How to Enable (and Use) the Google Publisher Console

April 2024

The Google Publisher Console is an excellent tool used by publishers serving ads through Google Ad Manager (GAM), that enables you to check ad-unit implementations and diagnose delivery issues. In this two-part blog post, we explain how to enable and use this powerful tool.

Google Publisher Console is an invaluable tool for any publisher serving ads on their website through Google Ad Manager (GAM). This hidden Chrome feature gives valuable information about how Ad Manager is functioning on-page, and gives valuable insight into auctions and delivery for authorized users.

With Google Publisher Toolbar no longer available, the Publisher Console is now the primary tool for DFP/Ad Manager diagnostics — and learning how to use it should be a priority for all publishers.

Publisher Console is built into Google’s Chrome browser. No extension is needed, you just need to enable it when you want to access the console.

This multi-part guide will show you how to access Google Publisher Console as well as how to use the Console to diagnose Ad Manager set-up and delivery problems.

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Part I: How to enable Google Publisher Console

Anyone can run Google Publisher Console on any page that contains Ad Manager’s GPT tag. You don’t need to be an authorized user to run the console, but functionality is limited if you are not logged into the Ad Manager account that is serving the ads. The console is enabled by running a JavaScript function ( googletag.openConsole(); ). There are a number of ways that this can be achieved.

Enable Publisher Console through the URL bar

Sometimes you need to access Publisher Console when you haven’t got the bookmark saved. In this case simply open the page that you want to inspect then type the following into the URL bar before pressing enter: javascript: googletag.openConsole();

Enable Publisher Console from a bookmark

This is the recommended way to enable Publisher Console. It can be used on almost any device, but is most practical on desktop. The idea is to save a bookmark to the JavaScript function so that you don’t have to remember or type it.

In Chrome, click the More icon and then select Bookmarks then Bookmark this page
Click the More button so that you can edit the URL
Enter a name (e.g., Publisher Console)
Replace the URL with this: javascript: googletag.openConsole();
Click Save

Now that you have the bookmark saved, you can just click on it to open Google Publisher Console any time you’re viewing a page that has the GPT tag on it.

Enable Publisher Console From a Link On-Page

Another method which can be useful during development is to have a link on the page to open Publisher Console. This isn’t recommended for production, but can be a good way to enable debugging easily across multiple devices while a site is being worked on. To do this simply create a link like the following:

<a href="javascript:googletag.openConsole();">Open console</a>

With this link on the page, you can simply click it on any device running Chrome to open the Publisher Console.

Running Publisher Console in Safari, Firefox, Opera etc.

There are times when it would definitely be useful to access the functionality of Google Publisher Toolbar when using other browsers. Unfortunately, as the console is a Chrome feature there is no current way to do this.

What is Google Publisher Toolbar?

It’s worth quickly mentioning the Google Publisher Toolbar at this point. The Google Publisher Toolbar was a Chrome extension released by Google that included some overlapping functionality with Publisher Console. Since version 5.1.0, released March 2019, support of Google Ad Manager (then DFP) and Ad Exchange was removed. Publisher toolbar is essentially now an AdSense-only tool, and of little use to publishers using Google Ad Manager.

Access and authorization

Any Chrome user can use the Publisher Console on any page that is running Google Ad Manager. You don’t need to be granted permission or be logged into a Google Ad Manager account. However, additional functionality does become available if you are logged into the account that is being used to serve ads on the page.

Anyone can use the Console to:

See the ad overlays
View Ad Slot information
Open any creative in a new window
View the page request
Reload the page without ads, or with ads but without rendering them
View DFP alerts and errors
Run lighthouse publisher audits

Authorized users can additionally:

Directly access any ad unit in Ad Manager
View delivery diagnostics
Open the URL in GAM delivery tools

Part II: How to use the Google Publisher Console

Now that you know how to enable publisher console, it is time to put that tool into action.

The functions that you can use in the Google Publisher Console can be divided into two categories: public functions and private functions.

Public functions are the tools that you can use on any site that uses the Google Publisher Tag to serve ads.

Private functions are the tools that you can use if you are logged into the Google Ad Manager account that is utilized on a web page.

The Google Publisher Console can be used on any web page that uses the Google Publisher Tag to obtain information; however, the level of information you can obtain is limited. To get further insight into the auction and delivery of ad units, you must be an authorized user of the Google Ad Manager account associated with the web page.

The Public View

When you initially open the Google Publisher Console, you are given information about the ad setup on the page within the Google Publisher Tag. There are two main tabs in publisher console that display page information, and also a ‘Settings’ page in the top right hand corner. In settings, you can change the language of publisher console and choose whether you’d like to see the overlays or not.

The ‘Ad Slots’ tab

The first tab is labeled ‘ad slots’ and this tab lists the ad slots present on page within GAM. Each ad slot is numbered and color coded and contains the following information regarding each ad unit:

Publisher ID
Overlay status
Ad creative size
Time taken to fetch and render the ad
Ad fetch count which is useful for auto-refreshing ads.
iFrame type
Query ID assigned by Google that enables publishers to find the line item details associated with the ad slot.
Warnings tell us whether there has been any unexpected behavior within one of the ad slots.

The ad slots tab also enables you to open a creative in a new window. With regards to overlays, the publisher console will attempt to put an overlay over every GAM ad displayed on page. If the ad does not render, the overlay will not be shown. The overlay tells us the following information about the ad slot:

Line item type
Publisher Network ID followed by the path down to the name of the ad unit.
Creative link (which you can only access if you are an authorized user of the GAM account associated with the web page).
Line item link (which you can only access if you are an authorized user of the GAM account associated with the web page).

The ‘Page Request’ tab

The second tab is labeled ‘page request’ and this tab enables us to diagnose and troubleshoot certain issues. For example, why a page is taking so long to load. The page request tab includes a summary of information about the page request that has been made. This includes:

Page URL
Browser and version
Browser viewport size
Property code
List of warnings about any unexpected behavior
Time taken to fetch and render ads

The page request tab also gives us the option to reload the page either normally, without ads or without rendering. Without rendering means that ads will be called but not loaded onto the page. In this tab, you can also display a timeline of events in the ad fetching and rendering process within the Google Publisher Tag. This shows each step the page has taken to load and how long each step has taken, which enables us to diagnose page delays and to see how key values are being set within a page.

The Private View

If we are able to view privately as an authorized user with access to the GAM account associated with the web page, we can infer even more information related to delivery. The overlay will let us click on the links for the creatives and line items. The link will then take you straight into Ad Manager with the creative/line item open and from there, we can view or edit the settings. When looking at the ad slots, the information is similar to public view, however we are also able to select additional links. Firstly, we can click “Open the Ad Unit in Ad Manager” to go straight to the ad unit definition. Alternatively, we can open the ad request simulator through the ‘Delivery Diagnostics’ link and check or edit the settings.

We also have two additional buttons when logged in: “Audit this Page” and “Open in Delivery Tools.” The first function is fairly new and when clicked, it will take us to the Publisher Ads Audits for Lighthouse feature with the page URL already loaded. From there, you can then generate a report which will allow you to evaluate the speed and quality of the ads on page. Opening in delivery tools will enable you to inspect the delivery for all ad slots on the page.

Final thoughts

The Google Publisher Console is an essential tool for any publisher using Ad Manager. In another part, we’ll be sharing some practical examples of how our team uses the tool to solve real issues.

If you’re in need of additional expertise to get your publisher monetization strategy off the ground, or just want to improve upon the results you’ve been getting, reach out to OKO today.

We’re also certified partners for CTV advertising, and experts at getting the most out of your monetization. We’re ready to show you what we can do.