Productivity tips when setting up your ads

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.

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.

Select box with the Logged-In Visitor condition highlighted
Choose this condition so that only logged-in users can see it.

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.

Search field for ads with a code string entered.
You can even find ads by 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 post parameter with your ad ID, e.g., 123 on the following screenshot
  • Hit Enter to load that page
Edit the ad ID in the URL field

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.

Hover over a banner so that the edit button is appearing after a short delay.
Hover over the banner 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.

Advanced Ads block with a highlighted link at the right of the ad select field.
Find the link to the ad or group on the right.
Advanced Ads placement with a highlighted link at the right of the ad select field.
Find the link to the ad or group on the right.

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.

Moving around meta boxes on the ad edit screen.
Moving around meta boxes on the ad edit screen.

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.

Leave useful notes on the ad edit page.

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.

Showing the Screen Options on the ad overview page.
Enable or disable columns using the Screen Options.

Enable the “Ad Shortcode” option.

Show the Ad Shortcode column on the ad overview page.
Find the ad shortcode directly on the overview page.

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.

Filter posts based on their ad visibility.

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.

Import all or specific ad units automatically from your GAM account

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.

Example of an ordered ad group with two ads with the weight of ten and one with a weight of nine.
The House Ad will show as soon as Campaign A expired and when Campaign B is not displayed, e.g., on mobile devices.

Learn more about house ads.

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.

Option with the "Display only once" label to show an ad only once per page.

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.

Ad title with various options below it, including the link to Duplicate the ad.
Find the Duplicate link on the ad overview page (as above) or on the ad edit page.

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.

Options to position an ad in the content of posts showing also the Repeat the position option.
Enable “Repeat the position” to show the ad every three paragraphs.

Placement conditions

Use display and visitor conditions on a placement level to apply them to multiple or changing ads at once.

Find the used conditions and the option to set new ones directly on the placement overview page.

Make it better

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