through Google that are
contextually placed, something you can’t do with search targeting. Contextual does NOT equal search.
So if contextual isn’t search, what’s the deal with a panel on contextual ads at SES!