Facebook Search Ads Without Keyword Targeting

Aug 24, 2012 - 9:12 am 3 by

Facebook launched their sponsored search ads this week, allowing advertisers to show ads based on user search queries on Facebook.com. We talked about the beta a few months ago and now it is visible to all.

Here is a screen shot:

Facebook Search Ads

Greg Finn has a nice write up on it at Marketing Land with comments from Facebook.

We have launched a feature that surfaces sponsored results along with the organic results when people are looking for things on Facebook. We try to show people apps and pages they’ll be most interested in.

The thing is, advertisers don't big on keywords, they bid on specific entities such as Pages, Places or Apps instead of purchasing the specific keyword phrases. Weird, maybe, but maybe this will work for Facebook?

Facebook isn't calling them search ads, but rather "Sponsored Results."

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: January 7, 2026

Jan 7, 2026 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google Search Ranking Volatility January 6th With AdSense Earnings Drops

Jan 7, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Merchant Center Updates Multi-Channel Products Rules

Jan 7, 2026 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Microsoft Tests Larger Ask Copilot Button On Bing Home Page

Jan 7, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Personalizing Some AI Overviews & AI Mode Answers

Jan 7, 2026 - 7:21 am
Misc Google

Google Hiring Search Intelligence Chief of Staff

Jan 7, 2026 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: Bing Webmaster Tools Now Shows Percentage Changes