What do content recommendation widgets reveal about a site?
Part of MFA avoidance
The short answer
Content recommendation widgets are the boxes of headline links, labeled with phrases like More for you, placed below or beside an article. Some links point to the host site's own pages; paid ones send readers to other sites. In MFA review, widget load matters because paid widget clicks are a documented way arbitrage sites buy visitors and resell their attention.
Key takeaways
- IAB renamed content recommendation widgets as Content Recommendation Ads in 2019 and kept them as a core native ad type.
- The trade groups' MFA definition names content recommendation platforms as a source of the paid visits MFA sites depend on, even on reputable publishers.
- A widget is a signal in two directions: the site that sells widget clicks, and the site that buys them and runs widgets of its own.
- A widget check counts boxes per article, separates paid from organic links, and follows a sample of paid links to their destinations.
What are content recommendation widgets?
The IAB Native Advertising Playbook 2.0 (opens in a new tab), published in May 2019, lists Content Recommendation Ads as one of three core native ad types and notes that they were formerly called content recommendation widgets. It also lists content discovery ads and sponsored content ads as other names for the format. This page looks at widgets from the reviewer's side; the programmatic native advertising guide covers buying native units.
Definition
- Content recommendation widget
- A block of headline and thumbnail links placed beside or below publisher content. Its links lead to other pages on the same site, to paid destinations on other sites, or to a mix of both.
The Playbook says these ads are "typically found below or alongside publisher content, such as an article or in a feed," and that a click will "always be redirected either to an external page/URL or to another of the source publisher's URLs." The IAB Tech Lab AdCOM 1.0 specification (opens in a new tab) gives the placement its own code in its display placement types list: value 4, "Recommendation widget; most commonly presented below article content."
How do recommendation widgets send paid traffic?
A paid widget link is an ad bought by whoever wants the visit. That buyer can be a brand, a publisher promoting its own stories, or an arbitrage operator. The 2023 definition published by the 4A's (opens in a new tab) says MFA publishers are "highly dependent on visits sourced from clickbait ads that run on social networks, content recommendations platforms" and "even on the websites of reputable publishers."
The loop explains why one site can be both a buyer and a seller of widget traffic. It pays to bring the visitor in, shows display ads, then earns again when the visitor clicks an outbound widget on the way out. Each site in the chain sees a human visitor and a valid click, which is why the loop can pass invalid traffic filters at every step. The traffic arbitrage guide covers how to trace a paid click back to a candidate site; this page covers what the widgets on the candidate itself say.
Why are widgets a signal in MFA review?
Widgets add paid promotional material to a page, and the amount is measurable. Google's publisher policy on more ads than publisher-content (opens in a new tab) bars Google-served ads on screens "with more ads or other paid promotional material than publisher-content." A wall of sponsored headlines counts toward the paid side of that ratio even though it carries no banner.
| Pattern on the page | Why it matters | Weight on its own |
|---|---|---|
| One widget below the article | Matches the placement IAB and AdCOM describe as the usual one | None; record it and move on |
| A widget in the middle of the article text | Interrupts reading and pulls the visitor off the page before the content ends | Weak |
| Three or more widgets stacked after the article | Turns the end of the page into an exit ramp of paid links | Moderate |
| A widget that keeps loading as the reader scrolls | An endless feed of paid headlines can outweigh the article itself | Moderate |
| Paid links that lead to galleries on one shared template | Points to a network buying and selling the same visitors | Strong when paired with bought inbound traffic |
Weights in this table are a reviewing convention, not an industry standard. The point is that a widget becomes evidence only beside other traits from the MFA definition, such as heavy ad loads or a slideshow format built for clicks.
How do you check a site's widget load?
A widget load check for one candidate site
- Open three recent articles on a phone. Scroll from the headline to the footer and count every block of headline links you pass.
- Mark each block as paid or own site. Hover or long press a few links; links to other domains, or through a redirect, are paid or partner links.
- Note the label. Record the heading and any disclosure text, and whether every paid link is labeled.
- Measure the share of the screen. Compare the vertical space taken by widgets with the article text on the same page.
- Follow five paid links. Record each destination's domain, format and ad load, and whether it runs widgets of its own.
- Scroll past the end. Note whether the widget stops or keeps loading new headlines as you scroll.
Widget findings to save for each reviewed site
- The number of widget blocks per article, for each sampled article.
- Where each block sits: inside the article, below it or in a side rail.
- The share of links that leave the site, with the destination domains.
- Screenshots of the labels shown above paid links.
- Whether destinations share a template with each other or with the candidate.
- Whether the candidate itself appears in widgets on other sites, if found while browsing.
Save the findings in the same evidence file as the other signals in the MFA signal checklist, so a reviewer reading the file later can see the widget evidence beside layout, traffic and content.
What does a widget review look like on a real brief?
Fictional example
A chiropractic clinic group's plan in Manitoba
An unnamed group of chiropractic clinics in Winnipeg and Brandon asks its agency for an English display plan beside back care, posture, workplace health and local community content in Manitoba. Teaser headlines near health content can be sensational, so the planner adds a widget check to the review.
A Winnipeg community news site carries one labeled widget below each story, with half its links pointing to its own articles. The planner keeps the site and asks the seller to place the clinic's ads above the widget.
A wellness tips site looks relevant from its homepage, but each sampled article has a widget after the second paragraph and three more after the text. The paid links lead to slideshows on two domains that share its template, and those slideshows run widgets pointing back to it. The planner records the loop, attaches screenshots and sends the site for exclusion.
How does PlacementGraph read widgets when it screens a site?
Frequently asked questions
Is a site's own recirculation widget a problem?
Not on its own. A box linking to the site's own stories keeps readers on the publisher and earns no click revenue from outside buyers. Look closer only when own site links lead into galleries or pages built mainly for ads, since that turns recirculation into a way to multiply impressions.
Do widget clicks count as invalid traffic?
Not by default. A real person who clicks a paid headline is a human visitor, so the visit can pass invalid traffic filters. The concern is the business model of the destination, not fraud. The invalid traffic guide explains what filtration covers.
Will excluding widget networks' hosts stop MFA spend?
No. The hosts sell the clicks; the arbitrage happens on the destination sites. Excluding hosts removes reputable publishers from a plan while the destination sites keep selling inventory through other paths. Screen the destinations, and buy from a reviewed inclusion list.
What do widget labels tell a reviewer?
A clear label on every paid link suggests the host takes disclosure seriously. Missing or vague labels are a quality issue for the host. On a candidate MFA site, a label also helps separate outbound paid links from own site links when counting the widget load.
Sources
- IAB Native Advertising Playbook 2.0 (May 2019) (opens in a new tab)IAB
- AdCOM 1.0, List: Display Placement Types (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- Leading trade groups define made for advertising websites (opens in a new tab)4A's (American Association of Advertising Agencies), September 26, 2023
- Native Advertising: A Guide for Businesses (December 2015) (opens in a new tab)Federal Trade Commission
- Insufficient original content (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Advertising Policies Help
- More ads or paid promotional material than publisher-content (opens in a new tab)Google Publisher Policies Help
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.