Guides & formats

Guides and ad formats, all in one place

Google’s policies, the Better Ads Standards, privacy laws and every ad format explained in plain language, with what is allowed and what isn’t, to keep your sites within monetization policies.

Product

What ConsentMode does, from the first report to monthly follow-up.

Full auditHow the ConsentMode audit works: the whole site read as a visitor, on mobile and desktop, against Google's policies and the Better Ads Standards.Read the guide →Continuous monitoringScheduled audits, history, comparison between audits and notifications when a new problem appears: how ConsentMode keeps tracking the site after the fix.Read the guide →Report and fix planWhat the ConsentMode report looks like: findings in three levels, marked screenshots, the reason, the exact path to fix, before and after and tasks per URL.Read the guide →Agency dashboardClient workspaces, team, monitoring and admin dashboard: how agencies use ConsentMode to look after many monetized sites.Read the guide →

By use case

Step-by-step guides for the situations that come up most often.

AdSense and Ad Manager approvalWhat Google checks before approving a site in AdSense and Ad Manager, the mistakes that delay review the most and how to prepare everything before applying.Read the guide →Limited ad servingUnderstand the AdSense and Ad Manager limited ad serving status, the difference between a traffic assessment and a policy problem, and what to check on the site.Read the guide →Policy violationA step-by-step guide to understanding a violation warning in AdSense or Ad Manager, finding the cause across all pages, fixing it and requesting a review.Read the guide →Ad Experience ReportUnderstand the Ad Experience Report in Search Console, what each status means, how to request a review and when Chrome filters ads.Read the guide →Set up consentCertified CMP, Consent Mode, regions and tests: the step-by-step to set up consent without losing ads in Europe or in the rest of the world.Read the guide →More revenue within the policiesLayout, density, viewability, lazy loading and sticky anchor: how to earn more with AdSense and Ad Manager without falling into policy traps.Read the guide →Buying and selling sitesWhat to check before buying or selling a site with AdSense or Ad Manager: policy history, subdomains, traffic sources, content and ads.txt.Read the guide →

By industry

The most common policy and consent risks for each type of site.

Media and publishersDensity, sticky ads, full-screen takeovers, scaled content and subdomains: the policy risks that weigh most for people who publish content.Read the guide →Finance and creditCredit promises, government-looking pages, affiliates and forms with personal data: the policy risks for finance sites.Read the guide →Health and wellnessHealth claims, sexual content, supplements and health data: what limits or prohibits ads on health and wellness sites.Read the guide →Retail and e-commerceAds on product and checkout pages, counterfeits, marketing pixels and Consent Mode to measure sales: the guide for online stores.Read the guide →Agencies and partnersPartner responsibility in MCM, equal consent across all clients and auditing many domains: the guide for agencies.Read the guide →Games and entertainmentRewarded ads, prize wheels, full-screen takeovers between levels and children's audiences: Google's rules for gaming sites.Read the guide →Sites with paid trafficBuying traffic for pages with AdSense or Ad Manager: invalid traffic, misleading pre-landers, redirects and pages made only for ads.Read the guide →

Regulations

Privacy laws, industry standards and Google rules, explained simply.

See all regulations CMP list

Ad formats from A to Z

Every AdSense, Ad Manager and Ad Exchange format: what it is, how it appears on desktop and mobile, how to implement it and what the policies allow.

A

Anchor ad

An ad strip that stays stuck to the top or bottom of the screen while the person scrolls the page, and that can be closed easily.

AdSense · Ad Manager

Companion ad

A banner that appears on the page at the same time as a video or audio ad plays in the player, forming a pair.

Ad Manager

Audio ad

A sound-only ad that plays inside an audio player or a video player with sound, like radio commercials.

Ad Manager · Ad Exchange · AdSense (via Ad Manager)

Side rail ad

An ad pinned to the left or right side of the screen on wide desktop screens, in the empty space next to the content.

AdSense · Ad Manager

Display ad

The classic AdSense ad: a rectangle or a strip that you place wherever you want and that can adjust itself to the screen size.

AdSense

Vignette ad

A full-screen ad that appears when moving from one page of the site to another, and that the person can skip whenever they want.

AdSense

Out-of-page ad

An Ad Manager slot for creatives that do not live inside the text, such as windows and floating ads, under strict Google rules.

Ad Manager

In-article ad

A native ad that appears between the paragraphs of the article, with a font and colors similar to your site's.

AdSense

In-feed ad

A native ad that slips into the middle of a list of articles or products, looking just like the items in the list.

AdSense

Multiplex ad

A native ad that shows several ads together, in a grid, in a single unit. Widely used at the end of articles.

AdSense

Native ad

An ad assembled from parts (title, image, text) and dressed in your site's look, always with the label that says it is an ad.

Ad Manager

Rewarded ad on the web

The person chooses to watch an ad and, in return, gets a reward from the site, such as more articles unlocked or an extra life in a game.

Ad Manager

Video overlay ad

A text or image ad that covers a part of the video while it keeps playing, without stopping the content.

Ad Manager · Ad Exchange · AdSense (via Ad Manager)

Auto ads

You paste a single code and Google decides on its own where to show ads, within the limits you set in the AdSense dashboard.

AdSense

Search ads

Ads that appear in your site's search results, tied to what the person typed, through AdSense for search or Programmable Search.

AdSense

Shopping ads

Ads with a photo, price and store name that appear in AdSense search units when the search is about shopping.

AdSense

Ads on AMP pages

How to show ads on AMP pages with amp-ad, Auto ads and a sticky bar, in AdSense and Ad Manager.

AdSense · Ad Manager

B

Ad Manager display ad

The classic Ad Manager ad space, created with the Google Publisher Tag, with a fixed size, several sizes or responsive.

Ad Manager

I

Ad intents

AdSense turns words in your text into links, icons and anchors. When tapped, a window opens with ads about that topic.

AdSense

Ad Manager web interstitial

A full-page Ad Manager ad that GPT shows on page change and other triggers, with a clear exit and a frequency cap.

Ad Manager

O

Offerwall

A message that gives the person a way to unlock content, such as watching a rewarded ad, after a few pages read.

AdSense · Ad Manager

V

Mid-roll video

A video ad that comes in the middle of the content, like a commercial break, and then the video continues from where it stopped.

Ad Manager · Ad Exchange · AdSense (via Ad Manager)

Outstream video

A video ad that appears in a regular ad space in the middle of the text, without needing a video of your own on the site.

Ad Manager · Ad Exchange

Post-roll video

A video ad that plays in the same player right after the video ends, like the commercials at the end of a TV show.

Ad Manager · Ad Exchange · AdSense (via Ad Manager)

Pre-roll video

A video ad that plays inside the player before the video the person chose to watch.

Ad Manager · Ad Exchange · AdSense (via Ad Manager)

Skippable video

A video ad with a skip button: by default, after 5 seconds the person can skip and go back to the video.

Ad Manager · Ad Exchange · AdSense (via Ad Manager)