Not impressive, but it gets the job done for generating second-tier traffic.
Updated October 25, 2023

Not impressive, but it gets the job done for generating second-tier traffic.

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Taboola

We're using Taboola to run native advertisements to generate website traffic and lead generation. I am the sole media buyer for our account but I work with another co-worker to maintain the account and the relationship with our Taboola account representative. They address 2nd-tier quality web traffic and provide some insights into who's clicking on our ads.

Pros

  • It's easy to set up campaigns.
  • The interface isn't too difficult to navigate.
  • Account Reps are quick to answer questions.
  • Many options for targeting
  • Easy pixel implementation
  • Helpful UTM tracking macros
  • Supports look-alike audiences

Cons

  • The UI is clunky navigating between managing campaigns and viewing performance.
  • The lack of performance whitelisting makes it difficult to zero-in on the best traffic.
  • Lack of ability to block websites in bulk
  • Creative approval is arbitrary and vague when denied.
  • Creative approval is slow.
  • I still get traffic outside of the US even after setting up a campaign only in the US.
  • We've been running at a steady -70% ROI.
  • On our best days we've been able to achieve -10% ROI.
Taboola ranks pretty low for us, right next to Criteo and Revcontent, but above Traffic Junky. It's still nowhere as good as the social media platforms or Google. We selected Taboola because we had previously run ads years ago and wanted to see if we could make it profitable again. It offers more targeting options than Revcontent and Traffic Junky. I didn't care for the billing by credit card though. I would much prefer a net 15 or net 30 plan.
Typical reps; Whenever I had issues they would say to raise my bids to be more competitive or to keep blacklisting websites--action items that I already was performing. I felt like their job was to push us to spend more money but not in a way that was mutually beneficial. I could never get a straight answer for why ads would be flagged or denied and when I did it would be because it's something very easy to catch, like a broken link. But never anything on what policy issues they had.
It was pretty straightforward getting an account set up and having an account rep assigned. Compared to some other platforms Taboola is actually rather intuitive when it comes to navigating the user interface. Pixel implementation was easy and we didn't have any discrepancies tracking conversions. Also the ability to target LALs was very useful and semi-straightforward to upload.

Do you think Taboola delivers good value for the price?

No

Are you happy with Taboola's feature set?

No

Did Taboola live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of Taboola go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Taboola again?

No

If you want to have your company advertised on news websites across the United States then Taboola is perfect. If you're looking for clicks and impressions but not so much interested in traffic that is highly engaged and converting often then I'd suggest Taboola as an option to run traffic, too. This is the perfect platform for grey-hat offers and similar ideas. I wouldn't suggest it for running ads on your website due to some strict conditions and the fact that it might not necessarily play nice with traffic coming from Facebook.

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