Kanoodle Targets Local Content Pages

Sponsored links firm Kanoodle has added local targeting to its array of options for advertisers on content pages.

The new product, called LocalTarget, will let advertisers target ads to local markets, thereby letting them craft unique creative and specialized landing pages for those audiences.

So far, Kanoodle hasn’t signed up publishers with local content pages, but the company is working to recruit some. It also hopes existing distribution partners might identify appropriate pages within their sites.

As with Kanoodle’s other content-targeted products, publishers map their pages to ad targeting categories. For example, a page in the health section of a local television station’s Web site might be identified as about health and also associated with that locality. Kanoodle CEO Lance Podell described a scenario in which a diet company, such as Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, might use such an ad placement to direct people to its local presence.

“What we ultimately believe is that you want to be as granular and targeted as possible,” said Podell.

Under Podell’s leadership — he was just appointed CEO in January — Kanoodle is continuing to move away from being a paid search listings company. Instead, it’s developing more targeting options for content pages. Last year, Kanoodle unveiled BehaviorTarget, which uses technology from 24/7 Real Media. It has also expanded its content distribution through the self-service BrightAds program for smaller publishers, which now lets participants distribute ads in RSS feeds.

“Search doesn’t let us define ourselves as what we really are, which is a media company. What we always say is that we are page-agnostic,” said Podell. “We think that by the end of this year we will still be selling more search than content, but it will be close.”