This is the first installment of our new weekly feature: The DFP Cheat Sheet for Beginners. Stay tuned every week for a new post on the step-by-step process of DFP optimization, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter for each edition delivered straight to your inbox.
Step 1: Create Your Ad Unit
Ad units are the first and most basic component of your DFP inventory. They define the size of an ad and the specific location where an ad would appear on a page (such as a leaderboard on your homepage or a skyscraper in your news section). Related Read: 5 DFP Strategies to Maximize ROI
Creating these ad units is a pretty straightforward process
1) Go to the ‘Inventory’ tab
2) Click ‘Ad Units’ on the left-hand panel
3) Click the ‘New Ad Unit’ button
4) Give your ad unit a name. Be brief, but descriptive you can easily tell the exact inventory it’s representing (such as Domain_Homepage_728x90)
5) Description is optional
6) Select the relevant size of the ad unit
7) Target window: Select ‘Top’ if you want the ad’s landing page to open in the full body of the current window, or ‘Blank’ to open a page in a new window
8) You can skip ‘Placements’ for now
9) AdSense inventory settings: We override/disable AdSense inventory settings at the ad unit level under the following conditions:
- Dynamic allocation is enabled (i.e. you have the ability to link AdSense/Ad Exchange).
- AdSense ad serving/account has been disabled by Google
Otherwise, keep this setting enabled.
10) Save Repeat these steps to create more ad units as needed — it’s that simple! Once you have all of your ad units defined, you’re ready for the next step in the process.
Come back next week or subscribe to our newsletter to keep up on the DFP cheat sheet, and don’t forget to check out our other posts at the MonetizeMore.com Blog for other ad optimization tips and tricks!
For ad optimization advice specific to your publishing business, contact us for a free consultation today.
Related Reads: