An advertorial is paid material published in an editorial context to promote a product or service: it looks like an article, but the client pays for it and controls the message. In Romania it has to be recognisable as paid. Romanian Law 363/2007, Annex 1, point 11 forbids in every case using editorial content to promote a product the trader paid for without making that clear, and Law 365/2002 requires online commercial communications, and the person they are made for, to be identifiable. In practice that means a visible label, an identified sender and, for search engines, paid links qualified as such.
What is an advertorial?
The advertorial combines the form of an article with the purpose of an advert — the word is a blend of “advertisement” and “editorial”. Unlike a press release, which announces a verifiable fact, the advertorial aims to promote a product or service, usually for a fee. The payment or commercial advantage from the promoted party is the defining element, not the document's title.
What sets it apart from an ordinary editorial article:
- payment or another commercial advantage from the promoted party;
- control of the message by the client, not the newsroom;
- the obligation of visible labelling, not merely the author's intention.
Why does labelling matter?
Law 363/2007, Annex 1, point 11 forbids “using editorial content in the media to promote a product where a trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear”. Being in Annex 1, the practice is unfair regardless of severity — there is no threshold of “but it was obvious it was an advert”.
For online publication, Law 365/2002, Article 6(2) (consolidated text, in Romanian) also applies: commercial communications must be clearly identifiable as such, and the person on whose behalf they are made must be identified.
The practical consequence: the medium that publishes is jointly liable with the client (Law 148/2000, Article 18). Labelling protects the reader and the publisher alike.
How do you recognise a transparently published advertorial?
A transparent advertorial is recognisable before the first paragraph: it carries a commercial label, an identified sender, and it does not bear the newsroom's byline. Commercial links are qualified for the search engine. The exact implementation, including checks on mobile and in the HTML, is in the step-by-step labelling guide.
Where does the advertorial sit against the press release?
The advertorial and the press release can appear on the same channels, but their purpose and labelling obligations differ. The table compares the formats on criteria you can verify at publication — not on promises of distribution or media coverage.
| Criterion | Advertorial | Press release |
|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | promoting a product or service | announcing a fact |
| Payment | usually yes | may be editorial or paid |
| Voice | message controlled by the client | third person, facts |
| Labelling | mandatory if paid | mandatory if paid |
| Links | rel="sponsored" | rel="sponsored" if paid |
The detailed side-by-side comparison of obligations is in the guide on press release versus advertorial.
What does the publication check before accepting?
Before publication, the publisher checks the format, the sender's identity, the documents required by the category, and the claims that need to be proven. Liability may be joint with the client if the material breaks the law, so the check happens before, not after a complaint. The technical checklist is kept in one place: the labelling procedure.
The complete filter by product category is documented in the site's editorial policy. For medicines, supplements, credit or gambling, the legal checks are additional — see Law 363/2007, Annex 1 as a starting point.
Frequent mistakes with advertorials
The four errors below appear often in paid material: the newsroom's byline, an incomplete label, paid links without the attribute Google asks for, and rewriting that hides the commercial origin. The first, second and last can bring joint sanctions for the publisher and the client; the third is a problem with Google's rules.
Publishing under the newsroom's byline. The reader believes the material was assessed editorially. It is exactly the scenario described at point 11 of Annex 1.
An incomplete label. “Partner” or “Recommendation” without a mention of payment do not meet the requirement of clear identification.
Paid links without the attribute Google asks for. Without rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", a paid link breaks Google's rules, and the risk falls on both the publisher and the client. The attribute does not replace the visible label.
Editing that hides the commercial origin. If you rewrite the advertorial so it “sounds editorial”, you turn the payment into an implicit recommendation by the newsroom.
How much does an advertorial cost in Romania?
The price depends on the publication, not on the text. On Comunicate.eu, an SEO advertorial costs 45 lei excluding VAT on any of the 109 publications in the own network, whatever their niche or authority, and down to 31 lei per publication with the 100-publication package. The other 3,713 publications in the catalogue each show their own price, between 30 lei and more than 100,000 lei. The breakdown is in what an advertorial costs.
You pick the publication in the catalogue, see its price, its turnaround (usually 2 working days) and how it marks paid content, then send the text; at the end you receive the verified address of the article. The steps are on publishing an advertorial in Romania. Nobody, us included, can promise rankings or traffic.
A whole advertorial, with an explanation of every paragraph and the wrong version alongside, is in the annotated advertorial example. If you wonder whether it is worth it compared with pay-per-click advertising, the one-year calculation is in advertorial or Google Ads.
Frequently asked questions
Is the advertorial illegal?
No, if it is labelled correctly and the content respects the rules for its product category. What is forbidden is unlabelled or misleading publication.
Who labels the advertorial: the publication or the client?
Both are responsible: Law 363/2007 places the obligation on the advertiser and on the publication. Publications do it in different ways (a prefix in the title, a mention, a dedicated category) and some do not mark paid content at all. On Comunicate.eu each publication declares its practice in the catalogue, so you see it before you order.
Can an advertorial appear on Google News?
Material correctly labelled as sponsored can be indexed, but Google's transparency requirements remain mandatory. Paid links without rel="sponsored" can attract penalties.
Who is liable if the claims in the advertorial are false?
Jointly: the client, the author of the material and the publishing medium (Law 148/2000, Article 18). That is why the publisher checks the documents before publication.
Can an advertorial contain testimonials?
Yes, if they are real, verifiable and do not breach the rules of the vertical (for example, a doctor quoted for food supplements is forbidden by Order 1069/2007 of the Romanian Ministry of Health, Article 12).
How is it different from a paid article on your own blog?
The same labelling obligations. “Your own blog” does not exempt you from Law 365/2002 — online commercial communication has to be identified as such whatever the domain.
Last updated: 5 October 2026.