Taboola review: platform, ad specs, native advertising
- levidkerington
- Jul 3
- 7 min read
Native advertising has long gone beyond banners and standard media formats. It is becoming increasingly important for advertisers not just to show ads, but to weave them into the user experience so that the ad is perceived as part of the content. This is the principle behind Taboola platform that brings together publishers, brands and arbitrageurs based on content recommendations. This tool has become indispensable for digital marketers, SEO specialists and CPA-arbitrageurs due to the huge volume of traffic, fine-tuned targeting and high flexibility of creatives. In this article, we have made a detailed taboola review, which shows why it is called the leader in native advertising and how the platform helps to launch campaigns capable of making high conversion rates.
Taboola company overview
Taboola was founded in 2007 by engineer Adam Singolda, who wanted to make it easier for people to find interesting content. His idea turned into a large-scale recommendation platform that united brands and publishers around the world. By 2012, the Taboola platform had already started active co-operation with media holdings and advertisers. Today Taboola has more than 1700 employees, 14 offices around the world, two headquarters – in New York and London, and more than 1.4 billion unique users per month. Taboola company overview shows that it has grown into a key player in digital advertising and has partnered with big names like NBC News, Business Insider and other global platforms.
How the Taboola platform works for advertisers
The Taboola platform connects users with content they are really interested in, and does so through unobtrusive formats. Instead of standard banners, taboola native advertising are used here – they appear as part of the page, prompting the user to click through to an article, review or product. More than 3,500 premium sites around the world participate in the network: coverage in the US reaches 95%, in the UK – up to 89%, in France – 85%, in Germany – 78%. The main traffic comes from Tier-1 and Tier-2 countries, which makes advertising on Taboola particularly effective for arbitrageurs working with high converting offers. Thanks to automatic recommendation algorithms and advanced geo-targeting, the system chooses the best moments for displaying ads, selecting the right audience.
Taboola ads manager and advertiser dashboard explained
The taboola ads manager offers full control over ad campaigns while remaining easy to understand, even for the novice. Here the advertiser can set targeting by country, region, device, operating system, gender and age, as well as connect lookalike audiences.
In this screenshot, you can see how iOS version targeting is configured, down to a specific OS version.
And this image shows you how easy it is to add the right countries and platforms (desktop, smartphone, tablet) to your campaign geotargeting. Taboola advertising becomes even more effective when each advert reaches the right segment precisely.
We also suggest you take a look at the other key features available in Taboola:
Campaign Clickers. Retargeting – returning users who have previously clicked on ads and redirecting them to other offers.
Antibot filter. Automatic blocking of fake clicks from suspicious sites.
ConvertMedia. Video editor with templates for launching full-fledged advertising campaigns in video format.
OpenGraph. Automatically create teasers based on tags without manually customising titles and descriptions.
Marketplace audience. The platform also offers lists of traffic that are already sorted by interests. Adding such segments makes targeting more precise, but significantly narrows the reach. To avoid losing audience volume, it's better to choose one most relevant group without overcomplicating filters.
Audience Lookalike. This feature allows you to find users who are similar to your target audience based on specified parameters. The level of similarity is adjustable – from 5% to 25%, where a higher percentage gives more accurate but narrow traffic.
With this set of tools, you can not only create but also quickly optimize campaigns, scaling successful bundles. Ads data integration to taboola allows you to analyse user behaviour at a deep level and achieve accurate results without unnecessary manual intervention. All of this makes Taboola advertising a powerful and versatile solution for both arbitrageurs and brands working with a global audience.
Taboola ad specs: formats, sizes, and compliance tips
Taboola platform has strict requirements for the quality of creatives and compliance with moderation rules. The platform prohibits grey offers, adalt, clickbait and inaccurate data – the moderation carefully checks each creative.
Therefore, we suggest finding out what verticals are supported on the platform:
Finance. Investments, loans, financial management. High cheques, target audience – experienced users interested in analytics and forecasts.
ICO and crowdfunding. It is better to promote through lendings or expert articles rather than directly to the offerer.
Rehab. Offers on rehabilitation (drug and alcohol addiction). Works well on traffic from the USA.
Education. Expensive, but promising offsers. Requires a warmed-up audience.
Mobile apps and games. In-app traffic is allowed, but it is strictly moderated. Avoid creatives with adalt or excessive violence.
Tovarka. Technology, gadgets, online shops. White and expensive goods work better.
Deiting. Acceptable if the creatives comply with the rules (no adalt).
Nutra. Only cosmetics and certified brands.
It is important to realise that failure to comply with the rules will result in severe sanctions, up to and including permanent blocking of the account with the impossibility of re-registration. Therefore, before launching, it is advisable to check whether the creative meets all the requirements and safe verticals. Taboola ad specs are not a formality, but a full-fledged filter that protects the audience and advertisers' reputation.
Best Taboola ads: what makes a high-converting campaign
The best taboola ads are not just pretty pictures with catchy headlines, but carefully crafted campaigns based on testing, targeting and adequate offer presentation. At the start, it is important to conduct A/B testing for a few days to determine which headlines, images and sites actually bring conversions. Creatives should be truthful and visually relevant – Taboola allows images related to the topic (such as pills or sad faces for rehab-offers), but blocks any elements of obvious clickbait. Use advanced targeting: lookalike audiences, interests, operating systems – this will help you find your target audience more accurately. Make a stop list of sources that get clicks but don't make sales – this is how the best Taboola ads are built, they really work and don't just gain impressions.
Join the Taboola advertising network!
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Why are Taboola ads so bad – is it a myth?
The phrase "why are taboola ads so bad" can sometimes be found in discussions on forums and social networks. The reason is that some users could not understand the management system or were dissatisfied with the need for serious investment in the launch and scaling of campaigns. However, such reviews more often reflect individual experiences rather than objective shortcomings of the platform itself.
In fact, the Taboola platform provides tools for accurate targeting, honest content and effective traffic management. If you use it according to the rules and with an understanding of your audience, the result can be not just positive – it will consistently yield high conversions. Most negative feedback arises from a lack of understanding of the principles of native advertising and unwillingness to adapt the offer to the requirements of the system.
Sponsored links by Taboola: where and how they appear
Sponsored links by taboola are native ad units that fit seamlessly into newsfeeds, articles and testimonials on partner sites. They look like ordinary informational materials and are almost identical to the original content, which makes them more trustworthy and get higher conversions. These ads are placed under articles, in sidebars or between paragraphs of text, disguised as useful tips, reviews or stories. Taboola advertising works gently without degrading the user experience, and that's why brands and arbitrageurs choose them.
Here are the main benefits of Taboola sponsored links:
access to an audience of 1.4 billion users worldwide;
placing adverts on premium sites with a high level of trust;
Deep targeting by behaviour, interests, GEO and so on;
In-Feed's native format, which is almost indistinguishable from the feed of a regular news feed, for example, in social networks;
Effective retargeting on similar platforms without being intrusive.
When creating such ads, it is important to respect relevance – only then will the advert be perceived as an organic part of the content. The right headline and image in sponsored links can bring the user back to the site even a few days after the first contact.
Ads data integration to Taboola for tracking & analytics
The ads data integration to taboola is realised by connecting installation, event and attribution tracking systems, which is especially important when working with mobile apps and multi-platform campaigns. Advertisers can configure exactly which data will be passed to Taboola for further optimisation, such as installs, user actions or repeat visits. If required, separate rules for the transfer of information can be set for each platform or uniform global parameters can be set. With flexible customisation, Taboola native advertising can be synchronised with analytics from trackers such as Voluum, CRM systems and Google Analytics, allowing you to more accurately measure performance and scale only the bundles that work.
Taboola native advertising for content monetization
The Taboola platform enables bloggers, media and website owners to capitalize on their own traffic through in-built recommendation blocks. Such links are organically placed within articles, on homepages and in news feeds, without annoying the user or disrupting the structure of the site. Each click on a native ad brings income to the resource owner, and the taboola advertiser receives relevant traffic with high engagement. Thanks to this format, monetisation turns into effective cooperation, with all parties benefiting: the site, the brand and the user.
Launch your first campaign on Taboola today!
Don't miss the chance to test one of the largest advertising ecosystems. Create a campaign with the help of ENSO offers, choose your target audience and start getting high conversions now.
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