This guide will walk you through the essential steps to set up and optimize EzoicAds on your website. EzoicAds leverages the power of multivariate testing to help you determine the best ad placements, sizes, and combinations to maximize your revenue while enhancing user experience. Whether you are new to Ezoic or looking to fine-tune your ad strategy, this guide provides clear, step-by-step instructions to get you integrated, connected, and configured for success. Let's get started on optimizing your ad performance with Ezoic's powerful tools.

1. Integrate

To use EzoicAds, you must be integrated with Ezoic. You can find out about our Integration methods here. 

2. Connect to Google

Once you've integrated your site, you'll need to fill out the application for Google's Ad Manager. This is a requirement to work with Ezoic. Google Ad Manager Multiple Customer Management (MCM) is a platform that allows publishers to connect a third party (like Ezoic) to their account to help manage their ad inventory. You can find more about the process for applying to Ad Manager here.

3. Ensure you have an up-to-date ads.txt

If you already have an ads.txt file and are nameserver or Cloudflare integrated, our system will detect that file and automatically append our authorized sellers. If you do not have an existing ads.txt file OR if you have one and are integrated with our WordPress Plugin, you will need to use Ads.txt Manager (adstxtmanager.com, an Ezoic product) to get your ads.txt running correctly. You can find more about the process of setting up ads.txt here.

4. Set up Placeholders

4a. Wrap Your Existing Ads: A guide to wrapping your existing ads can be found here.

4b. Add Additional Testing Locations with Ezoic's Placeholders:

After you have wrapped your existing ads, the next step is to include additional locations to be tested by the Ezoic system. You have three options to complete this:

i) Hardcode

ii) Ezoic's Chrome Extension (recommended)

iii) WordPress Plugin

5. Configure Ezoic's 'Privacy Policy' & 'Consent Management' apps

Google has notified Ezoic they intend to stop ad serving on sites that do not display a privacy policy and collect active consent for data handling. We recommend enabling Ezoic's free solutions to help you manage privacy and GDPR consent at pubdash.ezoic.com/privacy under the 'Privacy policy' and 'Consent management' headings. If you prefer, you can link your own privacy policy and enable a third-party consent modal if you have these set up already. You can find out more about this here.

Please also review your obligations as a data controller under GDPR to ensure that all other legal requirements are being addressed.

6. Turn on EzoicAds

Once you're happy with all your ad placements, you can enable EzoicAds from the EzoicAds tab and turn on traffic to Ezoic on your dashboard. The percentage of traffic that is sent through the Ezoic platform can be adjusted when you turn on a device by navigating to EzoicAds then Optimization Goals then Split Testing. Note: In order to use EzoicAds, you must be integrated with Ezoic and be approved by Ad Manager.

7. Patience

As with all testing, it will take time for the EzoicAds to test all the possible combinations and find the best ones. Depending on your website's traffic and the number of positions and sizes that you try, this can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months.

The following chart can give you an idea of how many combinations are being tested. The chart assumes 3 possible ad sizes for each placeholder.

If you encounter issues during the Ezoic Ads setup process, here are some common problems and their solutions:

1. Issue: Unable to Integrate with Ezoic
   • Solution: Verify that you have completed the necessary steps for integration. You can find detailed instructions on the integration process at the Ezoic Integration Methods page or here. Check that Ezoic has the correct IP address for your site in our DNS records (needs to match the IP address at your host).
2. Issue: Problems Connecting to Google Ad Manager
   • Solution: Make sure to fill out the application for Google's Ad Manager as required in Step 3 on your Ezoic Dashboard based on the listed instructions. For more details, check here. If you used the wrong email, please reach out to Ezoic Support at support.ezoic.com.
3. Issue: Ads.txt File Not Detecting
   • Solution: Verify that you have completed all required steps in setting up the ads.txt file explained here. If you are using the WordPress plugin, make sure either your adstxtmanager.com Account ID or Ezoic's is entered in the WordPress plugin Ads.txt Manger tab, if you did manual or automatic setup respectively.
4. Issue: Placeholders Not Displaying Correctly
   • Solution: Make sure you have followed the instructions for wrapping existing ads or adding additional testing locations. Make sure you are not logged in to your WordPress or CMS account when viewing your site. Make sure you are logged in to your Ezoic account so the Chrome extension works correctly. Try clearing your browser's cache and cookies then viewing the site again. 
5. Issue: Privacy Policy and Consent Management Setup
   • Solution: Enable Ezoic's free solutions for managing privacy and GDPR consent via pubdash.ezoic.com/privacy under the 'Privacy policy' and 'Consent management' headings. Ensure you have an active consent mechanism for data handling to comply with Google's requirements. If there are issues with the Consent Module, make sure if you are using a third party that you select that option in the dashboard. 
6. Issue: Ezoic Ads Not Turning On
   • Solution: After setting up all your ad placements, ensure you have enabled EzoicAds and turned on traffic to Ezoic in your dashboard. Make sure your site is approved by Ezoic and Google Ad Manager for monetization. Ads will not show if the site is pending review or disapproved. Make sure your ads.txt file is showing Ezoic entries.
7. Issue: Slow Performance or Inconsistent Ad Display
   • Solution: EzoicAds requires time to test all possible ad combinations. It may take from 6 weeks to 6 months depending on your website's traffic and the number of positions and sizes tested.