With a powerful tool like Advanced Ads, there are always features that are extremely helpful in everyday work and easy to overlook at the same time.
Table of Contents
Testing ad setups
Use these handy features when you test a new ad setup.
Dummy
Choose the “Dummy” ad type when creating a new ad if you want to test a new feature or placement without going through creating a new ad from scratch.
HTML code and image placeholder
We have a few dummy HTML codes and placeholder images for your ad setup listed under Ad Templates.
Condition for logged-in users
Use the “Logged-in Visitor” visitor condition to make an ad visible to logged-in users only. This allows you (and others in your team) to test it without bothering regular visitors to your site.
Finding the ad edit page
You created many ads and now have a hard time finding individual ones?
via search
Go to Advanced Ads > Ads and look for the search field at the top right. It will find strings in the ad title and any string in the ad’s source code.
via ad ID
You might only have the ID available when placing ads via shortcodes or PHP functions. You can also enter ad IDs into the search form mentioned in the last tip. If an ad with this ID is found, the search will automatically open its ad edit page.
Alternatively, you can do the following:
- Open any ad edit page
- Replace the value of the
postparameter with your ad ID, e.g.,123on the following screenshot - Hit Enter to load that page
You are now on the correct ad edit page.
via the Edit button in the frontend
When you use placements to inject ads automatically in the frontend, you can hover over the ad for 1-2 seconds to see the Edit button appear.
Click on it to go to the ad edit page.
Learn more about the Edit button.
Link in blocks and placements
The Advanced Ads block and placements show a link to the ad edit page or the group assigned to them.
Managing ads
Reorder the ad edit screen
You can collapse and open individual meta boxes on the ad edit screen and move them around using the arrows or the mouse.
Add notes
You can find the “Notes” section in the “Usage” meta box on the ad edit screen. We use notes for more context about an ad, link to our external task manager if they are related, or mention context on how the ad is embedded on the page. Notes help when you come back to your setup months later or when a colleague takes over.
Using the next tip, you can also enable the Notes column on the ad overview page.
Show shortcodes on the ad overview
You can enable a column showing the ad shortcodes on the ad overview page.
Open “Screen Options” at the top right of the screen.
Enable the “Ad Shortcode” option.
You can also use Screen Options to disable some of the given columns.
Use notes in shortcodes
When using a shortcode like [the_ad id="123"], it is easy to forget what the ad is about.
We add the note dummy attribute to keep track of anything we want to remember when seeing the shortcode anywhere. So a shortcode on our page might look like this:
[the_ad id="123" note="medium rectangle upsell linking to the Advanced Ads Pro page"]
Finding posts with disabled ads
You can find posts or pages with disabled ads using a filter on the post overview page. For this, enabling the Ad Injection column in the Screen Options might be helpful.
Import ads
Import / Export tools
The Import & Export feature lets you move your ad setups from one page to another. You can also create templates by adjusting the import files to import whenever or wherever you need them. We provide several import-ready Ad Templates if you are looking for prepared ad setups.
Import ads from Google Ad Manager
You can import ad units from your Google Ad Manager account. Our integration will automatically set them up as manageable ads in the Advanced Ads backend.
Displaying ads
House ads
Use an ordered group with different weights if you default to a house ad when campaigns expire or your most important ads use conditions. The house ad has the lowest weight in the group and does not need any conditions.
Display ad only once
Use the “Display only once” option on the ad edit screen if you show the same ad in multiple placements or groups but don’t want to show it more than once per page. This feature comes with Advanced Ads Pro.
Automatically convert into AMP
Advanced Ads automatically converts your image (free), AdSense Auto ads (free), AdSense ad units (AMP Ads add-on) and, Google Ad Manager (GAM Integration) ads into the correct AMP format.
You can also use the “Accelerated Mobile Pages” display condition (AMP Ads add-on) to display or hide certain ads from AMP pages, or use the “AMP” ad type for custom-made AMP ad codes.
Time saver
Duplicate ads
Repeating the same ad setup can be tiring. Use the “Duplicate” link on the ad overview page or ad edit page to copy the content and settings of an existing ad to a new one.
Learn more about duplicating ads (Pro).
Repeat content ads
Repeating ads in the content automatically every few paragraphs can be a time saver as well as a revenue hack. The option is available for Content placements.
Placement conditions
Use display and visitor conditions on a placement level to apply them to multiple or changing ads at once.
