In today’s topic, we’re going to discuss a feature of the AdMob front-end interface that you may have overlooked in the past: archiving ad units in your apps. When you archive an ad unit, all ad serving and settings associated with the ad unit will be disabled and active campaigns linked to the ad unit may stop running. You’ll no longer be able to access the ad unit from the monetize tab in the AdMob user interface; however, you can still view historical reporting related to that ad unit. It should be noted that you’ll be unable to reverse this process. Once an ad unit has been archived, it will be archived permanently.
It may seem counterintuitive at first. Why archive an ad unit and disable ad serving to your own apps, potentially leaving money on the table? Well, if you're in control of a large portfolio of apps, things aren’t always so simple. Perhaps you no longer have access to your app’s source code, or you have so many apps that it can be difficult to keep track of them all. These “legacy apps” can make it hard to ensure that all of your apps remain compliant. Policy violations that go unfixed can lead to the temporary suspension of your AdMob account.
The easiest way to avoid this issue is to archive any ads in your legacy apps. If your apps aren’t showing ads to users or generating revenue, then they likely aren’t violating AdMob policies. You don’t need to make any changes to the source code in your app, as you can take care of everything in the AdMob front end by following the steps below.
In the AdMob user interface, navigate to “MONETIZE” in the top bar.
You’ll be able to find a list of the apps in your portfolio along the left side of the screen, and clicking on any of them will bring up the app’s ad units.
To archive any of these ad units, select the box beside the ad unit, and then click on “ARCHIVE”.
Once you’ve archived the ads, they’ll stop generating revenue and users will no longer see them. It is important to remember that this is a permanent solution, and archiving cannot be reversed.
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Posted by: Tom Ambrose, AdMob Publisher Quality Team