Due to the exponential growth in digital advertising, there are more ad options available than ever for publishers looking to monetize their sites by selling ad space.
But which ad unit to choose? In an age where users increasingly employ adblockers to cut through the digital noise and banner blindness is at an all-time high, publishers need to be making wiser choices to ensure ad viewability and ongoing ad revenue.
Sticky ads were developed to counter these issues.
Sticky ads are just that, ads that stick to the screen as a user scrolls down the page. This article discusses the technical aspects of sticky ads, their pros and cons, and how to get started.
What Exactly is a Sticky Ad?
Sticky ads, or anchor ads, are ads that stay visibly afloat as a user scrolls through the content of a web page. The ad has a fixed position and sticks to the viewport for the duration of the user session, meaning that they remain visible to the user regardless of the browsing scroll depth.
Sticky ads are available on both desktop and mobile devices.
Types of Sticky Ads
There are two main types of sticky ads, the vertical and the horizontal sticky ad. These are the two sticky ad types made available by Google Ad Manager.
Here is the lowdown.
Horizontal Sticky Ads
Horizontal sticky ads appear at the top or the bottom of the webpage and usually stretch across the entire screen in a landscape configuration.
Vertical Sticky Ads
Vertical sticky ads are portrait size and appear vertically on the sidebar content of a webpage.
How Sticky Ads Work
Sticky ads stay visible to a user as they scroll through a webpage. They are used to ensure that an ad remains visible to its target audience as members of that audience view a webpage. Here are some key features.
Fixed Position: Sticky ads are ‘stuck’ to a user’s viewport, ensuring that they’re always visible regardless of how far up or down a user scrolls on a webpage.
Flexible Placements: Sticky ads can be positioned horizontally at the top or bottom of a screen, or vertically on a page’s sidebars.
Device Compatibility: Sticky ads can work on both desktop or mobile devices.
User Experience (UX): Although sticky ads improve ad visibility for publishers, their design shouldn’t result in preventing users from viewing a page’s main content, as this will compromise a page’s UX.
Technical Implementation: Publishers can set up sticky ads using HTML and CSS. WordPress and other content management systems offer plugins that can make implementing sticky ads easier.
How to Run Sticky Ads Through Google Ad Manager
To run sticky ads through Google Ad Manager, follow this procedure:
- Sign in to Google Ad Manager, then go to the main dashboard.
- In the main navigation menu, go to Inventory > Inventory Rules > Publisher Declarations.
- Select the correct type of ad you’re configuring, such as Display.
- Click New Display Publisher Declaration (or the equivalent for your inventory type).
- Give a descriptive name for your declaration, such as ‘Sticky Ad Inventory’.
- Go to the Targeting section, then choose the ad units or other inventory that you want to be sticky ads.
- Find the Sticky Ads option, then check the box to indicate that the selected inventory should serve sticky ads.
- Click Save to complete your declaration.
For more information, visit Google Ad Manager Help.
Pros and Cons of Sticky Ads
With increasingly intrusive ad noise in the digital space, banner blindness has made it more and more difficult for advertisers to get users to see their ads, let alone click on them.
However, when implemented correctly, sticky ads have the ability to overcome banner blindness without being overly intrusive or providing a lousy user experience.
Like all ad formats, sticky ads have both pros and cons. Publishers should carefully consider these before deciding whether sticky units are the right choice for their websites.
In general, sticky ads benefit both publishers(sell-side) and advertisers(buy-side) due to the increased ad viewability and dwell time.
Pros of Sticky Ads
- Sticky ads provide increased viewability.
- Sticky ads pass the minimum IAB and MRC ad viewability guidelines by default, that being that 50 percent of the display ad creative pixels are in view for a second.
- Sticky ads are largely unobtrusive. Whereas, other ad formats that offer higher viewability can be annoying and intrusive, sticky ads are subtle and don’t intrude upon the web page’s organic content.
- Sticky ads come in various sizes and can be positioned in different locations on a page.
- They have been shown to yield higher CPM and increase overall ad revenue.
- They can be targeted by header bidding and Google Ad Exchange, resulting in more auction pressure.
- They can be customised for different device types.
Cons of Sticky Ads
- Not all ad networks allow the implementation of sticky ads. Facebook doesn’t allow for them at all, while Google AdSense disallows them unless you use their anchor ad unit. Breaking these rules can get publishers’ accounts banned.
- In some cases, particularly with large sticky ads, they can lead to a poor user experience.
- Too many sticky ads or ads with heavy code can slow down a webpage.
- Can negatively impact the performance of other ads on web pages.
- Sticky ads require a certain level of technical expertise in their deployment and customisation.
Refreshing Sticky Ads
Ad refreshing is the practice of automatically reloading ads on a webpage within the same user session without users having to manually refresh the page themselves.
Refreshing sticky ads, as well as other ads, are beneficial because it increases ad impressions and their corresponding revenue. It also improves the relevance of ads to users and, therefore, their user engagement. Ad refreshes can be activated by time intervals, user actions such as scrolling or other predefined actions.
Ad refreshing best practices include:
- Setting reasonable refresh intervals (at least 30 seconds) to prevent user fatigue.
- Favouring viewability-based triggers over time-based ones.
- Constantly monitoring performance metrics, such as Cost Per Mille (CPM), Click-Through Rate (CTR), Revenue Per Session (RPM), user activity, scroll behaviour and viewability to ensure that an ad refreshing strategy is effective.
To refresh sticky ads, set-up refresh triggers in Google Ad Manager, which includes defining the minimum time interval between ad refreshes.
In short, advertisers and publishers should incorporate appropriate ad refreshing strategies into their ad campaigns to boost the UX of their target audiences.
Tips for Implementing Sticky Ads on a Website
Publishers can follow these guidelines when implementing sticky ads on a website:
- Stick to common sizes: To avoid frustrating your users, it’s best to use just the following sticky ad sizes (measured in pixels): 300x250, 160x600, 300x600.
- Follow Google Chrome’s policy: According to Google, at any given time, a sticky ad should never cover more than 30% of a screen.
- Verticals and horizontals: Include just one vertical sticky and one horizontal sticky per viewport.
- Sticky and still: Sticky ads must remain immobile at all times.
- Don’t crowd your page: Ensure there is adequate whitespace between the ad and other content.
- Keep ads low-key: Don’t interrupt or distract your users by including excessively bright colours or flashy elements in your ads.
- Make it easy to switch off: The only thing more frustrating than an excessively big or bright sticky ad is one that can’t be closed.
- Say the most with the least: Avoid including excessive text in your ad by keeping the copy to the point and concise.
- Good sticky ads are responsive: Ensure that your ad adjusts correctly to different screen sizes, especially those on mobile devices.
Include a proper CTA: Ensure that your users know how they should respond to the ad.
What the Metrics Say
There is no doubt that metrics around sticky ads show they perform significantly better than other formats available.
Making Senses recently conducted a study of banner ads versus sticky ads to track ad performance. Using eye-tracking technology to isolate the reader’s focus within a page and AI technology to gauge the reader’s empathy engagement with both layouts for later comparison.
The results of the study found the following:
- Sticky ads seriously outperformed banner ads, receiving nine times the amount of clicks. Participants looked at the anchor ads for 300% longer than the traditional banner ads in real-time terms.
- When the ad was refreshed halfway through the view time, it caused a second spike in views, demonstrating sustained viewership.
- Analysis of the related emotional data showed that while the banner ads caused feelings of fear, disgust, and sadness, the anchor ads were more likely to be remembered and recommended.
Sticky Ad Implementation in Google Ad Manager
Within the Google Display Network, sticky ads can be implemented on standard web pages- both desktop and mobile, standard Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), and in-app.
When implementing sticky ads, publishers using a Google Ad Manager account must adhere to the following guidelines.
First and perhaps most importantly, publishers must comply with the Google Ad Exchange seller program guidelines, staying particularly mindful of not overloading the page with too many ads. Publishers must ensure that all ads accompanying organic content, including sticky ads, constitute less than the amount of content on the viewable screen or viewport.
Too many large anchor ads can get in the way of the organic page content and can lead publishers, particularly Ad Exchange and AdSense media-sellers being blocked from serving ads to Chrome users.
Not all ad networks allow for sticky ad content. We recommend you check with your ad network partner before getting started.
For publishers working with Google Ad Exchange, they must set up rules that declare their existence. This means filling out a new display publisher declaration. These publisher declarations apply to open auctions, private auctions, first look and open bidding.
Here’s how:
- Firstly, publishers need to sign into their Google Ad Manager Account.
- From here, click on Inventory >> AdExchange Rules >> Publisher Declarations.
- Next, select the Display inventory type.
- Click New display publisher declaration.
- Enter a name for your declaration.
- Select your ad targeting options.
- Finally, under Sticky Ads, select the checkbox to indicate that the chosen inventory serves either vertical or horizontal sticky ads.
While sticky ads can undoubtedly offer better viewability for advertisers and increased returns for publishers, this is largely dependent upon correct implementation and optimisation.
These ads need to be seamlessly integrated into site content without intrusion to ensure you reap the benefits available from this ad format.
Do your websites display sticky ads?
At Publift, we are a certified Google Partner specialising in programmatic advertising optimisation to help grow your ad revenue.
If you’re making more than $2,000 in monthly ad revenue, contact us today to learn more about how Publift can help increase your ad revenue and best optimise the ad space available on your website or app.
FAQs
What is a sticky ad?
A sticky ad remains visible as a user scrolls up or down a webpage.
What size are sticky ads?
Sticky ads come in various sizes. The most common (measured in pixels) are 300x250, 160x600 and 300x600.
Does AdSense allow sticky ads?
Yes, AdSense allows sticky ads, provided that they follow strict guidelines, especially if they are used on desktop devices.
What are the types of sticky ads?
The two main types of sticky ads are horizontal ads and vertical ads. Horizontals appear at the top or bottom of a webpage; verticals appear at the sides of a webpage.