If you’ve noticed that the Contextual Targeting status within the Ask.com user interface is turned on at the Ad Level, but turned off at the Keyword Level then you are not seeing things.  Double check that the settings box is checked for Contextual Targeting, meaning you do not want to advertise on the Contextual Network. If this is the case, we saw it as well, and contacted Ask.com through their online form to inquire about this discrepancy.

A side note: My experience with Ask.com’s online form, basically customer service through email only, has been superb. Although it doesn’t beat an immediate voice on the other end, they have responded to questions on the same business day (given the emails were sent no later than 9:30am). So for anyone looking to use it, the responses came back anywhere from 3-6pm.

Back to the Contextual Targeting discrepancy, Ask.com confirmed that is was a technical error and reassured that the Contextual Targeting was off, which was reflected at the Keyword Level. Please see response below:

“After reviewing your account, your contextuals are currently “off.” We are experiencing technical difficulties which result in our system incorrectly displaying your contextual setting as being “on.” To verify that your contextuals are indeed “off” please view your setting at the keyword level.”

Ask.com client representative contact form response

I just wanted to share this knowledge so that anyone advertising in Ask.com won’t be confused when coming across this occurrence too.

Ask.com