Tag Archives: AdSense

IMA SDK for iOS Beta 13 Released

Today we’re announcing the release of beta version 13 of the IMA SDK for iOS. This release includes two new major features:

  1. The SDK can be included as a framework in your project.
  2. The SDK now supports ad playing in the background.

Importing the SDK as a Framework

Prior to today’s release, importing the SDK involved manually adding every header file to your project, importing every header file individually in your source, and manually including the required frameworks. With the new framework model, you can add a single .framework file to your app and replace all of your header import source lines with a single import statement.

For CocoaPods Users

If you use CocoaPods, your build will fail after you update to beta 13. But fear not, you can fix this in a matter of seconds with the following steps:

  1. Locate and remove each instance of an imported IMA header file in your source (these will look like #import “IMA<something>.h”).
  2. Add the following line to the first header or implementation file to access an IMA object: 
    @import GoogleInteractiveMediaAds;

For Manual Importers

If you don’t use Cocoapods, your path to upgrade is slightly different. You can update using the following steps:

  1. Remove all of the IMA header files and the IMA library file from your project.
  2. Under "Build Phases” > “Link Binary With Libraries”, click the plus sign, select “Add Other...”, and navigate to the downloaded and extracted SDK files. Select GoogleInteractiveMediaAds.framework from whichever folder applies to your implementation (with or without AdMob) and click “Open”.
  3. Follow the two steps above for CocoaPods users.

Background Ad Playback

Since our launch, one of the most requested features has been background ad playback. Suppose, for example, you author a music streaming app, and you want to be able to request and play ads in the background. With today’s release, however, we now support requesting and playing ads in a background service. For more info and implementation instructions, see our Background Ad Playback guide.

As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact us via the support forum.

 - , IMA SDK Team

Explore AdSense help resources and support options

As a business owner, content creator, or webmaster, you can have many questions, e.g., when you will be paid, how you can earn more or how you can build a multi-screen website. We've improved our resources and support options to help you find the answers to your questions.

Most of the answers to your questions are available in the AdSense Help Center and in the Troubleshooting section. In addition, you can find answers and exchange ideas with other publishers in the AdSense Help Forum.

To provide a more simplified and personalized support experience, we’ve launched a new Contact us flow in the AdSense Help Center. Publishers consistently earning more than $25 per week (or local equivalent) are eligible to sign up for email consultations with AdSense support (available in 36 languages). If you can't see the “Contact Us” button, you can still reach us via the issue-based troubleshooters in the AdSense Help Center.

For all questions about your AdSense account, don’t forget to explore the AdSense help resources below:

To hear more about new features and opportunities, subscribe to the Inside AdSense blog, follow our Google+ and Twitter channels, and opt in to receiving emails from us.

Posted by Saurav Roy - AdSense Support Team
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Source: Inside AdSense


Check the Forward Compatibility Map before modifying LocationGroups in CampaignCriterion (v201409, v201502)

Do you use LocationGroups in CampaignCriterion? If so, read on to learn about a new key in the Forward Compatibility Map to identify whether a Location Group is compatible with the AdWords user interface or the API.

Through the Campaign Settings tab of the user interface and the AdWords API CampaignCriterionService, you can create a LocationGroups campaign criteria to target locations within a specific radius around all of your campaign's location extensions.


The user interface also allows you to further restrict the LocationGroups criterion to location extensions within geographical targets or Cities-DMA regions. However, the AdWords API does not currently support modifying these additional settings.

To indicate in the AdWords API that someone created a configuration of the latter form through the user interface, the CampaignCriterion.forwardCompatibilityMap has a new key called LocationGroups.locationId.

Key
Read-Only
Value Description
IMPORTANT
Service
CampaignCriterionService
Entity
CampaignCriterion
Key Name
LocationGroups.locationId
Yes
The Location criterion ID chosen for the LocationGroups criterion from Geographical Targeting or Cities-DMA Regions. For example, an ID of 2752 indicates targeting around location extensions within Sweden.
If this key appears in CampaignCriterion .forwardCompatibilityMap, then re-adding the LocationGroups after removal or using a copy of the LocationGroups may result in a loss of configuration information.

We’re working to support the geographical targets and Cities-DMA regions option in future API versions.

Be on the lookout for an upcoming addition to the Forward Compatibility Map regarding which feed ID will be used for proximity targeting.

Questions? Visit us on the AdWords API Forum or our Google+ page.

Nadine Sundquist, AdWords API Team

Sunset of v201403 of the DFP API

It's that time again - time to say goodbye to another version of the DFP API. In accordance with our deprecation schedule, v201403 has been deprecated and is scheduled for sunset on Tuesday, June 30 2015. At that time, any requests made to v201403 will return errors.

If you're currently using v201403, there's still time to migrate to the latest and greatest v201502. To do so, check the release notes to identify any breaking changes, grab the latest version of your client library, and update your code!

Things to look out for include:

This is not an exhaustive list, so as always don't hesitate to reach out to us on our API forum with any questions.

 - , DFP API Team

Important upcoming breaking changes to DFP reporting

Now that it’s spring again (in the Northern Hemisphere at least), it’s time for DFP’s annual spring cleaning! In this edition, we’ll be doing some pruning of our ReportService. What does this mean for you? We’re sunsetting some reporting dimensions, attributes, and metrics in existing versions (before the version is fully sunset), so your reports will break if you don’t migrate before the shutoff dates. I know what you’re wondering: “should I panic?”. Absolutely not. This type of behavior rarely occurs, so as long as you phase out usage for these particular fields, you should be fine moving forward.

Merged Metrics

Remember when Doubleclick for Publishers was called DART? I, too, get nostalgic about our old ad server, but it’s been a couple of years since we transitioned to the new DFP platform, and it’s just about time when the merged reporting columns are no longer useful (these columns only existed so you could continue reporting on delivery that spanned DART and DFP). In all versions after v201502, we will no longer provide merged reporting columns and dimension attributes in the API, that is, anything starting with 'MERGED_' or contains '_LIFETIME_MERGED_.' After August 1, 2015, these columns and dimension attributes will stop returning data entirely and will return INVALID_COLUMNS in all versions that still include them.

There are three scenarios in which you’re using these columns:

  1. Just for fun.
  2. Because you forgot you’re using them.
  3. Because you have lifetime line items that have carried over from DART (in which case you’ll have to recreate these). To give you an example, if the metric you care about is impressions, you can get the DART delivery portion by subtracting the portion of delivery from DFP Premium (AD_SERVER_IMPRESSIONS) from the MERGED value (MERGED_AD_SERVER_IMPRESSIONS) which represents the aggregate DART and DFP Premium volume. Additionally, you should make the switch to the non-merged columns and dimension attributes as soon as possible.

Dimension Filters

But wait, there’s more! Our next API version (v201505) will be the last to support some of our infrequently used dimensionFilters.

  • MOBILE_LINE_ITEMS
  • WEB_INVENTORY_UNITS
  • MOBILE_INVENTORY_UNITS
  • WHOLE_NETWORK
  • PARTNER_STATS_TYPE_ESTIMATED
  • ACTIVE_ADVERTISERS
  • PARTNER_STATS_TYPE_RECONCILED
  • WEB_LINE_ITEMS
  • ALL_SALESPEOPLE

In each of the cases above, the filters either no longer provide meaningful information (as is the case with mobile vs. web line items and ad units with platform unification complete), or weren’t being used at all.

Similar to the changes above, after August 1, 2015, these dimension filters will return an INVALID_DIMENSION_FILTERS error in any version that still includes them.

So if you’re using any of the reporting features above, consider this an early heads up (and an opportunity) to refactor some of your code for spring cleaning.

As usual, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, don’t hesitate to let us know on the forums.

 - , DFP API Team

Introducing Matched content: a new way to help your visitors discover content on your site

Today we're introducing Matched content, a free content recommendation tool for AdSense publishers that promotes your content to your site visitors. Matched content generates contextually relevant and personalized article recommendations from the pages on your website.

With Matched content, your visitors can:

  • Discover relevant articles on your site
  • Spend more time on your pages
  • Engage more with your content

This new feature can help you increase your site's page views and ad impressions, and could increase your ad revenue by making it easy for your visitors to find your content. To provide a great experience for you and your site visitors, Matched content is available for sites with multiple pages and high volumes of traffic. Have a look at the site management settings in your AdSense account to see if your sites are eligible to run Matched content.
Adding Matched content units to your site now could help you to grow the number of page views on your site and increase user engagement. You can get the most out of this new tool by checking the best practices in the AdSense Help Center.

We'd love to hear your thoughts about this new feature in the comments section below this post.

Posted by Tobias Maurer, Matched Content Product Manager
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Source: Inside AdSense


Nursed to success: online education for nurses

Nursingcrib.com provides extra study materials for student nurses, an idea that came to Michelle Bartolome in 2007 when she got frustrated with textbooks and in-person lessons. She and her husband, Deric, thought the Internet must have a better solution, and it did. The Bartolomes created Nursingcrib.com, implemented AdSense, and today the site receives visitors from across the globe. With the ad revenue from Nursingcrib, Deric and Michelle have been able to build their dream home, support their family, and work full time on their website. We asked them to share their tips for other entrepreneurs.

How they got started:

Michelle: The concept of Nursingcrib.com came from me. I happened to take up Nursing as a second course from 2004 to 2006. At that time, Nursing was an in-demand course. Almost 90% of college students were taking it up. First, I just wanted to have a blog where I could share my notes with other aspiring nurses like me. I uploaded several care plans, modules, and diagrams, and instantly it became a hit. It became even more popular when I published the names of nursing board passers, which happens twice a year.



What were their main challenges:

Michelle: It was back in November 2007 when we first hit the $100 minimum AdSense payout. Deric and I were so happy because the dream of having another source of income opened up. By 2008, we were earning enough so that Deric could quit his call center job and go full time with our websites. People thought we were unemployed because we were always at home in front of the computer. They said we could not do it because we were young. They said it was impossible because we were not working abroad. Well, all I can say is that they were all wrong.

How to push through obstacles:

Deric: The biggest challenge was getting the site recognized. At first, I thought it would be easy. But with the Internet being so big, you have to compete with established websites. Learning how to market our new site was the key to overcome every obstacle that came our way. Online business requires fewer people, but it’s still not easy. The main lesson we've learned is that success doesn't happen overnight, it takes time and effort to build your dreams.

Posted by Michelle and Deric Bartolome, co-founders of Nursingcrib.com

Sign up for Google AdSense now and make the web work for you. If you have an AdSense success story, please share it with us.

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Source: Inside AdSense


Ads Take a Step Towards “HTTPS Everywhere”

Since 2008 we’ve been working to make sure all of our services use strong HTTPS encryption by default. That means people using products like Search, Gmail, YouTube, and Drive will automatically have an encrypted connection to Google. In addition to providing a secure connection on our own products, we’ve been big proponents of the idea of “HTTPS Everywhere,” encouraging webmasters to prevent and fix security breaches on their sites, and using HTTPS as a signal in our search ranking algorithm.

This year, we’re working to bring this “HTTPS Everywhere” mission to our ads products as well, to support all of our advertiser and publisher partners. Here are some of the specific initiatives we’re working on:
  • We’ve moved all YouTube ads to HTTPS as of the end of 2014.
  • Search on Google.com is already encrypted for a vast majority of users and we are working towards encrypting search ads across our systems.
  • By June 30, 2015, the vast majority of mobile, video, and desktop display ads served to the Google Display Network, AdMob, and DoubleClick publishers will be encrypted.
  • Also by June 30, 2015, advertisers using any of our buying platforms, including AdWords and DoubleClick, will be able to serve HTTPS-encrypted display ads to all HTTPS-enabled inventory.
Of course we’re not alone in this goal. By encrypting ads, the advertising industry can help make the internet a little safer for all users. Recently, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) published a call to action to adopt HTTPS ads, and many industry players are also working to meet HTTPS requirements. We’re big supporters of these industry-wide efforts to make HTTPS everywhere a reality.

Our HTTPS Everywhere ads initiatives will join some of our other efforts to provide a great ads experience online for our users, like “Why this Ad?”, “Mute This Ad” and TrueView skippable ads. With these security changes to our ads systems, we’re one step closer to ensuring users everywhere are safe and secure every time they choose to watch a video, map out a trip in a new city, or open their favorite app.

Neal Mohan, VP Product Management, Display and Video Ads
Jerry Dischler, VP Product Management, AdWords

Google Mobile Ads Unity Plugin v2.2.1

We have launched the Google Mobile Ads Unity Plugin v2.2.1. The updated v2.2.1 Unity package is available for download on GitHub here.

Multiple ad positions

Google Mobile Ads Unity Plugin v2.2.1 introduces support for additional banner position locations. The full list of banner positions is as follows:

  • Top
  • Bottom
  • TopLeft
  • TopRight
  • BottomLeft
  • BottomRight

The additional positions are specified by setting the AdPosition value when instantiating a bannerView:


//Create a banner at the top-right of the screen.
BannerView bannerView = new BannerView(adUnitId, AdSize.Banner, AdPosition.TopRight);

iOS Ads SDK 7.0.0 Compatibility

With the v7.0.0 release, the iOS Ads SDK became a module framework and Google Mobile Ads Unity Plugin v2.2.1 complies with this change. For modules to work, you must enable them in the project build settings. Search for "modules", and set Enable Modules to YES. The Link Frameworks Automatically option should be set to YES as well.

Unity 5.0 and ARC

Unity 5.0 has moved out of beta and brings with it support for Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) for iOS. v2.2.1 of the Unity plugin takes advantage of ARC with no additional changes in project settings or code.

The source code and a sample app for the plugin are available on our GitHub repo. A changelog for this release is listed here. If you have any questions about Unity integration, you can reach us on our forum. Remember that you can also find us on Google+, where we have updates on all of our Google Ads developer products.

 - , Mobile Ads Developer Relations

Announcing v2.1 of the DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API

Today we're pleased to announce v2.1 of the DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API. This release introduces some exciting new functionality, including: All users are encouraged to adopt this new version and begin making use of its enhanced feature set. If you're still working with the legacy DFA API, please note that it will be sunset on September 30th, 2015. We recommend that these users skip v2.0 and migrate straight to v2.1.

As with every new version of the DCM/DFA Reporting and Trafficking API, we encourage you to carefully review all changes in the release notes. For those of you looking to get going right away, updated client libraries are now available. If you're just starting out, the getting started guide is a great reference to help you get up and running quickly.

Give it a try and let us know if you have any questions!

 - , DFA API Team