(written by BirdOPrey5)
Forgive me if this is a noob question but I’ve been Googling this and haven’t come across much discussion of it anywhere.
Does anyone bother setting up “Backup Ads” to display if Google can’t find an ad to place on your page? By default Google will fill unused ad space with a PSA (Public Service Announcement) and I honestly can’t remember ever seeing a PSA on my own site…
But today I though I might as well try to use a backup ad from my web host (I’m in their affiliate program so if someone buys a hosting plan after following my link I make some money).
But it took a while to even find instructions on how to setup the backup ad, and even what I found seemed to be outdated.
Just curious if anyone even cares about backup ads these days?
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10527
I'm not using AdSense to display Public Service Announcement ads, so I prefer to have nothing instead, and I'm too lazy to manage alternative/backup ads, although that could be useful and bring additional money if the ads are efficient.
I set up a no_ad.html with nothing in it but a basic html structure and my Ad Server Tag for a 336x280px Ad Space which I call no_ads.
This is set to be delivered as alternative Ad whenever AdSense is not able to deliver an Ad. Currently I run in house Ads for my second biggest site on it. I did not spend much thought on this matter too until recently.
For nearly 5 years I filled the space with background color and that was it. But hey, these are thousands upon thousands of Ad Impressions you can monetize on or at least run in house Ads to promote your own services or website.
I created a simple banner for my second page and even though it is rarely shown people do click it.
This is it: ElternFragen.net
The advantage about serving this banner via an adserver like DFP Small Business is that you know how many ad impressions are not served by AdSense and that you can switch alternative Ads on this spot with ease.
Here is an tutorial for DFP Small Business.