Olive Media has partnered with New York-based Magnetic to add a search retargeting service to its offering of digital advertising tools.

Search retargeting, essentially, uses existing search data created by large-scale search engines such as Google or Yahoo!, to serve ads based on a user’s previous search terms. Magnetic has a database of five billion search terms across 300 million unique users monthly (according to the company), which Olive can now access to serve more targeted ads to users on its network sites with the goal of better conversion and performance.

The difference with search retargeting is that it targets the user using a particular term to search rather than the site the person is on, Mladen Raickovic, head of partnerships and product development, network portfolio, Olive Media, tells MiC.

“This is important for media companies because we are seeing them become more targeted in how they send out campaigns,” he says. “As we become more sophisticated, this type of product allows us to zero in on the right person.”

The tool, which Olive Media has already used in conjunction with over 25 campaigns in the consumer packaged goods, automotive and financial categories, works well for companies looking for a very targeted group, says Raickovic.

“Search retargeting works well for niche searches,” he says. “It is easy to use for particular issues when you can’t typically find people who are looking for your product.”