• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 26, 2011

Skimlinks plans to launch SkimWords 2.0 Wednesday. The platform provides affiliate links within in-text ads in real-time. The automated platform supports in-text products and price comparisons across multiple markets such as consumer electronics, fashion, beauty, automotive and lifestyle.  

The latest version of SkimWords, which converts words into affiliate links, integrates technology from the company's recent acquisition of AtmaLinks that supports computational linguistics and semantic algorithms. It matches content with 20 million products in real-time to create in-text ad links.

The technology analyzes page content and delivers in-text price comparison in real-time. It automatically detects product references in content and turns them into affiliate links. The in-text ad appears when consumers mouse over a hotlink to see the reference, similar to an offering from Kontera. 

Alicia Navarro, Skimlinks, CEO and co-founder, said searches based on interest and intent convert to more active purchases, adding that technology can easily learn how to understand different languages.  

Andy Boyd, product manager at publisher iNet Interactive, said while the real-time content monetization is "cool," he's really "excited about the technology and experience for users, such as the updated visual options to gain more information." 

iNet uses Skimlinks on pages with older content across Overclockers.com, an iNet online community. "Sometimes people will post a link about a review they wrote about a computer hardware product," Boyd said. "Those recommendations, or links, will have a SkimWords ad. People can click on the ad to check out the products."

The platform allows publishers like iNet to earn incremental revenue by embedding one line of JavaScript code in Web site pages. The back-end technology identifies the page content and within milliseconds, turns the word into a link. Site visitors gain information to make purchase decisions. Advertisers receive qualified traffic to Web sites.

When the technology doesn't create an in-text ad, it links to a page on Amazon.com or another site highlighting the product. Aside from Amazon, channel partners include eBay, Zappos, Toys R Us and Wal-Mart.