How do I make a web page automatically hyperlink words with links to monetize them?

August 17, 2006 12:49 PM

WebSoftware/TechieFilter: How would I go about making a site where different words automatically link to google search terms/ adwords containing the term?

I noticed on many sites that in a paragraph, which for example, would contain the word "Money", every time that word appears it would automaticcally link to an google adwords page with ads triggered by the word money- sort of like an automatic program that scans each page (say of press releases or news) and automatically highlights words in the documents and links them to pages which generate income for the site-

another example would be a page where the word "amazon" (say like on fatwallet) or "staples" would automatically link to a store, with the site you are coming from considered the refferer and getting a commission.

is this off the shelf software? what is it called? thanks for any help in the right direction.

posted by Izzmeister to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

They are actually using service like itellitext ads which scan the page content and convert certain keywords into hyperlink pointing to the advertiser's website.
posted by labnol at 1:03 PM on August 17, 2006

Be warned that this will be very unpopular with your users. Additionally, I don't think you have much control over which words get highlighted.
posted by mkultra at 1:32 PM on August 17, 2006

I used to do this on my blog, sort of, when I had an active one. Whenever I found a cool link I would assign a word to it. Usually a related word. Like "time" was assigned to the human clock web page (this was a while ago). There were some other links assigned to "time". Whenever "time" was found in a blog post, it was replaced with a random link from the "time" list.

I'm sure there are off the shelf solutions but it's so easy to do that you might be able to code it yourself if you can program, or hire someone if you can't.
posted by RustyBrooks at 3:19 PM on August 17, 2006

I avoid websites that do this, because I find it profoundly irritating.
posted by evariste at 3:47 PM on August 17, 2006

It's called IntelliTXT, there are a few services that do it. One of these days I'll get around to writing a UserJS* to amputate them.

*Firefox users: this is the same thing as a Greasemonkey script.
posted by evariste at 3:48 PM on August 17, 2006

No need to edit user.js - Adblock Plus takes care of them pretty well, in my experience.

My advice is not to do it. The revenue you might make will be greatly diminished by pissed off users leaving. There's a reason that non-intrusive google ads do so well.
posted by chrisamiller at 11:00 PM on August 17, 2006

Another vote for "people will hate it".
posted by AmbroseChapel at 12:18 AM on August 18, 2006

There are already several Greasemonkey scripts that strip out intellitxt.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 4:29 PM on August 18, 2006