OKO Digital Announces Strategic Partnership With Loop Media
NEW YORK, NY – [12/14/2023] — OKO Digital, Google Certified Publisher Partner (GCPP) for CTV, announced this week a new partnership with Loop Media Inc., the Burbank, CA-based provider of Loop®TV, a leading streaming TV platform for...
Interactive CTV Ads: The Next Level
CTV ads allow for unprecedented amounts of interactivity, and that engagement translates into a real boost to your ROI. In this blog post, we explain the basics of this game-changing technology. In the days of linear TV, getting customers to take...
Google MCM vs. Google GCPP: What’s The Difference?
When searching for a monetization partner online, it’s easy to get bogged down in acronyms. Here’s how to find the one that works for you. If you’re interested in maximizing your revenue from advertising on your site/app/CTV channel, you’re going...
Should I Implement Lazy Loading Ads?
Sometimes, it’s good to be lazy. For publishers, so-called “lazy loading” ads are a prime example. Lazy loading ads allow you to enhance your user experience, while getting the most out of your ad revenue. But how does it work? We’ll explain...
The Superb Owl: How CTV Advertising Is Changing The Big Game
It used to be that only the biggest brands (with the deepest pockets) could dream of putting out an ad for the Super Bowl. Not anymore. It’s the only event of the year where people say they’re watching for the commercials — so for advertisers, the...
OKO Digital Announces Strategic Partnership With Loop Media
NEW YORK, NY – [12/14/2023] — OKO Digital, Google Certified Publisher Partner (GCPP) for CTV, announced this week a new partnership with Loop Media Inc., the Burbank, CA-based provider of Loop®TV, a leading streaming TV platform for...
What is Ad Refresh — and is it a good choice for your website?
It’s true that the Internet is often oriented around short attention spans: short videos, short articles, and short answers. And for those quick-hit sort of pages, it makes sense to be only served a single set of ad impressions. But if a page is a...
Google Ad Manager: Line Item Types and Priorities
If you want to ensure a smooth-running, profitable ad stack, you’re going to need to master the art of Google Ad Manager’s “line item priority.” Depending on your work in the ad industry, you might be working with this function daily, or maybe...
Tracking the Facebook In-App Browser in Google Analytics
OKO’s founder, Mat Bennett, once wrote about Facebook’s in-app browser over on State Of Digital. There, he encouraged marketers and publishers to stop ignoring what is one of the most-popular and under-reported segments of browsers on the web:...
The CTV Advantage: Key Benefits to Maximizing Your Monetization Potential
In today’s digital landscape, where streaming services dominate the entertainment industry, publishers must adapt their monetization strategies to stay relevant. Connected TV (CTV) has emerged as a powerful revenue-driving solution,...
Google ad manager vs ad manager 360 – full comparison
Google’s free version of Google Ad Manager dominates the ad server market. Tight integration with Google’s own demand products (AdSense, Ad Exchange and Open Bidding) allows them to offer this powerful product at no cost to most users. With such a...
AdSense VAT explained
OKO works with Google AdSense publishers from all over the world, but has a particularly strong customer base in Europe, including in the UK. That means that we do occasionally receive a slightly panicky phone call from website owners who’ve earned...
What is Single Request Architecture and should I be using it?
Single Request Architecture is a way of requesting ads from Google Ad Manager’s ad server. It is a Google Publisher Tag set-up feature, at the ad-tag level, that sends all defined ad requests to the GAM ad server at once. This is the alternative...
OKO Assists, As National Hockey Now Takes Center Ice
Being good at what you do is key for success, whether you’re playing hockey or just writing about hockey. And by most metrics, National Hockey Now is very good at what they do. In line with the company’s ethos, they started local: their first site,...
Google AdMob Vs. AdSense: Know the Difference
Google AdMob Vs. AdSense: Know the Difference What is Google Admob and Adsense? Let’s get into it. Not only is digital advertising the most lucrative when compared to traditional advertising methods, but it’s just getting started. The digital ad...
DMP Vs. CMP: What’s the Difference?
What are the differences between a DMP vs CMP, but more importantly the advantages found in both? In today’s world of advertising, correctly managing – and leveraging – consumer data is vital to the success of any marketing campaign....
Best Publisher Ad Servers on the Market
Publishers who are green in the marketing space might hesitate to implement full web monetization due to the number of tasks they will have to invest their research and resources in right away. Between managing ad operations and bidding, leveraging...
What is a Customer Data Platform?
What is a customer data platform? If you’re finding yourself asking this question you’re at the right place. With this platform, publishers can earn incredible insights into their ad management needs through the collection of current customer data....
How to access Google’s Ad Exchange (AdX)
Securing a Google AdX account is often seen as the next step after using and outgrowing Google AdSense, which is best suited to smaller publishers in the early stages of their monetization journey. We’ve outlined the main differences between the...
What’s the Best Google Certified Publishing Partner for You?
As a web publisher, you are likely looking forward to spending your time promoting your passions and developing clout within your niche while earning profits from your site. In order to achieve those goals through website monetization, it’s...
The Complexities of Mobile Ad fraud: What is it?
Technological advancements can be a big boon for publishers and advertisers looking to expand their digital ad networks. But there is a downside to these new developments that can cost a world of financial ruin. Ad fraud exists in many forms, and...
What is Click Spam?
Just as you finally start to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of ad publishing, from creating engaging content to monetizing ads the right way, a bunch of spammers and bots can destroy all of your hard work. Tracking metrics is no easy...
Open Bidding Vs. Header Bidding: What’s the Difference?
What is google open bidding vs header bidding and what’s the difference between the two? Any publisher who has been working to monetize their web and app locations knows all too well that consistent ad bidding is the name of the game. There’s...
What is Google ADX?
What is Google ADX? As the world’s largest ad exchange network for publishers and advertisers alike, Google Ad Exchange is responsible for more than half of all programmatic revenue. Also known as Google ADX, this exchange network is too powerful...
What is a Google Certified Publishing Partner?
To continuously maximize your ad revenue, you need access to top-tier bids for impressions that work for your online publishing space. However, in an increasingly competitive market, it can be difficult to achieve those maximization goals without...
January CPM Slump: What’s The Reason And How to Minimize the Impact
The holiday season ends with advertisers pausing their holiday campaigns. The effects of which are immediately noticeable in publishers’ earnings. Publishers firing up their computers to check earnings early in January often get a nasty...
How to Monetize a WordPress Website: Where to Start
Have you ever wondered: Can I monetize my WordPress website? Or have you ever wondered how to monetize a WordPress website? While there are several website hosting and creation platforms that will allow publishers to have a dynamic website,...
Client-Side vs. Server-Side Header Bidding: What’s the Difference
Just as a publisher is beginning to get comfortable with their knowledge of current ad tech, a new innovation is developed that completely changes the way an ad campaign – and its resulting monetization success – functions altogether....
How to Monetize Websites for Revenue: Where to Start
Between marketing campaigns, web maintenance, and branding initiatives, it can be difficult enough to set up a successful publishing platform on your own. When publishers find out that you can monetize your website and use dynamic ads to increase...
A Publishers’ Guide to Deductions and Clawbacks
Ad-supported businesses are reliant on the revenue that they generate from the ads that run on their apps and websites. It’s no surprise then that discussions around deductions and clawbacks are some of the most emotive in the publishing space....
AI Writing is here, but should publishers embrace or avoid it?
Thanks to algorithms like GPT3, computers are now able to generate text that readers have trouble distinguishing from human written copy. This isn’t new. Even highly regarded institutions, like the BBC, have been using machine learning systems to...
Programmatic Advertising from Start to Finish
What is programmatic media buying, and how does it work? In contrast to traditional (often manual) digital advertising techniques, programmatic advertising involves using automated technology for media buying (the process of purchasing advertising...
6 Right Moves for Publishers to Increase Ad Revenue
The “holy grail” question for online publishers is how do you increase ad revenue? Here are six great ways to address that question 1. Make audience segmentation a top priority It makes sense to concentrate on partnering with...
AdWords vs AdSense: What’s the Difference? What Do I Need to Know?
What’s the difference between AdWords and AdSense, two Google products? Simply put, AdWords (formerly known as Google Ads) is a system that allows businesses to bid for ad space in Google search results and on other Google-affiliated sites. ...
Moving from AdSense to CPM Ads? Rethink Optimization.
As publishers grow their business they become more likely to switch from CPC-based monetization, like AdSense to CPM-based ads. It’s a big step in the publisher journey; marking the point where you have the credibility to sell your advertising...
How Supply & Demand Impact CPM for Ad Monetization
Supply and demand are all over the news these days. Shortages of hand sanitizers, food, and masks made the world evaluate the buying and selling process. Have you ever thought about the impact of supply and demand on your ad monetization? Supply...
Should Publishers Remove Ad Consent Pop-Ups?
Privacy legislation, like Europe’s GDPR, may have forced publishers to use consent pop-ups, but they are begrudging additions to most publisher websites. Even the best consent solutions are interruptive, unattractive, and intensely disliked by most...
6 Ways Publishers Tank Their Mobile Revenue
The proportion of users accessing websites through mobile devices has been climbing steadily since WAP was (thankfully) abandoned and web-enabled phones became the norm. The tipping point of mobile traffic outweighing desktop has been reached in...
Understanding the Google Unreliable and Harmful Claims Policy
The harm caused by misinformation on the web has become a hot topic in recent years. Much of the recent attention has been focused on social media, but the web undoubtedly plays a significant part in its spread. It’s no surprise then that online...
PPIDs : What are Google PPIDs and How You Should Use Them
Google recently announced that publishers now have new ways to activate first-party data through PPIDs – Publisher Provided Identifiers. They also stated that publishers might expect revenue uplifts of up to 15% on some traffic segments by...
AdSense Ad Serving Has Been Limited: What You Can Do
Ad serving limits are a common pain point amongst AdSense publishers. Invalid traffic has been a major theme for Google for the last couple of years and there has been a rise in enforcement action, in an attempt to protect the digital advertising...
Google Ad Manager MCM & AdX SPM
News that Google will be replacing the AdX SPM program (Scaled Partner Management) this year is finally in the public domain and many publishers are growing concerned at how this might impact their ability to monetize through the Google Ad...
OKO Acquired by Insticator Inc
I am delighted to announce that on March 31st OKO Digital, Ltd. was acquired by Insticator Inc. For those not already familiar with Insticator, they offer a suite of solutions to publishers that are focused around driving content engagement; a...
A Guide to Google’s Publisher Tools
Google provides publishers with a complete suite of publisher tools that are designed to help you get the most out of your website. This ranges from publisher tools that help you to monetise your content to tools that help you measure and improve...
AdSense VS AdX and Header Bidding: Which is best when CTR is high?
Will AdSense ever outperform AdX and Header Bidding? Publishers considering whether they should upgrade from AdSense to Header Bidding with Ad Exchange will rightly want to know whether they will earn more by doing so. Combining Header Bidding with...
Last June, Google told publishers that it would no longer monetize users that reject the consent to store and access information on a device. As a result, Google promised the imminent arrival of Limited Ads which allows publishers to monetize users...
Multiplex Ads : Google’s alternative to Taboola and Outbrain
Content-recommendation ads have become the go-to approach for many publishers looking to monetize below-content space. At OKO we’ve long had a difficult relationship with content-recommendation ads as it’s an area where restrictive contracts,...
5 Ad Formats You Need To Try
Google’s ad format offering has continued to expand in the face of users’ evergrowing banner blindness. This means that there are now more ad formats than ever for publishers to choose from, which maximizes chances of delivering the most impactful...
How to tackle low-quality ads
It is inevitable that at some point, publishers of ad-funded websites will come across an ad on their website that does not meet their quality expectations. Low-quality ads have been around ever since the online advertising industry kicked off in...
How to troubleshoot TCF v2.0 Google integration issue 1.1 and 2.1a
The deadline for the IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) v2.0 was on August 15, 2020 which means that Google now fully supports the Framework. Many publishers that use Google Ad Manager are experiencing integration issues and as such are...
Our Top Performing Demand Partners
There is little doubt that Google AdSense is the leading ad network for publishers, but there comes a point where publishers start to demand more from their ad monetization. Running multiple ad networks and exchanges in competition with one another...
Google Ad Exchange FAQ
Want to find out more about Google Ad Exchange? We’ve put together the following Google Ad Exchange FAQ to help answer publishers’ commonly asked questions about AdX. Feel free to leave a question in the comments below that you’d...
Google Chrome will block “heavy” ads
August 2020 Back in May 2019, Google announced its new ‘heavy ad intervention’ feature which aimed to block ads that consume a disproportionate amount of resources and negatively impact the user experience. To reiterate, ads are considered as...
A publisher’s guide to Google AdSense alternatives
When publishers that use AdSense hit a bump in the road, they often think that the grass is greener on the other side, but it can be hard to find a genuinely competitive alternative to AdSense. AdSense is a Google product and Google is a hugely...
OKO Deep Dives: What is eCPM?
In this deep dive, we’ll be taking a closer look at eCPM, or effective cost per mille, and help publishers understand its value, how to calculate it, how it differs from other metrics and how to optimize. Our series of OKO Deep Dives analyse...
How to monetize Safari traffic
As a publisher, it’s important to be aware that CPM rates can vary greatly depending on browser choice. Safari browser, in particular, can yield significantly lower CPMs than Chrome because of Apple’s stance on data privacy and advertising. We’re...
Major Data Protection Laws that Publishers Need to be Aware Of
GDPR is often considered as the toughest data protection law to date. In 2018, GDPR undoubtedly set the bar for privacy legislation worldwide and a number of countries have since reformed data privacy laws with the aim of giving users ownership of...
Is Google planning to refresh AdX in view?
Many publishers using Google’s Ad Exchange will have noticed some unexpected results on July 8th 2020 and recorded disappointing revenue for the day. Whilst fluctuations are never unexpected (especially given the state of the advertising market in...
What are Rewarded Ads?
What are Rewarded Ads? Rewarded ads, or incentivized ads, are in-app ads that offer users an incentive in exchange for interacting with an ad or performing an action, such as watching a video ad, installing an app or registering for a website. A...
Page-Level, Site-Level and Account-Level Enforcements in Google AdSense and Google Ad Manager
Every publisher that uses Google AdSense or Google Ad Manager has their own policy centre which gives detailed information about any current issues that may restrict or limit ad serving on a specific page or on the entire website. These...
OKO Deep Dives: What is Page RPM?
Page RPM is one of the few metrics that give you a true understanding of website revenue performance. OKO Deep Dives drill deep into a single metric to help publishers use it most effectively. In this Deep Dive, we’ll look at Page RPM in both...
TCF 2.0 is coming (fast). What publishers need to do now
The Transparency and Consent Framework was the programmatic advertising industry’s response to privacy laws, such as GDPR, that stipulate that informed consent is needed before processing a user’s personal information. TCF powers most of the...
Google Publisher Policies vs Google Publisher Restrictions
As a publisher, it can be difficult to understand and navigate Google’s often-confusing rules for publishers. One common area of confusion we see is the difference between Publisher Policies and Publisher Restrictions. Publishers need to be aware...
10 AdSense Myths, Busted
With close to 11 million websites being monetized through AdSense, Google’s flagship publisher product is by far the world’s most popular choice for website monetisation. It’s simple enough that the smallest publisher can use it, yet powerful...
What web publishers can do to mitigate the impact of COVID-19
Businesses that rely on ad revenue are experiencing tough times at the moment, but web publishers are not completely helpless in the face of the current crisis. Rather than focusing on measuring the impact, we wanted to share some of the tactics...
Google pumps $340 million in Google Ads credits back into the ads ecosystem to support SMBs during COVID-19
Google is giving the ad ecosystem a shot in the arm as they have pledged to give $340 million in Google Ads credits to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to enable them to stay in touch with their customers during the global pandemic. The...
OKO Deep Dives: Impression RPM
OKO Deep Dives put a single metric under the microscope to answer any question you might have. This Deep Dive looks at one of the core metrics in monetisation; Impression RPM. Although one of the simpler metrics, Impression RPM is the basis of many...
How to overcome Ad Blindness
What is Ad Blindness? Humans have a natural ability to filter out any unnecessary pieces of information, whilst retaining and processing worthwhile information. Ad Blindness is the behaviour exhibited by users on the web who subconsciously or...
A Guide to Google Ad Manager Report Metrics
Google Ad Manager’s reporting functionality is undoubtedly powerful – the sheer number of metrics on offer can be overwhelming. Over time, publishers tend to find their own group of core metrics to focus on, but there are a few report...
Common Video Ad Violations
The high CPMs and opportunity to increase inventory mean that Video advertising is a central part of many website publishers monetization strategies. Whilst the rewards can be solid, there are risks too. Google policy around video advertising is...
Less haste, more speed. Why publishers should stop looking at load times
When looking to improve page performance, many publishers look firstly at reducing the loading time of their page. It seems logical – faster loading pages equals happier users? The truth is that load times are no longer a great measure of how...
Deductions in AdSense
Deductions are always a hot topic of discussion amongst AdSense publishers, as no one likes to feel that money is being taken from them. It’s a topic that also seems to be getting even more attention than usual since the fourth quarter of 2019,...
Google AdSense FAQ
We’ve put together the following Google AdSense FAQ to help answer publishers’ commonly asked questions about AdSense. What is Google AdSense? Launched in 2003, AdSense is one of Google’s flagship monetization product. AdSense enables...
Google’s Privacy Sandbox Initiative Explained
What is Google’s Privacy Sandbox? The Google Privacy Sandbox is a new initiative aimed at making the web more private for users, whilst also still permitting advertisers to carry out tracking and measurement. It comes as a response to growing...
What is Browser Fingerprinting?
What is Browser Fingerprinting and why is it used? Browser Fingerprinting is often seen as an alternative to using Cookies to identify individual users online. There are similarities in the two approaches, but important differences too. Whereas...
How AdSense publishers can deal with ‘new’ Bitcoin extortion threats
A ‘new’ extortion scam seemingly targeting AdSense users has been widely discussed in publisher circles this month after being reported on in the much-respected KrebsOnSecurity blog. The scam seems to be a new take on the ever-popular...
Private Marketplace Deals (PMPs): The Essential Guide
Online advertising is a notoriously difficult landscape to navigate, thanks in part to the number of buzzwords and acronyms in use. In this post, we’ll unravel one of those: PMPs, or Private Marketplace deals. PMPs offer publishers a way to secure...
13 Essential AdSense Tools & Resources That Every Web Publisher Needs
Google is continually adding more AdSense tools to the user interface. However, in 2020, successful publishers need an assortment of tools to ensure that their ads are performing to the highest standard. We’ve put together an ultimate toolkit for...
Coalition for Better Ads VS The Acceptable Ads: What’s the difference?
If you’re a member of the digital advertising ecosystem, you’ve probably heard of either ‘‘Acceptable Ads,’ or the ‘Coalition for Better Ads.’ Both are sets of criteria that were developed to combat the...
What does Google’s ‘death penalty’ for Third-Party Cookies mean for web publishers?
Last week, Google announced its highly anticipated plan to banish support for ‘obsolete’ third-party cookies in Chrome by 2022. The change is likely to shake up the online advertising industry who have long relied upon cookies to target...
What are Web Cookies? Everything you need to know
What are web cookies? A web cookie, also known as an internet cookie or a browser cookie, is a text file that contains information that the website needs to store relating to a particular visit or visitor. The file is stored on the user’s machine,...
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Compliance Guide for Google Ad Manager Publishers
Passed on June 28th 2019, the California Consumer Privacy Act, also known as CCPA, is a set of privacy and consumer protection regulations that were developed to provide more control and transparency to consumers over how personal information is...
The Pros and Cons of Header Bidding
Header Bidding started exploding in popularity in 2015 and has quickly become the preferred ad serving approach for publishers keen to earn more from their ad inventory. The rate of adoption of Header Bidding says a lot about how effective it is at...
How to test new implementations, fix errors and block creatives using the Google Publisher Console
The Google Publisher Console is a helpful tool that publishers can use to check ad delivery issues without self-clicking ads or generating impressions yourself. In the third part of our Google Publisher Console guide, we’ll be looking at...
Top Performing Ad Sizes and Placements in Google Ad Manager
Whether you are new to ad monetization and are setting up AdSense on your website, or you already have ads on your site and just want to fine-tune them, you’re going to want to learn about the difference between the various sizes and placements in...
Is it a good idea to buy website traffic?
Organic traffic can be hard to come by and difficult to predictably scale. It is no surprise then that many publishers look at buying website traffic as a way to boost their numbers. Paid traffic can be risky though, particularly for websites that...
Invalid User Activity and Traffic: Everything publishers need to know
What is Invalid User Activity (IVA)? According to Google, Invalid User Activity occurs when a real person interacts with an ad but not out of genuine interest. These deceptive interactions can often artificially inflate an advertiser’s costs...
How to create Native Ads in Google Ad Manager and get them live on site
In this guide, we’ll be showing you step-by-step how to create native ads and how to get the ads live on site. As you’ll no doubt be aware, component-based ads are beneficial for many reasons; they’re highly engaging, eminently suited...
The OKO guide to Publisher Ads Audits for Lighthouse
Publisher Ad Audits is a series of tests that can be run on any page that runs Google Ad Manager using the GPT tag. The tools is part of Google’s Lighthouse performance testing tool, which has replaced the old pagespeed tests, and gives a...
Ad Viewability : An OKO Deep Dive
Ad Viewability is a key factor affecting the price that advertisers are willing to pay for your ad inventory, making viewability one of the few levers that publishers have to influence bid rates. A 1% increase in ad viewability leads to an average...
13 Google AdSense Facts and Statistics
AdSense is Google’s flagship monetisation product, offering a turn-key way for websites of all sizes to begin to earn money from ads. Its simplicity has positioned it as the most widely used publisher monetization model. As such, we have created a...
Video Advertising: A Guide to Video Ad Types and Formats
In recent years, video advertising has become a dominant force in the digital advertising ecosystem, with 87% of businesses leveraging video content into their marketing strategy in 2019. The term ‘video advertising’ encompasses not...
How to use the Google Publisher Console
The Google Publisher Console is an excellent tool, used by publishers serving ads on their website through Google Ad Manager (GAM), which enables you to check the implementation of ad units and diagnose delivery issues. In order to access the...
Google streamlines and simplifies their publisher policies and restrictions
During August, Google notified publishers that they would soon be rolling out a new and improved version of their content policies to minimize any confusion in terms of understanding what content can or cannot be monetized. The change comes as part...
French publishers could be shooting themselves in the foot by imposing “Link Tax”
On 24th October 2019, France will be the first out of the 28 EU member states to enforce Article 11 of the European Copyright Directive. This law entitles French publishers to remuneration for the use of short excerpts of text taken from...
How publishers can maximize their monetization in Q4
The fourth quarter of the year is a critical period for digital publishers of ad-supported websites and apps. The build-up to the holiday season is a time when advertisers are willing to ramp up their ad spend to try and compete with other...
How to enable the Google Publisher Console
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...
What we learned at BrightonSEO 2019
Last week, myself (Dolly) and Maria attended BrightonSEO. For me, it was my first BrightonSEO, however, Maria had attended in previous years. We both thoroughly enjoyed this year and hope to attend next year. This year’s BrightonSEO had 8...
Why do CPMs drop suddenly every quarter?
Anyone who runs an ad-funded website soon becomes aware of how CPMs are far from static. Sudden changes in rates can be a sign of a problem, but there are also regular patterns that impact CPM rates and are beyond the control of publishers. Knowing...
Not content with blocking your revenue, Ad Blockers are now stealing it
Publishers have become accustomed to having ad revenue blocked, but an increasing number of ad blocking solutions are now diverting that income to their own accounts rather than just blocking ads. The techniques used are not new. The concept of...
Google’s “Two-Click” Penalty: Everything publishers need to know
A growing number of AdSense and Ad Exchange publishers have been talking about a “Two-Click” penalty being placed on their sites. This is also commonly being called a “Double Click Penalty,” “Click Confirmation”...
Running Amazon UAM together with Prebid and Exchange Bidding
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace, or UAM, is Amazon’s entry into the header bidding space. Like prebid based header bidding, Amazon UAM provides a mechanism for multiple bidders to place bids on the same ad request. Unlike prebid, UAM runs server-side...
How do Ad Networks differ from an Ad Exchange?
Online advertising began as, and still is, a way for publishers to monetize their content so that users can access their content for free. In the earlier days of the internet, publishers sought ways to sell the unsold inventory that remained after...
Unfilled Impressions in Ad Manager : How to understand, diagnose and fix them
Unfilled impressions are ad requests for which Ad Manager was not able to serve a line item. Ad Manager Help describes unfilled impressions as a ‘red alert’ to lost revenue, but this can be misleading, as they can be equally indicative of set-up...
What is Native Advertising? Everything publishers need to know
Over the past few years, the use of Native Advertising has exploded in the industry with a 35% annual growth rate. The term is frequently thrown around in the programmatic industry, but what exactly do we mean by ‘Native Advertising’? Native ads...
The History of Online Advertising
Happy 26th Birthday Digital Advertising The digital advertising industry has evolved exponentially since 1994, the year that the first online banner ad appeared. In this timeline, we will explore the origins of the digital advertising industry and...
Integrating Quantcast Choice with Google Ad Manager
Quantcast Choice is a popular Consent Management Platform (CMP) for publishers for good reasons. It’s well proven, easy to set-up, free to use and utilises the IAB Consent Management Framework. That framework ensures that the consent users give is...
Firefox promises users “Ad-free internet” (for a price)
The Mozilla Foundation, the people behind the Firefox browser have been teasing the internet with what sounds a lot like the reinvention of Google Contribute – The “pay to see less ads” service that morphed into Funding Choices. The...
Browser CPM Rates – When it comes to ad revenue, all browsers aren’t equal
When running a website, one consideration that publishers have to make to ensure a good user experience is their users’ browser choice. Few though take time to consider how a user’s choice of browser influences the ad revenue they are...
How do First Price and Second Price Auctions differ?
There is a lot of talk in online advertising about First Price and Second Price auctions. The difference between the two is simple, but there is more to know about the two auction formats than just understanding the mechanics. Given that almost...
Will the Global Better Ads Standards impact you?
If you use Google Ad Manager, then you may have come across this notification reminding you to comply with the Better Ads Standards: “Will the Global Betters Ads Standards impact you? Starting July 9, Chrome support for the Better Ads...
Amazon successfully wins bid for Sizmek’s ad serving technology
On May 31st, Amazon confirmed that they had agreed to acquire Sizmek’s Ad Server and Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) platform. This agreement concluded months of speculation following Sizmek declaring bankruptcy in March and selling off their...
How to get started and setup Exchange Bidding
It’s not often that publishers are given a way to increase ad revenue without any significant drawback, so it is no surprise that Google Exchange Bidding is a popular choice for those who can get access. The ability to open up new demand...
Increasing Pageviews Per Session
If you run an ad-funded website, you don’t need us to tell you the importance of increasing your average pageviews per session – more pageviews, more ad views, more revenue. But you might need us to tell you how to get more pageviews per...
German organisation Ad Alliance unites with publisher Media Impact to compete against digital giants
Four of Germany’s biggest publishing groups are joining forces to compete with the market power of tech platforms, such as Facebook, Google and Amazon. RTL Group, Gruner+Jahr and Media Impact, which is the joint marketing organisation of Axel...
What is Cookie Matching and why is it important to publishers?
The huge growth of online advertising owes much to the promise of providing more targeted reach than mass media, which is achieved through Cookie Matching. Unlike traditional newspaper, TV or radio advertising, online advertising can be directed at...
Forced redirect ads: What publishers need to know and how to stop them
The pop-up on your phone might claim that “You’ve won”, but it doesn’t always feel like publishers are winning when it comes to one particular form of malvertising. Forced redirect ads, or auto-refresh ads are a real problem...
How will Chrome’s privacy changes impact publishers
We posted last week about changes that are being made to Google Chrome’s privacy that will affect how cookies are used on the web. In this follow-up post, we’ll talk more about the possible impact of these changes from a publisher...
Can you stop bad ads by raising Floor Prices?
Bad ads, Malvertising, Malicious advertising: Whatever you call it, the problem of programmatic ads being used for purposes other than advertising is an ongoing issue for web publishers. As publishers we are judged not only by our content, but by...
Chrome announces anti tracking measures
Google annual developer conference, Google IO, was held in Mountain View last week. Amongst the headlines of hardware releases and software product changes was an announcement of privacy changes to Chrome that could have a very significant impact...
How to monetize website traffic
Whilst many websites are started as the result of a passion, as websites grow the pressure to monetize that traffic grows with them. Understanding how to monetize website traffic is essential to ensuring the success of any site. Despite many of the...
What is Server to Server Bidding?
One of the most effective ways for publishers to drive up CPM rates is to ensure that enough good demand partners are bidding on their inventory. There are a number of ways to do this, each with it’s own benefits and drawbacks, but publishers...
Sizmek files for Chapter 11. What it means for publishers
Publishers around the web have been left in the dark about their revenues after independent AdTech service Sizmek files for Chapter 11 protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Sizmek are major buyers across...
AdSense vs Ad Manager
AdSense and Ad Manager are the two cornerstones of Google’s publisher-facing toolset. Both programmes help site owners earn money from ads on their websites, but they are wildly different tools with far less overlap than some realise....
Ad Waterfalls Explained
Most recent update: September 2023 This article was originally published in July 2018 and is periodically updated to keep it accurate and current. Ad waterfalls, also known as daisy chains, are used to optimize revenue from setups with multiple...
Would Google really block 3rd party tracking?
Could Google be about to follow Safari and Firefox and add their own Cookie Blocking solution to Chrome? Until recently, most industry pundits would have baulked at Google blocking the cookies that feed the advertising eco-system. Google is,...
How Apple’s ITP 2.1 hurts publishers
This month saw the announcement, and hurried release of Apple’s ITP 2.1, the latest version incarnation of anti-tracking built into the company’s Safari Browser. Whereas early versions of ITP were seen by many as necessary, if somewhat...
The Ultimate Guide to Google Ad Manager Key Values
Key Values in Google Ad Manager are often overlooked or misunderstood. Originally introduced as DFP Targeting Parameters, Key-Values are a deceptively simple mechanism that provide greatly improved flexibility for both targeting and reporting. This...
Why are some publisher getting GDPR warnings from Google?
Considering the attention that Google gets over data privacy, it didn’t come as much of a surprise when they started warning publishers about compliance to their User Consent policy back in December. What is more surprising is why some...
Ad Exchange for Header Bidding
Header bidding has brought about a small revolution in publisher monetisation, yet many publishers are still missing out on one of the key financial benefits: Last bid via DoubleClick Ad Exchange. This simple addition to a header bidding set-up...
No, Google isn’t about the kill off ad blockers
Web publishers following the tech headlines this week could be forgiven if they were found rubbing their hands with excitement at the thought of reclaiming revenue lost through ad blocker adoption. Whilst headlines proclaiming that Google may...
Google begin warning publishers over EU User Consent and GDPR
Google have begun issuing warnings to some publishers who they have deemed to be outside of their EU User Consent policy. Google’s EU User Consent policy deals is part of their GDPR compliance and deals largely with obtaining permissions to...
Ad Manager’s “review your ads.txt setup” warning
One of the most frequent warnings we see in Google Ad Manager is the yellow bar across the top of the page stating Warning – Please review your ads.txt setup to prevent potential revenue impact. Such high-impact warnings are always a...
10 Questions to ask before committing to Header Bidding
Header Bidding has now become the standard approach to programmatic ad display and few would argue with the revenue gains that header bidding can bring. Yet, despite the promises of increased earnings, many publishers still don’t utilise...
EU approved Link Tax and Upload Filter directive
Last week the European Parliament voted in favour of the controversial Copyright Directive, despite widespread criticism of the planned law. The directive aims to bring copyright law into the internet age. It is frequently claimed that the bill is...
Explained: googletag.defineSlot was called more times than there are DIVs in the DOM associated with ad slots while in Single Request Mode
Google Publisher Console is an amazing tool for diagnosing delivery issues in you Google Ad Manager set-up. It’s simple to use and will give you information about any problems Ad Manager is encountering, but it isn’t always obvious what...
Firefox browser to block “ad trackers”
Mozilla have boarded the anti-advertising bandwagon and announced a series of “Anti-tracking” measures to be included in future versions of the Firefox browser. Some of these measures are already available to users of the...
Bid Caching Explained: What bid caching means for publishers
In August 2018, Index Exchange found themselves in the middle of an ad tech controversy, following the revelation that they had been engaging in bid caching for more than a year. The company claimed to have believed that the feature was standard...
A Guide to Programmatic Advertising Deal Types
Programmatic advertising can be a confusing area to work in. It’s a fast changing space with an ever growing list of buzzwords and acronyms that overlap and are often poorly defined. Even the meaning of the term “programmatic”...
Chrome now actively warning users of non-secure sites
It’s been on the cards for years, but the day has finally come that Google has started actively warning users whenever they are on a non-secure website. Google has been highlighting secure and non-secure sites in Chrome for some time, but with the...
The Header Bidding Process
Header Bidding has become the norm for any publisher site with reasonable levels of traffic thanks to the revenue gains it brings. Despite quickly becoming the standard set-up, the principals of how Header Bidding process works are often...
Reminder: It’s July and speed is more important than ever
As reported back in March, Google’s “Speed update” is being rolled out this month. With publisher sites having to deal with the extra (and not unsubstantial) load of ad serving, this is an important update for those sites relying...
California follows Europe with Privacy Bill
Lawmakers in California have this week passed the California Privacy Bill to give residents of the state more control over the information businesses collect about them. The historic bill, passed on Thursday, has similarities to Europe’s GDPR...
Google says farewell to AdWords and DoubleClick
Google have announced that they are to retire the DoubleClick brand and streamline the presentation of their ad products. The announcement, made in New York, on Tuesday is essentially cosmetic and aims to bring the presentation of Google’s ad...
EU votes for “disastrous” copyright bill. Article 11 and Article 13 get approval
Not content with plastering the internet with annoying GDPR pop-ups, the European Parliament is pushing forward with further measures to disrupt the Internet. On June 20th a committee of MEPs voted to accept major changes to European copyright law...
How the world’s busiest websites tackle GDPR consent
Confusion around GDPR has led many website owners to make the decision to wait and see how other websites tackle it before committing to their own solution. User consent is an area of particular concern for many websites, with a myriad of...
Exchange Bidding vs Header Bidding
Header Bidding adoption has swept through the digital publishing industry over the last few years, giving publishers an effective way of boosting revenue without adding additional inventory. In response to the rise of Header Bidding, Google...
Why successful publishers focus on Session RPM
The amount of data available to a web publisher can be a two-edged sword. On one hand, more data means being able to inform a wider range of decisions. On the other hand, that data can distract from what is important or even overwhelm. A common...
Google to penalise slow loading mobile sites from July
From July it will be more important than ever for website owners to ensure that their sites load quickly on all devices as Google will start penalising sites that load slowly for mobile users. The planned update has been dubbed the “Speed update”...
Understanding AdSense Targeting Types
AdSense targeting types are the ways in which advertisers target different ads to web pages. What are the AdSense Targeting Types? Contextual targeting, ads related to the content on a page Placement targeting, hand picked by advertisers for a...
DoubleClick drops support for IE10 in GPT
Release notes on the latest version of DoubleClick for Publishers show that Google has dropped support for Internet Explorer 10 and below on it’s Google Publisher Tags (GPT). Although the notice appears on the DFP Premium help, this change...
Why Search Console is now vital for web publishers
Search Console is a free to use service for website owners/managers that acts as a formal point of contact between the website admin and Google. Called “Google Webmaster Tools” until May 2015, the service gives site owners a small collection of...
Chrome ad blocking – what publishers need to know
It’s big news for publishers that from February 15th 2018, Chrome ad blocking will go live & start blocking ads from displaying on sites that it give users a “bad ad experience”. Some publishers see this as the latest in a long series of...
What do publishers have to fear over Net Neutrality Rollback?
Last week, in the US, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeat legislation that protects the neutrality of access to the Internet. Although the fight for Net Neutrality continues, this is a worrying development for independent web...
Job vacancy: Technical Account Executive, Portsmouth area
The opportunity: OKO are looking for a smart, detail focused individual who is up for the challenge of taking on a customer facing role as part of our small, world-renowned team. We’ll give you the training, resources and opportunity to learn all...
Google adds “Sensationalism” to ad blocking choices
Google has enabled a new ad blocking option for sensationalist ads shown through parts of their network. Sensationalism currently appears as a sensitive category in Ad Exchange ad blocking rules and is disabled by default. The new sensitive...
How “guaranteed to beat AdSense” might earn you less than you think
Most successful AdSense publishers will have, at some point, been approached by an ad network that guarantees to beat AdSense. The pitch is simple and sounds almost too good to be true: “Switch your AdSense code for our code and we’ll pay you more...
Six leading ad industry groups have published an open letter to Apple urging them to reconsider their cookie blocking plans. Apple will soon release a version of it’s Safari browser that blocks first party cookies under the guise of...
ads.txt – What is ads.txt? How to implement for AdSense and others
What is ads.txt? Ads.txt, also known as Authorised Digital Sellers, is the IAB Tech Lab’s initiative to clean up and bring transparency to digital advertising by eliminating the ability to profit from counterfeit inventory. This is achieved...
Job vacancy: Digital Advertising Analyst
OKO is a locally based company with a global reputation for excellence in the thriving field of digital advertising. We help power the free-web by enabling website publishers to earn from the content they create and are the only UK company...
Why AdSense CPC plummeted this week
Alarm bells have been ringing for many AdSense publishers this week after CPCs dropped by up to 75% over the weekend. The unprecedented drops appeared to be hitting one traffic geo at a time, starting with the US and Canada on Saturday. Although...
Google Certified Publishing Partners: What is GCPP?
Google introduced the Google Certified Publishing Partner (GCPP) program to assist online publishers by providing them with access to Google services through trustworthy and knowledgeable partners, such as OKO. Companies partnered with Google under...
New scam targeting web publishers
Web publishers need to keep their eyes peeled for a new scam from fake networks / exchanges abusing the name of established players. Scam ad networks are not a new thing. Forums are full of “new networks” appearing that promise great CPMs to...
Google AdSense Certified Partners – What can a GASCP AdSense Partner do for you?
Google launched their AdSense Certified Partners program back in 2003 to help publishers get more from the Google AdSense product range. OKO are very proud to have been invited to be part of that program and become the first UK company to...
It’s official : Google Chrome to block ads by default
Important note: This blog was originally authored in June 2017. Since the, the Chrome ad blocker has become reality. You can find more up to date information about this here: Chrome ad blocking – what publishers need to know An announcement on the...
What does Google deem as “Excessive Advertising”?
When Google changed the number of ad units allowed per page back in August 2016, they removed the previous “3 display unit” hard limit. Some publishers chose to interpret this as “unlimited ads”, but as we warned at the time...
The Facebook news feed algorithm: why hardly anyone sees what you post and what you can do about it
Create a Facebook Page and watch the Likes rolls in. Not to mention an avalanche of clicks to your website. What a fantastic, super easy and above all, FREE way of generating traffic. Boom! Well, yes and no. Maybe back in 2010 before every brand,...
The real cost of first look
It’s becoming increasingly common for some ad networks to push hard to get first look on your impressions. Publishers will often be offered a premium price (either a floor or fixed CPM) for every impression the network takes, with the promise to...
Facebook takes on “financially-motivated spammers”
The last few years has seen Facebook become the favourite playground for ad arbitrage, and it seems that Facebook have had enough. On May 10th Facebook announced that they had begun rolling out changes that will devalue posts that link to “low...
Google closes net on hate speech publishers
Google made some subtle, but important changes to their policy on hate speech on April 26th. The changes come after a challenging few weeks where Google faced criticism and advertiser walk-outs over the content on some parts of the Google Publisher...
Google loosens policy on 300×250 mobile ATF units
Google have announced a policy U-turn that many publishers with mobile traffic are going to appreciate. Until this week, the policy was that ad units that are more than 100 pixels high should not be displayed above the fold on mobile devices, due...
Why default ad-blocking in Chrome might be good news for publishers
Important note: This blog was originally authored in April 2017. Since the, the Chrome ad blocker has become reality. You can find more up to date information about this here: Chrome ad blocking – what publishers need to know A report in the Wall...
Mobile video advertising overtakes TV
TV is dead, long live mobile! The latest research into video display advertising from AdColony has revealed that media buyers are putting a larger budget on mobile video campaigns than television. It seems that all those 55 inch TV 4K screens are...
OKO join The Acceptable Ads Committee
Eyeo, the makers of AdBlock Plus have long promised that the management of their “Acceptable Ads” programme would one-day be handed over to an independent committee. That time is now getting closer with the first committee members confirmed and OKO...
Is Google really funding extremists?
Google is in the news again, and this time it is for “funding extremists”. A host of large advertisers have either pulled or paused advertising on parts of the Google network after a report in The Times showed big brand ads on extremist content....
Is Google’s Fred update targeting ad publishers?
This week Google released a new update to its search engine and this has caused concern among some publishers – it seems that Google is penalising websites that display too many adverts. Google has not made any official statement regarding...
Google adds new AdSense blocking categories
In case you missed it, last month Google made significant updates to category management by adding new AdSense blocking categories. Publishers now have more control over the adverts that are shown on their sites. When used correctly, this can help...
Google to retire the official AdSense WordPress plugin
In January 2014, the Google AdSense team launched their own AdSense WordPress plugin to help publishers display ads without the hassle of adding individual ad units to text widgets and theme files. This week, we learned that they are retiring the...
Google has started banning fake news sites from it’s AdSense network
Fake news sites have plagued the Internet for years, but whereas they used to be built purely for commercial gain, they are now being exploited by political extremists to influence how nations think, and more importantly feel, about various global...
Much to the relief of webmasters and web users all over the World, the European Commission has announced plans to overhaul the EU cookie laws , with the aim to reduce the need for obtrusive cookie banners. Since 2012, webmasters have been required...
Google starts to enforce EU Cookie Consent Policy
The EU Directive on cookie consent was adopted in 2011 by European countries, and from 26 May 2012, the directive became law. Websites which receive EU visitors were at the time urged to implement a cookie consent solution for their websites,...
Google provides insights into the war on bad ads, spam and scams
Unless you are publishing online you are probably unaware of how prevalent ad fraud has become. Last week, Scott Spencer from Google’s Director of Product Management, Sustainable Advertising, shared some insights into the problems that Google faces...
Publishers invited to sign up to the new Google Contributor program
Following the closure of the original Google Contributor program, Google has started to accept sign-ups to the new platform – you can sign up via this page. The Google Contributor program was first launched in America in 2015 and run until...
Dealing with DFP Malvertising notifications
When Google emails you with the subject line “Open immediately: Malvertising notification” it tends to get your attention. A growing number of publishers have been receiving emails just like that and are not always sure the cause of the urgent...
Has the time come for publishers to switch to https?
The last few years have seen a lot of encouragement for website owners to deliver their sites via https, yet many ad funded websites are still to make the change. Few people would deny that serving website securely via https is a good thing, but...
AdSense policy gets more granular
There has been a small, but important change to AdSense policy in the last week that has potential to bring significant change to the way policy is enforced. The change itself is just a single word, so would be easy to miss: The word...
When does a $2 CPM beat a $4 CPM?
Publishers are used to dealing in CPMs. They’re a convenient way to compare rates and an easy metric to work with. However, they are only useful when making true like for like comparisons – something that is easy to exploit. We love...
Google tackles fake news sites
Google have updated publisher policies to prevent fake news sites from monetising through the AdSense platform. Fake news sites have been a popular strategy in recent years thanks to the ease with which sensational news stories can go viral on...
Understanding Google Ad Manager responsive ads
Google defines Responsive Ads as ads that automatically adjust their size, appearance and format to fit available ad spaces. Responsive websites are a great solution in many ways, but it is hard to deny that they do make ad serving more...
Vacancy: Operations Manager
It’s an exciting time here at OKO with interesting developments happening on a number of fronts. We’re growing too and it’s time to grow the team a little more to accommodate everything that is going on. We’re delighted to...
AdSense and Adx PII warnings : Who are you sharing your user data with?
Over the last thirty days we have seen an increasing number of long standing AdSense and Ad Exchange publishers receiving PII warnings regarding the passing of PII (Personally Identifiable Information). These policy notices include a warning that...
How are CPM rates determined?
This post was originally published on 20 September 2016 but is frequently updated to ensure its relevancy. The most recent update was 30th August 2023. Whether you’re a publisher working online, or an advertiser managing a campaign, you’re going to...
The delights and dangers of monetising User Generated Content
Content is the cornerstone of web publishing, but can be expensive and time-consuming to produce. No wonder the idea of having your website users provide the content for free is so appealing. From forums to free-ads, dating sites to microblogs,...
Changes to number of Google ads allowed per page
Changes were made last week to the AdSense and Ad Exchange policy pages relating to the number of Google ads that a publisher can place on each web page. There has not yet been an official announcement from Google about the change but this is not...
3 Reasons You Need Video Content (and 7 Ways To Make It On The Cheap)
Video content has always presented a great opportunity for publishers, but technical and cost barriers mean that it is an opportunity that is often overlooked. 2019 has seen that opportunity grow and publishers who can find a way to produce video...
Increase in warnings about ad code appearing on sites that you don’t own
We’ve spotted an increase in AdSense warnings about code appearing on sites that are not owned by the account. The warning appears as a yellow alert bar on the home dashboard screen of AdSense, with the full text reading as follows: In the...
OKO become Google Certified Publishing Partners
We’re thrilled to announce another exciting first for OKO today with us becoming the first UK company to be awarded Google Certified Publishing Partner status. GCPP status is Google’s endorsement of excellence in the publisher side of the online...
Job Vacancy : Website account manager
It’s an exciting time here at OKO and we’re looking to expand our team to help us meet new challenges. Our growing Publisher Development team are the core of our business. They partner with ad-funded websites to help them grow their...
Sticky ads with AdSense and AdX
Sticky ads, those that don’t scroll off the page as the user scrolls down, have always been popular with publishers. They’re an efficient use of space and your ad-unit allowance and are good at catching the user’s eye. With CPM ads on Google...
Adding users to DFP
1. Navigate to the new user screen in DFP Visit www.google.com/dfp and login if you aren’t already Click Admin in the header menu (see 1) Click Users in the resulting side menu (see 2) Click the New user button (see 3) 2. Enter the user...
Using DFP Key-values to structure inventory
At OKO we often start the process of Ad Inventory Management by overhauling the publisher’s DFP inventory. It isn’t unusual to find relatively simple sites with hundreds of ad units defined. This is most common with older accounts, where...
#FreeWebFriday Windguru.cz
OKO’s #FreeWebFriday continues this week with every wind and kitesurfers favourite weather forecasting site: Windguru.cz. In existence since 2000 head honcho Vaclav Hornik has been involved from the start having identified a need to provide...
#FreeWebFriday WhoSampled.com
This week’s #FreeWebFriday honours WhoSampled.com, a community driven online project that is uncovering the connections between music through samples, covers and remixes. Visitors to the site can view any of 353,000 songs and 122,000 artists and...
#FreeWebFriday TemplateMaker.nl
#FreeWebFriday is our celebration of the free worldwide web; Great sites that are free to use with a little help from online advertising. We are going to share one of our favourites here on the blog every Friday, but hope that others join in with...
Introducing #FreeWebFriday
Internet advertising has been getting a bad reputation lately, thanks to a small minority of bad players overloading websites with intrusive and annoying ads. With a growing number of users installing ad-blocking software there is a real risk of...
Fighting back against ad-blocking
The rise of ad blocking over the last few years has been hard to ignore. Fuelled by overly-aggressive advertising, more users have turned to the “blunt instrument” of simply blocking every ad possible. Ad blocking has become a hot...
Three bad ways to set CPM rates in Google Ad Manager (and one good one)
If you are a Google Ad Manager publisher running either AdSense or AdX and you have been paying attention, then you probably already use Dynamic Allocation to increase your earnings. If not, read “Why dynamic allocation makes DFP so...
Why dynamic allocation makes DFP so good
Ad Publishers now have a bewildering array of ad-servers to choose from. Each offers their own distinct benefits, yet the Small Business edition of DoubleClick For Publishers remains our first choice for virtually every publisher that OKO work...
European court rules website liable for user comments
Anyone running website that allow for user generated content or comments has another thing to worry about thanks to a ruling this week from the European Court of Human Rights. The court ruled that Estonian news site Delfi was liable for the...
AdSense bid types explained
AdSense is best known as a Cost Per Click network, but any publisher who has ventured into the bid types report will know that advertisers aren’t all paying per click. Understanding bid types is crucial to making informed layout decisions, so here...
AdSense to stop paying on unviewed impressions
Last week Google announced that it would stop charging advertisers for unviewed impressions on the Google Display Network. With over half of impressions going unviewed, this could be big news for the AdSense publishers who make up that network....
Are Cookie notices the cure that is worse than the disease?
With Google being recruited to be the EUs “Cookie police”, notices about cookie usage are literally popping-up all over the internet again. Whilst some might argue that these notices are an important step for user privacy, I personally see them as...
Important note – This approach deals with cookies, but not the wider GDPR requirement. Please go to our EU User Consent Guide for more up-to-date information The new EU user consent requirements for website owners using DFP, AdSense or AdX...
AdSense and Cookies. The EU user consent requirement explained
AdSense publishers were notified back in July that they would need to make changes to their websites to comply with the new EU user consent policy. The notification required that changes were in place by September 30th 2015. Despite the looming...
The Brighton SEO survival guide
It’s September, which means that the twice yearly migration of digital marketing types to Brighton will soon begin. We’ve put together our teams tips for surviving and getting the most out of the UK’s biggest free digital...
Ads on child friendly websites
If your website, or any part of it, is directed at Children then running display advertising on it can pose a few problems. You probably already work hard to ensure that your website content it suitable for your younger audience, but what about...
Quick AdSense wins: Instantly growing your ad inventory
The fastest way to improve your AdSense earnings is to increase the number of ads that you are delivering. For a well optimised site that means either increasing traffic or increasing the number of pages each visitor views. Increasing page views...
Auction pressure and why your CPM is probably lower than it could be
One of the core principals we use to increase ad revenue for the publishers we work with is to get advertisers to pay closer to their top bid. Advertising through networks like AdSense is settled by auction and just like a real-life auction room...
How high traffic can lower your AdSense RPM
It doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect that doubling your page views should double your earnings, yet this is rarely the experience of content producers who see sudden surges of traffic. All too often RPMs drop almost mirroring the traffic...
Your site’s mobile-friendliness is now considered as a Google Search ranking signal
Eagle eyed AdSense publishers have been calling in this week as a result of a new notification in their AdSense dashboard. The notification simply reads “Your site’s mobile-friendliness is now considered as a Google Search ranking signal” and...
Ad blocking ruled legal in Germany
Ad Blocking is a thorny topic online. On one hand many user feel the need to block ads, as demonstrated by the sheer popularity of ad blocking extensions. On the other hand ad-blocking takes away the revenue that pays for the content that those...
How much AdSense revenue will the mobile update cost you?
Today is the day that Google will release its “mobile friendly update”, the much talked about change that will see sites penalised if they do not meet basic usability standards for smart phone users. Much has been said about the update already, and...
High AdSense CTR April 20th. Are you being click bombed?
Many AdSense publishers have run a roller-coaster of emotions today as initial excitement over high earnings turned to fear about unnatural activity. The problem started with unnaturally high Click-Through-Rates over the weekend causing earnings to...
7 ways to attract more brand advertisers
The term Brand Advertising conjures up the image of big budget campaigns from the likes of Nike and Coca-Cola; exactly the sort of interest that many site owners would love to have in their ad inventory. Brand advertising can indeed totally change...
Google consumer surveys introduction
Google Consumer surveys are an interesting prospect for those looking for alternative ways to monetise their website. The process is simple: You wrap your premium content in a div that is hidden from users until they complete a quick survey and...
What does AdSense consider PII anyway?
Google’s Publisher Policy Team, based out of Mountainview, have been busy emailing out their sincerest apologies to publishers to recently received erroneous communications about breaches to the AdSense PII policy. Whilst the original emails were...
AdSense on dynamic pages
The current system works well, but it is not instant. As there is a delay between AdSense first seeing the code on a page and that page being crawled by Mediabot, it does mean there are times when AdSense is less aware of the content on a page,...
Why you shouldn’t be encouraging ad clicks
The most common occurrence of people being accused of encouraging clicks is the choice of words next to their ads. Many site owners like to write ‘Help support our site, click on our sponsors!’ or ‘Support us’ when in reality the only Google...
OKO Christmas Opening
OKO Christmas Opening The OKO elves will be taking a well earned break over Christmas. We will have limited staff available to help publishers and site owners between Christmas and new year. MON 22ND DEC : OPEN AS USUAL TUE 23RD DEC : OPEN AS USUAL...
What is CPMAV in AdSense reports?
Last month a new term started appearing in publisher reports, and it has sparked a flurry of enquiries to our AdSense team asking “What is CPMAV?”. The new heading has appeared in the Bid Types report, highlighting that advertisers now...
AdX vs AdSense – Which is better, will Ad Exchange earn you more?
AdX vs AdSense, who’s the real winner? The Google Ad Exchange (also called AdX or Google Adx) is a topic that seems to be gaining interest amongst website publishers, and existing AdSense users, keen to ensure that they are getting the best...
Automated intelligence alerts (and why you should be using them)
Whilst there are measures that can be taken to reduce “surprises” with your website, there are so many things that can potentially go wrong that it is impossible to ensure against everything. Sometimes the best we can do is to make sure that we...
Should I use Google Ad Manager with AdSense?
Whilst AdSense is Google’s best known website monetization product, many larger publishers will use Google Ad Manager. Google Ad Manager is a hosted ad server that manages your ad inventory and orders and helps you maximise your earnings. The...
Is the Highest CPC ad always the best?
When selling your ad inventory via a CPC network you don’t just need high bids, you need clicks too. Imagine the extreme situation where an advertiser bids very high on an ad that users of your site will never click on. That bid will win often win...
Download Mat’s Biddable World Deck
I hope that you enjoyed my talk at Biddable World and that you are already thinking about how you might turn ad potential into conversions as a result. If you enjoyed it, or have any feedback or questions, please use the comments below. That was...
Should You Pay Per Click To Advertise An AdSense Site?
AdSense and AdWords are two sides of the same coin. AdWords gives advertisers a means to drive targeted traffic to their site on a cost-per-click basis, and AdSense allows site owners to share that advertising revenue by hosting adverts on their...
Linking AdSense to Analytics
One of the easiest ways to shed more light on your AdSense performance is to link your AdSense account to Google Analytics. If you use Google Analytics already you’ll know it contains a wealth of actionable information about your website. Linking...
PPC for free: How to get AdWords traffic with a budget of $0
I love real time PPC platforms like Google AdWords. They’re instant, controllable and thanks to accurate targeting deliver conversion rates that can bring tears to the eye of organic search specialists. I have one problem with them though: The...
Introduction to Hootsuite – The Social Media Dashboard
Why should I bother with Social Sites? We all know that social media sites are key to growing your business. It’s important to understand that this is not a passing fad, there are vast amounts of people signing up to new accounts each day all of...
10 Common AdSense Pitfalls
The road to AdSense success may or may not be paved with gold, but it definitely has a few pitfalls to catch out the unwary traveller. Here are 10 of the most common AdSense pitfalls that I’ve encountered in my 10 year AdSense career: 1. Ignoring...
AdSense Referrers – How to spot the bad guys
In a recent Google+ thread several publishers were discussing unusual traffic patterns coming from a particular referring domain and expressing concern that these could be generating invalid clicks. Understanding such risks is a vital part of the...
The anatomy of a successful AdSense website
As part of the AdSense 10th anniversary celebrations, Google published 16 AdSense success stories on their website. Each of these stories represented one website that has succeeded with the benefit of AdSense. Whilst these may not be the world’s...
How seriously should I take the AdSense Scorecard?
Google introduced AdSense Scorecards in June last year as a way to communicate key optimisation opportunities to publishers. 10 months on, opinion over the Scorecard is still divided. For some the “quest for fifteen blue dots” has brought...
Have you checked your AdSense Active View performance yet?
Google made an important change to AdSense publisher accounts last week, yet it is a change that seems to have gone almost unnoticed by publishers. Performance reports now have two new metrics available: Active View Measurable and Active View...
AdSense introduces 3-Way Billing
The Google AdSense Certified Partners programme was launched in the final quarter of 2013 and gives website owners a selected network of trusted specialists to turn to for help with the AdSense programme. One central principal of the programme is...
Bidding for the world – Biddable World 2014
Working for OKO Digital, the opportunities for attending various industry events are numerous. As much as we’d love to regularly break out from the office confines, the reality is: there just isn’t time to attend them all, so we have to choose....
What content keeps your readers coming back for more?
There can be few sites that wouldn’t benefit from increasing the proportion of users who visit the site more than once. Return visitors don’t come with new acquisition costs and will generally have higher conversion rates, making visitor loyalty a...
Why no one wants to read your press releases
Unlike many promotional methods within the digital marketing space, the humble press release has been around long before the internet – I even remember being taught how to create one in school 12-15 years ago. In its most basic form, it packages...
OKO awarded AdSense Certified Partner Status
I’m really proud to announce that we have, this month, become part of a very exclusive online club. The Google AdSense Certified Partner programme identifies and certifies organisations that are able to give expert level support to site owners who...
What does the AdSense revenue drop mean for publishers?
Talk of plummeting AdSense revenues have hardly been uncommon this year, but this week the tables seem to have been turned. Since the publication of Google’s latest quarterly financial report the plummeting graphs have stopped charting performance...
Track marketing success with campaign variables
One of the great advantages of marketing online is that you have access to more detailed and accurate performance data. Accurate measurement, through tools such as Google Analytics, allows you not only to understand what marketing to repeat, but...
OKO Team Day : Forest Segway
It’s not every team that would turn up at work on 9am on a grey; miserable Sunday without really knowing why they were there, but that is exactly what happened this Sunday at OKO HQ. I’d been planning a team day for a while as a thank you for all...
We’re Changing
Today is a very big day for us. We’ve been working under some variation of the Brit-net name since June 1997 and as Brit-net Internet Marketing Ltd since 1999, but that ends of now. As of this week we are OKO Digital – or Just OKO to our...
Password security for human beings
It’s a curse of the modern world that so much of our lives are secured by passwords. If you use the same one for everything, or switch between a few tried and tested favourites, then you don’t really have much in the way of security at all. If you...
Where have all the keywords gone?
Website owners who have been keeping an eye on their Analytics data this week might have been surprised to see a sudden upturn in the number of organic searches showing as (not provided). The proportion of (not provided) searches has been steadily...
Why websites need to be updated
10 years. That is our current record for the longest time an active website went between its original launch and having any sort of significant update. The site was launched in 2000 and clung on for just over a decade without having any real work...
Are your competitors using Google Adwords to profit from your good name?
Google Adwords is a cornerstone of most online advertising campaigns, delivering $42.5 billion worth of online advertising in 2012. The platform’s popularity is due, at least in part, to the ability it gives advertisers to target customers based on...