*Please note that this article shows you how to manually add placeholders to your site using the Ad Tester app, however we recommend that you use Ezoic's Chrome Extension instead - it's much quicker and easier! A separate guide for this can be found here.
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Ad Tester allows you to test thousands of ad combinations simultaneously. Rather than manually setting up different experiments, all you need to do is add placeholders to your site.
A "placeholder" is a potential ad location.
When you begin testing, Ezoic's system will use these placeholders to create new, customized ad combinations for each user.
We recommend adding at least 10-15 placeholders per page.
Don't worry - that doesn't mean 10-15 ads will show, it just means that the system has the ability to test various ad combinations using the placeholders provided.
Ezoic's A.I. automatically figures out the best ad combination for each individual user using data extracted from your site.
The more options you give the system to test, the more customized the outcome, which means a better user experience for visitors and more revenue for publishers.
Regardless of how many ad units you create, the system will never show more than the permitted number in accordance with Google Policy.
You can create new placeholders either by manually adding the HTML code Ezoic generates for you to your site, or with our Chrome Extension (recommended). With the extension, you can also preview the placeholders on the site and control which size ads are shown on different devices.
To create placeholders manually, navigate to the Ad Tester app, located under the 'Monetization' tab in your Ezoic Dashboard.
STEP ONE: Click the dropdown menu to select the type of placeholder you wish to add.
STEP TWO: Select 'New Placeholder' button to create your new placeholder.
STEP THREE and FOUR: Select the 'position type' for the placeholder and give it a name. This lets the system know where the ad is located relative to the page.
The twelve position types are:
Sidebar
Sidebar Middle
Sidebar Bottom
Top of Page
Under Page Title
Under First Paragraph
Under Second Paragraph
Mid Content
Bottom of Page
We recommend creating at least one of each position type.
STEP FIVE: Enable the devices the placeholder will appear on.
STEP SIX: Designate specific pages for the placeholder to appear or allow the Ad Tester to automatically reproduce it across similar pages on your the site.
STEP SEVEN: Select the ad sizes you wish the system to test in that placeholder location.
It's important to include as many sizes that fit in that location as possible.
The default settings will show you what sizes we recommend for each device, but if you want a 728x90 Leader on Mobile, for example, then you must toggle it on by clicking the checkbox next to 'Mobile'.
You can select the 'Always Compete' option if you want to ensure that size ad is an option should that placeholder be chosen by our system.
STEP EIGHT: When you've created the placeholder, click the button indicated below in your placeholder list:
Then simply copy and paste the ad code into the location you want the ad to display on your site.
STEP NINE: Repeat!
Now that you've created one placeholder, you can repeat the process until you have a variety of different placeholder position types. Alternatively, the Chrome Extension is a great tool to help you do this automatically. This extension will allow you to preview each ad unit on your site, test how the different ad sizes fit on your page, and monitor whether or not they are overlapping content or violating any AdSense policies.
Either way, bear in mind that whilst the number of placeholders you create is important, achieving a good spread of placeholders across your site is equally as important. You don't want to create 20 ad placeholders in your sidebar! Even if you did, Ezoic Ad Tester would only show a single ad in that location.