In addition to Sponsorships (currently referred to as “Ad Campaigns” in the WordPress Admin), Lede also currently supports three “Ad units” that can be served via Google Ad Manager. This article provides instructions for you to set up these ad units, placements, and key-values yourself. Alternatively, the Lede team can assist with your initial GAM setup to ensure Lede-compatible ad units and associated placements are created.
Google Ad Manager (GAM) Setup
Log into your Google Ad Manager account.
Ad Units
For each ad unit, go to Inventory > Ad units > New ad unit:
- In-article/Homepage ads
- Name: Lede 300×250 Article Body
- Code: lede_300x250_article_body
- Size Mode: fixed size
- Sizes: 300 x 250
- Target Window: your decision (best practice is to keep the default _top value)
- All other fields can remain default
- Save the ad unit
- Name: Lede 300×250 Article Body
- Code: lede_300x250_article_body
- Size Mode: fixed size
- Sizes: 300 x 250
- Target Window: your decision (best practice is to keep the default _top value)
- All other fields can remain default
- Save the ad unit
- Dismissible mobile footer
- Name: Lede 320×100 Footer
- Code: lede_320x100_footer
- Size Mode: fixed size
- Sizes: 320 x 100
- Target Window: your decision (best practice is to keep the default _top value)
- All other fields can remain default
- Save the ad unit
- Name: Lede 320×100 Footer
- Code: lede_320x100_footer
- Size Mode: fixed size
- Sizes: 320 x 100
- Target Window: your decision (best practice is to keep the default _top value)
- All other fields can remain default
- Save the ad unit
- Header banner
- Name: Lede 728×90 Header Banner
- Code: lede_728x90_header_banner
- Size Mode: fixed size
- Sizes: 728×90
- Target Window: your decision (best practice is to keep the default _top value)
- All other fields can remain default
- Save the ad unit
- Name: Lede 728×90 Header Banner
- Code: lede_728x90_header_banner
- Size Mode: fixed size
- Sizes: 728×90
- Target Window: your decision (best practice is to keep the default _top value)
- All other fields can remain default
- Save the ad unit
Placements
Go to Inventory > Ad units > Placements > New placement:
- Name: Lede
- Description: “Ad units for the Lede platform”
- Select all Lede-specific ad units from the Inventory list.
- Save the placement.
Key-values
Key-values are used to dynamically target ads based on your WordPress tags and categories.
For each key-value, go to Inventory > Key-values > New Key-value:
- Tags
- Name: tags
- Display name: Tags
- Value type: Dynamic
- Targeting values:
- Click New values > Add tag name(s) that matches WordPress tag name(s) > Save
- Leave all other settings as the default
- Name: tags
- Display name: Tags
- Value type: Dynamic
- Targeting values:
- Click New values > Add tag name(s) that matches WordPress tag name(s) > Save
- Click New values > Add tag name(s) that matches WordPress tag name(s) > Save
- Leave all other settings as the default
- Category
- Name: category
- Display name: Category
- Value type: Dynamic
- Targeting values:
- Click New values > Add category name(s) that matches WordPress category name(s) > Save
- Leave all other settings as the default
- Name: category
- Display name: Category
- Value type: Dynamic
- Targeting values:
- Click New values > Add category name(s) that matches WordPress category name(s) > Save
- Click New values > Add category name(s) that matches WordPress category name(s) > Save
- Leave all other settings as the default
Orders
- When setting up ad inventory for your Lede-compatible ad units, keep the following in mind:
- Recommended Line Item Type is: Sponsorship
- The Expected creative sizes are specified by the placement size you select.
- Make sure to upload creatives for the expected sizes (300×250 vs. 320×100 vs. 728×90, etc.)
- The Header banner ad allows a variety of sizes depending on ad unit and screen size including: 970×250, 970×90, 750×200, 728×90, 320×100 (mobile), 320×50 (mobile)
- Add Targeting for the “Lede” Placement allows you to target all Lede-compatible ad units
- Recommended Line Item Type is: Sponsorship
- The Expected creative sizes are specified by the placement size you select.
- Make sure to upload creatives for the expected sizes (300×250 vs. 320×100 vs. 728×90, etc.)
- The Header banner ad allows a variety of sizes depending on ad unit and screen size including: 970×250, 970×90, 750×200, 728×90, 320×100 (mobile), 320×50 (mobile)
- Make sure to upload creatives for the expected sizes (300×250 vs. 320×100 vs. 728×90, etc.)
- The Header banner ad allows a variety of sizes depending on ad unit and screen size including: 970×250, 970×90, 750×200, 728×90, 320×100 (mobile), 320×50 (mobile)
- Add Targeting for the “Lede” Placement allows you to target all Lede-compatible ad units
Lede Specific Setup
Once Google Ad Manager is set up, there is some minimal Lede set up.
- REQUIRED: Connect GAM and Lede.
- In the Publisher App, go to Settings > Ad Networks
- In the “Google Ad Manager Network Code” field, add the Network code from your Google Ad Manager account (GAM: Admin > Global settings > Network settings > Network code).
- In the Publisher App, go to Settings > Ad Networks
- In the “Google Ad Manager Network Code” field, add the Network code from your Google Ad Manager account (GAM: Admin > Global settings > Network settings > Network code).
- In-article/Homepage ads:
- To add a 300×250 ad to an article or your Homepage, insert the “Ad Unit” block (located under the Lede section)
- You can automatically add 300×250 ads to all of your articles.
- To add a 300×250 ad to an article or your Homepage, insert the “Ad Unit” block (located under the Lede section)
- You can automatically add 300×250 ads to all of your articles.
- Dismissible mobile footer:
- No additional action is required to get the dismissible mobile footer ad (320×100) to display
- No additional action is required to get the dismissible mobile footer ad (320×100) to display
- Header banner:
- No additional action is required to get the header banner ad (assorted sizes) to display
- No additional action is required to get the header banner ad (assorted sizes) to display
- If you plan to utilize programmatic ads, contact the Lede team to have the Ads.txt plugin enabled on your site. Once added, you can add information for your advertisers:
- In your WordPress Admin, go to Settings > Ads.txt > add your advertiser info > Save Changes
- In your WordPress Admin, go to Settings > Ads.txt > add your advertiser info > Save Changes