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. Understanding the differences between Ad Manager and AdSense, together with the strengths and weaknesses of each allows publishers to use the right tool for the right job, which is vital when trying to optimise their ad revenue. Let’s start with the basics before moving on to more interesting use cases.
Google Ad Manager is the premium publisher monetization platform for high-traffic or high-demand websites. If you’d like to find out more, contact us.
What is AdSense?
Google AdSense is technically an Ad Network, although one that is quite different to any other Ad Network. Since it’s launch in 2003, AdSense has been helping websites of all sizes to earn money by serving ads on their websites. It’s biggest strengths are a combination of a huge number of advertisers (through Google Ads – formerly AdWords) and being incredibly easy to set-up and manage for publishers.
What is an Ad Network?
An online advertising network or Ad Network is a company that connects advertisers to websites that want to host advertisements. The key function of an Ad Network is an aggregation of ad supply from publishers and matching it with advertiser's demand. Wikipedia
What is Ad Manager?
Google Ad Manager (GAM) is still often best known by its old name; DoubleClick for Publishers (or simply DFP). Ad Manager is an Ad Server. Its primary purpose is to give publishers to tools to control how ads are served on a website, wherever those ads are sourced from, as opposed to providing the ads.
What is an Ad Server?
An Ad Server is a web based tool used by publishers, networks and advertisers to help with ad management, campaign management and ad trafficking. An Ad Server also provides reporting on ads served on the website. TubeMogul
That sounds simple. What’s the confusion?
The difference between an Ad Network and an Ad Server isn’t hard to grasp. Ad Networks are the middle-men between publisher and advertisers. Ad Servers are the software that dictates how ads (from networks, or anywhere else) are served. Unfortunately, things are rarely so clear-cut in the world of online advertising, so the lines are a little more blurred than that.
Google Ad Manager can also give publishers access to ad demand from AdSense or Google AdX. Because Ad Manager integrates closely with both of Google’s monetization products, this creates an overlap between Ad Manager and AdSense in particular. Publishers can log into AdSense to create ad units that serve Google Ads. They can also log into Ad Manager to do the exact same thing. What’s important to remember is that this is an additional function. Google Ad Manager is an Ad Server that also allows you to manage demand from Google’s products.
Enough theory. What is the real difference between AdSense and Ad Manager for publishers?
The choice between AdSense and Ad Manager will boil down to one simple question for most publishers: Do you only intend to serve ads from AdSense? If every ad served onto the site is going to be supplied by AdSense, then there is little advantage to using Ad Manager. Google Ad Manager offers many compelling advantages, but publishers continuing to only have AdSense demand competing for their inventory are not likely to get enough benefit from using Ad Manager to warrant a switch. The truth is that AdSense is very good at running AdSense ads.
Where Ad Manager comes into its own is in being able to manage multiple demand channels, which helps publishers to get the most value from each impression. Ad Manager can natively serve demand from Google AdX and from other partners via Exchange Bidding. By serving third-party tags, Ad Manager enables other networks and exchanges to compete based on price. Ad Manager also manages direct campaigns, optimising their impressions vs your programmatic demand to ensure the highest yield. Importantly, Ad Manager also allows for Header Bidding to compete against your dynamic allocation items, pushing up your revenue per impression.
AdSense is a great first step into website monetization, but can be limiting as publishers grow. If you’d like to learn about alternate options to monetize your website, please click here.
| Google AdSense | Google Ad Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| What type of publisher should use this platform? | Smaller publishers that are just starting out | Medium to large publishers |
| Can you traffic multiple ad networks to maximize revenue? | No | Yes |
| Can you run direct deals? | No | Yes |
| Can you hold private auctions? | No | Yes |
| What type of inventory is supported? | Web ads | Web, app and TV ads |
| Does this platform use Real-Time Bidding? | No | Yes |
| How advanced is reporting? | Basic | Complex |
| Can you set floor prices on this platform? | No | Yes |
| Can you run Header Bidding alongside this platform? | No | Yes |
| Who manages publisher payments? | Mostly Google aside from in the case of traditionally negotiated line items |
How to make more money using Google Ad Manager
There is a clear correlation between the amount of ad revenue a website generates and the likelihood of that site using Ad Manager over AdSense. Sites that make more money from ads are more likely to be using Ad Manager. As a website’s revenue increases, the opportunity to increase that ad revenue further using tools like Google Ad Manager grows with it. The approach is simple in concept:
- Introduce more demand for your inventory – More demand means more chance to match a potential ad impression with a high paying bidder. Ad Manager allows you to have multiple, quality Ad Exchanges, Ad Networks and SSPs, trafficked to the same ad units.
- Switch AdSense to AdX – Google Ad Exchange (AdX) is Google’s premium monetisation solution. It includes AdSense demand, but also demand from select third parties. It also pays based on CPM and has a few other advantages that help it perform better in a competitive environment.
- Enable competition – The real key to success is to allow all those sources of demand to compete against each other in auction for every impression either client side through Header Bidding, or server side with a solution like Exchange Bidding (or, if you are really smart – both together). That competition will force all of your demand sources to up their prices to win impressions rather than letting a single Ad Network (like AdSense) set the price for you
This approach is the core of how we increase revenue for the publishers that we work with (although we have many more ways to increase it further). If you would like to talk to one of our experts about how this could work for your site just contact us for a call back or drop us an email.
Mat has been supporting content creators on the web since 1996. As Co-founder of OKO Digital, Mat became the first person in the UK qualified to AdSense partner status and repeated this first with Google Certified Publishing Partner programme.
I’m currently being asked about the advantages of each platform – the client sells some ad slots directly on their page with some other slots running on AdSense…. would there be any advantage to using Ad Manager – as (as far as I can tell) this would not allow them to include their direct ads…
Their website is built in WordPress and I’m sure there will be a better ad management plugin to manage both direct and AdSense inventory.
I’d welcome your thought on this ;-)
If direct and adsense are just going to be in their own dedicated units then there is little advantage to adding GAM into the mix. I’d ask three questions though:
1) What happens to the direct units if there is unsold inventory. GAM would make it simple to monetise those between direct campaigns
2) Will the programmatic units definitely be adsense only, or might you introduce other demand to push up that price. GAM would allow this
3) Are the direct campaigns sold on a sponsorship basis (all impressions for X days) or based on impressions/price etc? GAM brings advantage in a non-sponsorship situation
Hi Mat,
Thanks for sharing such a knowledgeable article with us. I have question, suppose I have created orders in google ad manager but from where I will get those order and how will I be paid?
Does Ad manager also provide inventory to show ads on my site? or we ourselves will have to arrange such advertisers.
Please suggest
Hi Raj. The answer, like with so many things in Ad Manager is “it depends”. In fact, I’ll give you 4 answers…
1) Ad Manager was originally built to traffic orders that you attract and bill outside of the platform (direct deals). This capability is still very much there and in these cases it is the job of GAM to ensure such deals are delivered rather than available and billed. As well as direct deals, you can traffic other networks and exchanges in this way – for example through header bidding. This is the traditional ad server role.
2) Ad Manager is also tightly integrated with AdSense. You have have AdSense fill any unsold impressions. Demand comes from AdSense and payment comes from your AdSense account.
3) A step up from AdSense is AdX, which is increasingly being merged with the GAM product (we’re anticipating this being “Ad Manager Demand” in the future). This isn’t available to every Ad Manager customer and has to be enabled by Google or a Google Partner. Once it is, AdX in GAM works much like AdSense in that the ads are filled automatically and programmatically and payment comes directly from Google.
4) The final option is private deals. These are arranged by the publisher, but billed by Google. It is up to you to bring them in, but the buyer then books them through Google systems and the payment comes to you as part of your Google payment.
Is safe to use both simultaneously
Yes, it is safe to use both. It is not always a good idea to though. I wouldn’t usually recommend using AdSense and Ad Exchange together on the same placement and if you have to choose between the two that usually will mean choosing Ad Exchange.
Sir can i use them for simultaneously in my website???
Yes, AdSense and Ad Manager can be used together on the same site, although this is not always the best strategy
how many days after Google ad manager send payment to google Adsense account for payout money of google ad manager
If you your own GAM account enabled for AdX monetization then Google pay funds on exactly the same timescales as with AdSense. If you work with a partner (such as OKO) then it will usually take longer, anywhere up to Net 90. With OKO it is Net 45.
I have not yet accessed to google adx product
I am using my google ad manager with my google adsens account and my earning showin in google ad manager is this below
Ad Server / impression =1.59M revenue= (Rs941K) CPM =Rs590.57
this earning is from jun 15,2020 to july 21,2020
when google this ad server payment send me? and where send this, And what payment methods matter is
Google Adsense account or directly into bank account
Google send this message at the end of jun 29 kindly read this
Manage network settings
Preferred Deals payments applied in your local timezone
Starting with the June transactions on the Payments page, there will be a separate line for Preferred Deals. These earnings will appear on the 11th of the following month, but you’ll still be paid on the 21st. We’re also changing the timezone for Preferred Deals payments from Pacific Time (PT) to your local timezone.
but still i have not received any payment in google adsense and not in the bank
kindly help me please
where is the problem? and how to get google ad manager showing revenue.
As you are not an OKO customer and work directly with Google you will have to address billing questions to them. This is not something we have access to for those who are not our customers. Good luck.
Great article Mat! I have been using Adsense, yet it doesn’t allow opening in a new window/tab, which is non-sensical as it drives readers away from your site. Apparently, GAM allows opening in a new window (not sure why Google allows this in GAM but not Adsense??).
So I just created a GAM account, yet I’m not sure how to set it up to get ads to open in new window? Do I link to Adsense and use existing ads or do I abandon Adsense, create new ads in GAM? Which is best method for ease of use, highest monetization, and have all ads open in new a window?
Any help is much appreciated! My revenue is currently $0 as my site is new and traffic in minimal. Thank you Sir!
You can indeed open ads in a new tab in GAM. However I would say that this would rarely be a good enough reason to switch from AdSense to GAM. Ad Manager comes with some overhead in terms of learning, effort and latency. Having ads open in a new tab will usually bring a slight lift, but it is very small. In most cases I would expect it to be negated by the additional latency of GAM. There are other very good reasons to use GAM, but I don’t think that is likely to be a good enough reason on its own.
That said, if you were to swtich then the easiest way would be to create new ad units in GAM and enabled these to be filled by AdSense if there is not other line item (this is a default option).
Can we use adsense and ad manager at same time?
Yes you can. In fact there are two ways you can use the products together.
The first is to serve them into entirely different ad units. This is occasionally useful if, for instance, you have some ad units reserved for direct campaigns. The other option is to use GAM to serve your AdSense. This is is the approach we prefer at OKO (although we’ll typically use ADX rather than AdSense)
Sir, my website not approved by google adsense. Should I apply for Google ad manager. Which are other alternative to earn money.
If you are rejected for AdSense you will not be able to use Ad Manager for monetization either. Looking at your site would focus on adding original content.
Does google allow my site for adsense of dfp? https://novelkiss.com
If it is approved for AdSense then you are eligible for GAM/DFP too. You just need to apply online
Wow very nice, i just know this… I’m really sad to see my AdSense dashboard which is no development
Seems I have to deal with this tool
It took me a long time to understand Ad Manager, but I finally got ist. Now I started to exchange the Adsense-Codes with admanager-Codes and hope it will result in better RPM. Thanks for the article!
Glad that it was helpful. If you get this in time you should sign up for our free webinar this week. It sounds like you are at exactly the right stage to benefit from it : https://oko.uk/webinars
Clear explanation of the difference between the two. I personally prefer Ad Manager due to the versatility.