Outbrain is a company which focuses on content marketing. The company has a widget (of the same name) that allows internet publishers to increase web traffic to their websites. They also keep the visitors by giving curious and interesting links or other related or unrelated content. Outbrain is incredibly helpful for content publishers that need to have and retain visitors because of the nature of their revenue. Usually for publishers like this, the main source of revenue is advertising and Outbrain is very effective in helping them boost traffic.
To put it simply, Outbrain is putting itself out as the Google equivalent of AdWords to content recommendation. Outbrain does this by using behavioral marketing in order to recommend articles, blogs, videos, or photos to the user. This is a step up from the standard “related items” functionality. The purpose of this is to keep the reader on the site and as a consequence, ramping up advertising revenue. And, as according to the Outbrain webpage, they host some of the net’s largest content publishers like Reuters and Wall Street Journal.
Content Details
Outbrain allows use with a variety of content from the web. They follow strict guidelines in order to fulfill this and have the right to remove the widget or reject application/use of the widget should the content not be satisfactory. Outbrain is keen on content and why wouldn’t they be? Being the best and largest content recommendation company on the web allows them to do so.
The company accepts different content. These include articles, blog posts, videos, slide shows, and third-party services/reviews. The emphasis of Outbrain is content discovery and amplification. Content has to be of high quality and most of all, interesting. It’s interest that keeps the user coming back to the website; readers will always go back to something they enjoy. The advantage to Outbrain is that it allows other sites to promote their content to users with the same interest. This greatly expands a business to a wider audience.
The Outbrain webpage clearly states what must be done in order for them to accept the content that a company or business would want to promote. The next few paragraphs will describe in summary the important criteria that Outbrain use. The number one criteria, as one might have already picked up on, is the content itself. The content that is recommended must be the primary focus of the webpage. It is possible to include forms or sales into the webpage itself but must not deviate from the content or topic. Probably the most innovative of Outbrain in content recommendation is that it does not accept home pages, directory listing or similar webpages. The content itself must not contain pop-ups and must only be on HTML (PDFs are not included). The content must also not be on any social networking site like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. This makes Outbrain incredibly useful in delivering content that a website itself provides and not some other platform.
Likewise, there are criteria that Outbrain automatically does not allow to publish. These sites are generally mature in content and can sometimes be graphic. Outbrain automatically declines any website containing pornography or other adult material; even websites that link to porn or have pop-ups of porn. The restriction is applicable to mature language as well and not just imagery. They also decline alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs or addictive substances. Anything that promotes hate and violence towards people, places, or animals are not accepted. Sites that promote defamation to individuals or organizations (and places) are also not acceptable. In line with all these restrictions, Outbrain does not allow sites that link to promote any form of illegal activity in the net (illegal download of music and movies) or in real life (illegal sale of drugs). High-risk investments or quick money making schemes on websites are not allowed or promoted by Outbrain.
Outbrain is keen on quality of the content as well. They reserve the right to decline or remove sites which are ridden with grammatical errors. Misleading titles and lack of authenticity are not allowed. Poor design of a website is also a factor for Outbrain; these sites are not promoted. In line with the first factor mentioned, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) heavy sites are not included as well as they are usually grammatically wrong.
Outbrain stands out as the best of content recommendation due to the aforementioned factors. They have a sound and very concise factors but to put it in a nutshell; they promote related, fun and correct/accurate content on the web that can help the business go about its goals.
