What it is

Contextual targeting matches ads to relevant Walmart onsite content based on the pages, categories, and shopping environments shoppers are currently viewing.

Unlike behavioral targeting, contextual targeting focuses on where the shopper is browsing right now, not their historical behavior.

Best used for

Category adjacency

Reach shoppers browsing relevant Walmart categories and onsite shopping experiences.

Discovery campaigns

Expand reach into related shopping environments using contextual expansion tiers.

Scaled awareness

Balance relevance and inventory scale without relying on audience lists.

How contextual targeting works

Contextual targeting combines

Component	Purpose
`id`	Identifies the contextual category or target (See Targeting List endpoint)
`reach`	Controls contextual expansion behavior

Understanding contextual reach tiers

When inventory within your selected contextual categories is limited, Walmart machine learning can expand targeting to related categories using omnichannel transaction and browsing data.

Lower tiers prioritize:

tighter relevance
stronger conversion alignment
narrower reach

Higher tiers prioritize:

broader inventory access
larger scale
increased discovery opportunities

How to use reach

object	Corresponding UI value	Description	Best practices
tier_1	high	Minimal expansion, more focused on relevance	Recommended for consideration or conversion campaigns
tier_2	high	Minimal expansion, more focused on relevance
tier_3	mid	Balanced reach and relevance
tier_4	mid	Balanced reach and relevance
tier_5	high	Broadest expansion	This level of expansion could impact conversion rates or ROAS; recommended for discovery campaigns.
tier_6
tier_7

Object structure: Contextual targeting

Developers have two options when working with targeting data. Both schemas represent the same targeting intent but use two different structures.

Negative contextual targeting is not supported. Do you use NOT or EXCLUDE in contextual targeting obhjects.

Expression contextual targeting schema

"targeting" : { "and": [ { "contextual": [ { "id": 3452, "reach": "tier_2" }, { "id": 2343, "reach": "tier_3" } ] }, { "geoTargets": [ { "id": 123 }, { "id": 234 }, { "id": 235 } ] } ] }

Flat contextual targeting schema

"targeting": { "contextual": { "include": [ { "id": 3452, "reach": "tier_2" }, { "id": 3453, "reach": "tier_1" } ] }, "geoTargets": { "include": [{ "id": 123 }, { "id": 234 } ] }
}