Contextual purchase intent: how to read the content stage
Part of Contextual targeting
The short answer
Contextual purchase intent is read from what a page helps its reader do, not from who the reader is. A page can fit a topic at three stages: learning what something is, researching options, or deciding where and what to buy. Planners tag each page's stage from its content and adjust the message, never inferring income or identity.
Key takeaways
- Topical fit says a page is about the product; content stage says how close the page sits to a buying decision.
- Learning, researching and deciding pages can be told apart from their structure, headings and calls to action.
- IAB Tech Lab's descriptive vectors already separate educational, instructional, review and commerce content.
- Intent read from content stays a property of the page; attaching it to a person turns it into a personal inference.
- Creative should change by stage, and claims about who is reading should stay modest.
How is topical fit different from purchase intent?
Topical fit asks whether a page is about the subject of the brief. Purchase intent, as context can show it, asks what the page helps its reader do with that subject. A history of diamond cutting, a guide to ring settings and a store's sizing and resizing policy are all about engagement rings. Only the last two sit near a buying decision, and they sit there in different ways.
Definition
- Content stage
- The point in a purchase decision that a page serves, judged from the page itself: learning what something is, researching the options, or deciding what and where to buy.
Content stage is not the same as an audience segment. IAB Tech Lab's Audience Taxonomy has purchase intent segments that describe people a data provider believes are in the market. Content stage describes a page. A buyer who keeps that distinction can plan for intent without collecting or inferring anything about the people reading.
Which content types signal research before a purchase?
Each stage has recognizable content types and on page signals. The IAB Tech Lab descriptive vectors file (opens in a new tab), published alongside the Content Taxonomy (opens in a new tab), has a Content Purpose branch whose Informational children include Educational Content, Instructional Content, News, Opinion and Op-Ed, and Review, with Commerce as a separate purpose. Those labels map closely onto the three stages.
| Stage | Typical content | Signals on the page | Closest IAB Content Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learning | Explainers, history, glossaries, how it works pieces | Headlines that ask what or why; no product names or prices; long background sections | Educational Content |
| Researching | Buying guides, criteria checklists, single product reviews, roundups | Headings by feature or criterion; pros and cons lists; tested or measured details; several brands named | Review, Instructional Content |
| Deciding | Store guides, price explainers, sizing and returns help, appointment and local shopping guides | Prices, store hours, locations, warranty and return terms, booking steps | Commerce, Instructional Content |
| Not a stage | News, opinion, celebrity coverage that mentions the product | The product is incidental to a story about people or events | News, Opinion and Op-Ed |
Research and decision pages can carry affiliate links, and the FTC's Endorsement Guides FAQ (opens in a new tab) expects a reviewer who earns commissions to disclose it, close to the recommendation. A clear disclosure is a useful signal that a page is a real research page with a known business model, not a reason to leave it out.
Can context show intent without personal data?
Context can show intent while the intent stays attached to the page. Reading that an article is a ring sizing guide uses only the article. The privacy picture changes when a page signal is joined to a person. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada's guidelines on online behavioural advertising (opens in a new tab) say information involved in online tracking and targeting will generally constitute personal information. California's attorney general describes personal information (opens in a new tab) under the CCPA as including inferences from other personal information that could create a profile about a person's preferences and characteristics.
How should intent stages change the creative?
The reader's question differs by stage, so the ad should answer a different question. A learning page reader wants understanding; an ad pushing a sale feels out of place. A deciding page reader wants practical details; an ad about brand heritage wastes the moment.
| Stage | Message | Creative approach | Landing page | What to measure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Learning | Help the reader understand the category | Educational line, brand name, little or no price | A guide or explainer on the brand's site | Reach and attention on relevant pages |
| Researching | Give a reason to put the brand on the shortlist | One differentiating fact the brand can support | Product detail or comparison criteria page | Visits to product pages |
| Deciding | Remove the last practical obstacle | Store location, appointment booking, sizing, warranty or returns | Store locator or booking page | Appointments, store visits or quote requests |
Deciding stage creative can lean on reviews and testimonials. The FTC finalized a rule (opens in a new tab) in August 2024 banning fake reviews and testimonials, including AI generated fake reviews and reviews from people with no real experience of the business, and requiring clear disclosure of insiders' material connections. Any review quoted in an ad should be real and traceable.
How do you score a site's content stage mix?
Five steps to a stage mix for each candidate site
- Sample recent articles on the topic. Read eight to ten recent pages from the section that covers the brief, not the homepage.
- Tag each page with one stage. Use the signals in the framework table, and tag pages where the product is incidental as not a stage.
- Compute the mix. Record the share of sampled pages at each stage; a site may be mostly learning with a strong buying guide section.
- Match the mix to the plan. Put learning heavy sites in the awareness line and deciding heavy sites in the line with practical creative.
- Keep the tagged pages as evidence. The client can open the pages behind each stage claim.
Borderline pages need a rule written before tagging starts, so two reviewers tag them the same way. A useful rule is to tag by the page's main job. A detailed review that ends with a store locator is research, because most of the page weighs options. A sizing guide that opens with a short history of the custom is deciding, because the reader came to measure a finger. A news story about rising gold prices is not a stage at all, even though it may shape when people buy. Writing these cases down also makes the stage mix comparable from one quarter to the next.
What intent claims should a planner avoid?
Content stage supports claims about pages. It does not support claims about the people reading them. Platforms draw similar lines for personalized ads: Google's restricted targeting policy (opens in a new tab) lists sensitive interest categories, including negative financial status, and access to opportunities categories that apply in the United States and Canada, such as consumer finance.
Intent claims a contextual plan should not make
- The plan does not describe readers as in market buyers, only pages as deciding stage content.
- No page type is used to imply income, affluence or credit standing, even for luxury or high priced products.
- No page type is used to infer a life event, relationship status, health condition or financial hardship about a reader.
- Stage tags stay on sites and pages and are never joined to browser, device or customer records.
- Reporting describes where ads ran and what readers did on the brand's own site, not who the readers were.
What does a content stage plan look like on a real brief?
Fictional example
Engagement rings in Saskatchewan
A fictional independent jeweler with stores in Saskatoon and Regina wants display ads around engagement ring content. Its first brief draft asks for affluent couples about to get engaged. The planner rewrites it as content: guides to diamond and gemstone basics, ring setting and metal explainers, buying guides, sizing and resizing help, and local wedding planning articles.
Candidate sites are sampled and tagged. A national wedding magazine is mostly learning and inspiration pages, with a solid ring buying guide section. A gemology blog is research heavy, with detailed grading explainers and clearly disclosed affiliate links. A Prairies wedding planning site carries vendor guides and timelines that sit at the deciding stage.
The plan runs two lines. Learning heavy sites carry an educational ad about choosing a setting. Deciding stage pages carry an ad about free resizing and booking a store appointment. The client deck describes page stages and says nothing about readers' incomes or relationship status.
How does PlacementGraph plan for intent without profiling readers?
Frequently asked questions
Is a best of roundup a research page or a deciding page?
It is research when it helps a reader narrow options. A roundup helps a reader narrow options, even when it links to stores. It becomes deciding stage content when the page centers on practical purchase details, such as current prices, local availability, sizing or return terms. Tag it by what most of the page does, not by the presence of buy buttons.
Do coupon and deal pages count as deciding stage content?
They sit at the deciding stage, but treat them with care. Some are thin pages built around codes, and readers may already have chosen a product. Check page quality and whether the site has its own editorial content before including deal pages, and keep them in a separate line so their delivery is visible.
Should a plan buy only deciding stage pages?
A plan built only on deciding pages is narrow by design and meets people only at the last step. Learning and research pages reach people earlier, when a brand can still join the shortlist. Set the stage mix from the campaign objective rather than defaulting to the last step.
Does the content stage of a site change over the year?
It can. Gift guides, seasonal buying guides and holiday store hours push sites toward deciding content at certain times, then publishing returns to learning pieces. Re-tag a sample before each seasonal flight, and plan deciding stage lines around the weeks when that content is actually published.
Sources
- Content Taxonomy 3.0 Descriptive Vectors (TSV) (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab on GitHub
- Content Taxonomy (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- Guidelines on privacy and online behavioural advertising (opens in a new tab)Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (opens in a new tab)State of California, Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General
- Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials (August 14, 2024) (opens in a new tab)Federal Trade Commission
- FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking (opens in a new tab)Federal Trade Commission
- Restricted targeting in Personalized advertising (opens in a new tab)Google Advertising Policies Help
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.