As Internet marketing gets more advanced, each process used to gather an audience gets its own terminology. For the longest time, offering content to an audience on a website was just referred to as offering content, regardless as to whether that content was sponsored or created specifically for a website.

In recent years, the idea of native advertising has started to come to light and it presents a great opportunity for online publishers. But Google is uncomfortable with native advertising and that is causing problems for publishers. There are ways to utilize native advertising that makes Google happy, but it takes a little creativity to get it right.

SEE ALSO: Native Advertising for Publishers: What Really Works?

What Is Native Advertising?

The easiest way to define native advertising is that it is content created to deliver a marketing message and go viral. According to the Guardian, Internet users have indicated that they are much more likely to share an interesting article that is part of a native ad campaign than an advertising banner. This is the power of native advertising, but it does run into issues with Google.

What Is Google’s Problem With Native Advertising?

It is important to separate native advertising from sponsored content or banner ads to understand what Google’s problem is with native advertising. Sponsored content is content created for a website that is presented to an audience in the hopes of selling a product or service. Native advertising is made by a website and is marketing content disguised as legitimate online articles. Banner advertising is generally paid on a per-click basis and a viral banner ad would cost an advertiser a fortune, which is why Internet marketing companies avoid trying to get banners to go viral.

Sponsored content is identified as paid content and Google can treat it as such when it comes to search engine results. Native advertising uses keywords and purchased links to try and inform an audience and sell product. It is basically a sneaky way to try and pass off a commercial as a documentary and Google does not approve.

How Do I Use Native Advertising Without Upsetting Google?

The first step to getting your native advertising to pass through Google without a Google penalty is to not use paid links. Google’s algorithm will find those links and penalize your site for using them. By avoiding paid links, your native advertising has a much better chance of actually helping your website’s search engine status.

Another way to get your native advertising past Google is to make sure that your content is pertinent to your website. If you offer sports content to your readers, then create native advertising in the form of sports content and Google will smile upon you.

InlandPress.org recommends including something like a graphic or picture to enhance the chances that your content will be shared. The intent of native advertising is for it to go viral, so you will want to put as much pertinent content in your article as possible to get it shared. You should also do some serious promotion on social media to get people to share your content.

Native advertising can be tricky, but it can also be extremely effective when it comes to delivering a marketing message. Just remember that Google does not approve of purchased links or content that is not pertinent to the theme of your website and you should have no problem utilizing native advertising.