As a leading digital advertising platform, Taboola has become an essential tool for ecommerce brands looking to create natural and engaging ads that capture consumer attention. As a platform, Taboola allows advertisers to place native ads within online content, seamlessly blending them into the user’s browsing experience. You can reach audiences while they are actively consuming content, making your ads more relevant and less intrusive. Are you making the most of Taboola’s ads? In order to unlock the full potential of your Taboola campaigns, it’s essential to apply best practices during your ad creation.
The Power of Native Ad Placements
Native ads on Taboola are all about subtlety. These ads feel like they belong on the page – assimilating to the look and feel of the page content – and more engaging, unlike the traditional banner ads you’re used to seeing. This seamless blending allows ads to appear as a natural continuation of the content, making them less disruptive, which increases the likelihood of the target audience engaging with your ads. However, creating a successful native ad involves more than just blending in – it’s also about catching the user’s eye in a way that feels natural.
Taboola Ad Campaign Tips and Tricks
- Test Multiple Creatives: The key to understanding what is effective with your audience is testing. To start, try at least two images and five different titles per URL. This will create various combinations to experiment with in order to identify which creatives are most effective in driving the best performance. Taboola also recommends testing three titles with three ads. Periodically rotate new creatives into your campaign in order to avoid ad fatigue.
- Split by Platform: User behavior can vary between desktop/tablet and mobile platforms. Maximize your campaign’s effectiveness by creating a separate campaign for each platform. After tracking their performance, you can finely tune your creatives and optimize bids based on user preference and the specific behaviors on each device.
- Set User Expectations: Communicate to the user what they will experience after clicking your ad. If they are led to a video page, use words like “watch” or “video” in the ad title. If it’s a product page, include a call-to-action, such as “shop” or “buy.” This will reduce bounce rates and help attract more qualified clicks.
Recommended Ad Formats on Taboola
Taboola supports several ad formats, but the three most effective are:
- Video: Videos are powerful storytellers. Using video to convey your brand’s message through sight, sound, and motion will captivate searchers’ attention and ultimately drive higher engagement.
- Text Ads: When space is limited or when you want to keep the messaging straightforward and concise, text ads could be the answer.
- Image and Headline Ads: Use a combination of a compelling image with a strong headline to draw users in and prompt them to take action.
Video Creative Best Practices
- Optimal Video Length: Keep your videos concise; Taboola recommends a length of up to 15 seconds for optimal impact but gives you 90 seconds maximum.
- Optimize for Silence: Since users may be in a situation where they can’t watch a video with sound, always include subtitles to ensure your message is clear and engaging, even when phones are in silent mode.
- Brand Visibility: Place your brand’s logo in the top left corner to reinforce brand identity throughout the video.
- Maximize Visual Impact: Use large images to fill the screen. This creates a more immersive and eye-catching experience.
- Effective Call-to-Actions: Use text overlays and call-to-action buttons to guide users toward completing an action or staying engaged until the end of your video.
- Creative Testing: Experiment with two or three different video creatives to discover what resonates best with your audience. Consider using visuals like people, bustling cityscapes, nature scenes, and plenty of movement to capture viewers’ attention.
Title/Headline Best Practices
Your headline is your first impression, so make it count! Taboola suggests the following when creating your headlines:
- Target Your Audience: Your title is a valuable targeting tool. Whenever possible, directly reference your audience or product to make a stronger impact.
- Headline Character Length: Taboola recommends keeping headlines between 34 and 45 characters, with a maximum of 60. Shorter, to-the-point headlines generally perform better because they’re quicker to read and absorb.
- Front-Load Your Message: Make sure the most important part of your headline is front and center to immediately grab attention.
- Use Numbers: Numbered lists are effective in encouraging users to click. Content is presented in a simple, organized, and easy-to-digest way.
- Short and Sweet Descriptions: Taboola suggests keeping descriptions under 90 characters.
Image Creative Best Practices
Images are the first thing searchers notice, so it’s crucial to choose them wisely:
- People are Preferable: Images featuring close-ups of people, particularly from the shoulders up and where the subject is looking into the camera, tend to perform better. They create a connection with the viewer by mimicking the way we would use eye contact in real life. According to Taboola, this causes an increase in click-through rate by 40.2% on average.
- Simplicity Always Wins: Avoid cluttered images, including brand logos or layers of text. A clean image with a single, clear focal point will stand out more. Busy backgrounds can distract from your message. Plus, if you have too much going on in a picture, you may lose something vital out of it if you have to crop the image.
- Eye-Catching Colors: Use vibrant and bold colors that naturally attract the eye.
- Experiment with Sizes: Different thumbnail sizes (150 x 150, 628 x 1200, 300 x 250 pixels) as aspect ratios can affect click-through rates. Testing various sizes will help you see what works best for your campaign. Use Taboola’s cropping tool to adjust the images.
Taboola’s GenAI Ad Maker
This powerful tool transforms the ad creation process by harnessing cutting-edge AI technologies like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion. GenAI Ad Maker enables advertisers to effortlessly create high-quality ads that are tailored to their brand and target audience. Here’s how you can make the most of it:
- Save Time and Money: With GenAI, you can create new ad variations without needing extensive creative resources. Just provide a simple prompt describing your desired image, including details like people, objects, locations, colors, or emotions. You can also upload an image that has performed well for you in the past and ask AI to generate new variations for you.
- Quick Approvals: Since Taboola’s content policy is already built into the AI, your ads are more likely to be approved quickly, reducing downtime between creation and campaign launch.
- Instant Headline Generation: The AI can generate multiple headlines and descriptions in seconds by analyzing your landing page URL. You can even use the “rephrase” button to refresh your ad copy by rewording existing headlines. This feature not only saves time but also ensures that your messaging aligns with your brand’s identity and Taboola’s best practices.
Leveraging Taboola’s capabilities can elevate your advertising efforts, but it’s crucial to follow best practices for the best results. Whether you’re using eye-catching images, crafting compelling headlines, or tapping into the power of AI with Taboola’s GenAI Ad Maker, every detail matters. With the right approach, Taboola can be a powerful ally in reaching new audiences and driving real results for your business.
