The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to DFP

Organize your ad stack and increase your ad revenue with this step-by-step guide.

D o u b le Cl ic k fo r P u b l ish e rs (D F P ) is a comprehens iv e

host ed a d serv ing p la t f orm t ha t s t rea ml ines y our ad

m an ag e m e n t , whet her y ou de l iv er a ds t o webs it es ,

mobi le pa ges , mobi le a pps , ga mes , or a combina t ion.

“

- D o u b l e C l i c k f o r P u b l i s h e r s H e l p

3What This Guide Will Teach You

Common DFP terms, such as line items, creatives, and orders

Start-to-finish instructions on everything from creating ad units to setting the tags live on your page

Tips for organizing multiple ad partners in DFP

4

DFP Small Business

DFP Small Business is a free product best suited for smaller to growing

publishers.

How do you qualify for a DFP Small

Business account?

To qualify for a DFP Small Business

account you need a Google AdSense account. However, you do not need to

use Google AdSense ads while using DFP Small Business.

DFP Premium

DFP Premium is a paid service geared towards sites with high traffic and

complex advertising setups. DFP Premium also includes Google Support

in the form of an assigned account manager.

How do you qualify for a DFP Premium account?

To qualify, your site must garner at least 90 million monthly impressions.

What is DFP?

DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) is a powerful ad server run by Google. It helps publishers

organize their ad stacks and sell their advertising inventory more efficiently.

There are two DFP platforms: DFP Small Business and DFP Premium.

And what about DoubleClick AdExchange?

Once your site receives 90 million impressions or more, you are obligated to use and pay for DFP Premium. But this also means you can use AdExchange, Google’s programmatic real-time

bidding exchange for premium publishers.

5Why DFP is Better Than HardcodingR E A S O N S W H Y D F P I S A S T E P - U P F R O M H A R D - C O D I N G A D S D I R E C T L Y O N Y O U R S I T E .

First off, what is hardcoding?Hardcoding is when you implement ad code from ad networks directly on your website.

Hardcoding has many drawbacks, especially as you start to grow your website traffic. With hardcoding, you need

additional technology in order to manage and analyze the performance of your ads. It also complicates managing

multiple sources of demand/advertising as you will soon find yourself having to log into many different platforms to

manage your ads.

The benefits of DFP

1. With DFP you can manage multiple advertising partners in one platform.

2. DFP provides powerful, world-class reporting, meaning you will have all the data you need to help optimize your ads.

3. It decreases latency, meaning your website loads faster.

4. With DFP you can also segment international and domestic traffic, which is helpful if you have predominantly

international traffic.

6Key DFP Terminology

DFP NetworkThe publisher’s DFP account.

Confused about the difference between a

company and a creative, a line item and an

order? Don’t sweat it. Here’s our glossary of

frequently used DFP terms.

OrderThe organizational container for campaign line items which contain ad creatives or ad tags.

CompanyWhere third-party entities are set up by name in DFP to be associated to orders.

Line itemThe campaign consisting of flight starts and end dates, targeted ad unit or other.

AdvertiserThe agency, network, or direct brand advertiser that will be trafficking ads via DFP.

CreativeThe actual ad creative either in the form of an ad tag code snippet or script.

Ad unitThe basic unit of web page inventory made up of one* or more available spaces or slots where an ad can appear.

PlacementsGroupings of ad units.

*Though you can group one or more ad slots into an ad unit, for clear organization and tracking, we recommend that you keep a 1:1 relationship between ad slots and ad units.

7A Helpful Metaphor for Understanding DFPD F P C A N B E L I K E N E D T O T H E D E L I V E R Y O F A P A C K A G E .

F

Orders = Warehouse

Orders are the warehouse where the packages are assembled. Each order should correspond to an ad network, i.e. Order #1 – Sovrn, Order #2 1 – AdSense, etc.

Line Items = TrucksLine items should correspond to specific ad zones on specific pages, i.e. a 300x250 that only serves on your home page. That way you can optimize more precisely.

Creatives = Packages

Creatives are the packages that hold ad tags.

Ad tags = Package Contents

Ad tags are held “inside” creatives. They are inserted to render the ad creative on the web page.

Ad units are spaces that are used to display

ads on your site. Placements are groups of ad

units.

For example, the following ad units compose

one placement.

Ad unit 1: 300x250, top position on home page

Ad unit 2: 300x250, second position on home

page

Ad unit 3: 300x250, third position on home

page

Organizing Website Inventory

9Tips for Organizing your Ad Partners in DFP

Create a separate order for each advertiser.In order to simplify your reporting, create a separate order for each ad partner, i.e. Order #1 is Sovrn, Order #2 is OpenX, Order #3 is AdSense, etc.

There are many ways to organize your ad stack in DFP. Here are some best practices for keeping your ad partners organized.

And what about passbacks?Passbacks ensure that no ad impressions ‘left on the table’ by having unsold impressions delivered back to DFP to re-deliver to your website.

Create a separate line item for each ad zone on your website.In order to make the most revenue through DFP, create a separate line item for each ad zone. For example, let’s say you have a 300x250 ad zone on your home page, and you’re targeting that ad zone with three ad networks. Within each of those ad network’s orders, create a line item, i.e. a Sovrn line item targeting the 300x250 home page, an OpenX line item targeting the 300x250 on the home page, etc.

This is smart because some of your ad zones will make more revenue than others, i.e. the 300x250 on your highly trafficked home page will garner higher CPMs than the 300x250 on your seldom-seen contact page.

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10How to Implement Passbacks in DFP

It’s a good idea to use passbacks when you’re first starting out with DFP. However, they’re similar to training wheels.

Once you know what to expect from your ad partners, you will be able to arrange them from top to bottom based on

who has historically garnered the highest CPMs. Once you have that data, passbacks are no longer necessary as DFP

will optimize your ad stack automatically.

Passbacks are implemented in two ways:

1. Using DFP. You can create specific ad units with passback-enabled ad unit (GPT) code that can be targeted by ad

partners to send unsold impressions back into DFP. However, there are limitations to this approach. If not

implemented correctly, it can cause infinite looping that can cause discrepancies and improper ad delivery. For these

reasons, we recommend the more direct, ad network to ad network approach.

2. Ad network to Ad network. With this method, there is no need to create special ad units in DFP. All you need to do is

insert the ad code of the second ad partner in the waterfall within the first partner’s advertising platform, and so on.

That way the first network will pass back to the second network in your waterfall, who will pass back to the third, etc.

AdSense is often the last partner in a waterfall because they offer 100% fill.

11Sample DFP Setup

Premium advertisers –200,000 impressions Sally sells around 200,000 impressions a month directly to premium brands. This month, Keen purchased 200,000 impressions for their new summer shoe campaign. For every 1,000 impressions, they pay Sally $25.

Ad networks – 780,000 impressionsSally allocates the majority of her impressions to networks. She is currently using three ad networks: Sovrn, OpenX, and AdSense.

She arranges the networks in order of past performance, with the strongest network at the top. The networks are arranged in a waterfall – Sovrn at the top, followed by OpenX and finally AdSense.

The ads that appear are generated programmatically, i.e. they are based on the readers’ cookies.

House ads – 20,000 impressions Sally allocates the remaining 2% of her inventory to house advertising, or advertising she creates herself for her site. Her house ads promote her latest ebook, The Best Stilettos for Summer.

Sally has a shoe review website, sallysshoes.com, that receives one million page views a month. Sally uses DFP to organize her advertising. She allocates her inventory into three different buckets: premium advertisers, ad networks, and house ads.

12Sample DFP Setup Continued –How Orders Work

728x90 Ad Unit (Top)Sovrn is targeting a $3.00 CPM for the 728x90 on the home page.

If Sovrn doesn’t fill the impression, DFP automatically passes the bid to OpenX, who is targeting a $2.00 CPM. If OpenXcan’t fill it, it passes to AdSense.

300x250 Ad Unit (Sidebar)Sovrn is targeting a $4.00 CPM for the 300x250 on the home page, while OpenX is targeting a CPM of $3.00.

As with the 728x90, if Sovrn can’t fill the $4.00 CPM, DFP will automatically pass the bid to OpenX, and then AdSense.

Sally uses three ad partners (Sovrn, OpenX, AdSense) to target the two ad units on her home page. Each ad partner has its own order, i.e. order one is Sovrn, order two is OpenX, order three is AdSense. Within each order, Sally has two line items: one that targets the 300x250 on the home page, and one that targets the 728x90 on the home page.

13How to create and implement ad tags in DFP

14Step 1: Create the Ad UnitClick on the Inventory tab in the upper menu bar.

Name the ad unit, and make sure there is no space in the ad unit name, i.e. ‘yoursite300x250ATF’.

Fill in ad unit details for where you will want ads to serve. Save the ad unit.

Click ‘Ad units” in the left-hand sidebar. Then click ‘New ad unit’.

15Step 2: Generate the Ad Unit CodeT H I S I S A L S O C A L L E D G E N E R A T I N G T H E G O O G L E P U B L I S H E R T A G ( G P T ) .

Select ‘Generate tags’. In the inventory tab, select ‘Generate tags’ from the left-hand menu. Select the ad unit that was created and click ‘include’, and then ‘Generate tags’.

1

Select tag options.The default setting ‘Enable Single Request’ enables all ad units on a page to be called via one call. If you want ad units to be called individually, deselect ‘Enable Single Request’. We recommend deselecting it for performance reasons.

3Copy and paste generated code for the body. From the second field of this page, you can copy the generated code to paste into the body ‘<body>’ of your website’s HTML code. You can do this by inserting it into your website’s content management system (CMS) or by directly pasting into the <body> section of your website’s HTML.

4Select tag type.Select tag type (Google Publisher Tag), and click ‘Continue’. 2

Copy and paste generated code for the header. From the first field of this page, you can copy the generated code to paste into the header ‘<head>’ of your website’s code. You can do this by inserting it into your website’s content management system (CMS) or by directly pasting into the <head> section of your website’s HTML.

5

PremiumLine ItemDeliveryTypes

Sponsorship

Sponsorship line items have the

highest delivery priority.

Best for: Time-based campaigns

where an advertiser buys a

percentage of all available targeted

inventory. Sponsorship line items

can target a CPM, CPC, or CPD rate

or goal.

Example: Sally has a direct

partnership with a large premium

brand (ex. Nike). They formally agree

via a signed insertion order (IO) that

Nike will buy 100% of all 728x90

impressions at the top of her home

page for the month of March.

Standard

Standard line items are most

commonly used for directly sold

campaigns that have an agreed-

upon impression quantity with an

advertiser.

Best for: Time-based campaigns

where a specific number of

impressions is to be delivered over

specific dates for an advertiser.

Standard line items can target a

CPM or CPC rate or goal.

Example: Sally has a direct

partnership with a brand of any size.

They formally agree via a signed

insertion order (IO) that the brand

partner will be guaranteed a specific

number of impressions over specific

dates for an advertiser.

Line items are an important piece of

how you organize your ad stack.

Premium line items (sponsorship,

standard, and network), will deliver the

highest CPMs.

Remnant Line Item Delivery

TypesPrice Priority

Best for: Time-based or open-ended

schedule campaigns where typically

an ad network buys an unlimited or

specific number of remnant, non-

guaranteed impressions, either

based on the total time of the line

item’s schedule (lifetime) or based

on a daily impression goal within a

defining or open-ended schedule.

Example: Sally has a partnership

with Sovrn to target multiple ad units

or placements for remnant inventory

on her site at various CPM rates with

an open-ended end date to deliver as

many available impressions as

possible until Sally determines that

the campaigns need to be paused or

updated. Price Priority Line items

can target a CPM or CPC rate or

goal.

BulkBulk is similar to price priority but

you must have a fixed quantity of

impressions. They deliver evenly by

default.

Best for: Time-based or open-ended

schedule campaigns where typically

an ad network buys a specific

number of remnant, non-guaranteed

impressions, either based on the

total time of the line item’s schedule

(lifetime) or open-ended schedule.

Example: Sally has a partnership

with another remnant partner to

target all unsold inventory (Run of

Network or Run of Site) on her site at

a CPM rate $1 below her Sovrn line

items. Bulk Line items can only

target a CPM rate or goal.

HouseHouse line items are typically used

for ads that promote products or

services chosen by you. House ads

are commonly non-revenue

generating and always have the

lowest delivery priority.

Best for: Campaigns where

publishers serve their own product

or services for marketing and not

necessarily to directly impact

revenue.

Example: Sally wants to ensure that

if there are any unsold impressions

from her remnant line items, then

her in-store product cleaning and

repair services are advertised

instead of a blank ad slot. House

Line items can target a CPM or CPC

rate or goal.

NetworkBest for: Time-based campaigns where typically an

ad network buys a percentage of all available

targeted impressions remaining after direct or

guaranteed line items have met their daily pacing

goals. Though not always required, these ad buys

can also be agreed upon via signed insertion order

(IO), with the ad buy on behalf of multiple

advertisers without a direct relationship to the

publisher. Network line items can target a CPM,

CPC, or CPD rate or goal.

Example: Sally has a partnership with Sovrn to

target multiple ad units or placements for remnant

inventory on her site at various CPM rates from

January to July with allocation percentages varying

depending on the ad unit.

Step 3: Create Orders and Line Items

In the Delivery menu, select

‘Orders’ to create a new order.01

02

03

Fill in order details. Give the

order a name, select an

advertiser, or create a new

one.

Create an initial DFP line

item that will deliver the ad

via the call for a creative.

Step 3: Create Orders and Line Items (continued)

Fill in the delivery and

targeting details. Line items

can be targeted to individual

ad units, placements or the

entire site.

04

05

06

Click ‘Save’.

Now you’re ready to add a

creative!

Step 4: Add a Creative

Click ‘Creatives’ on the left-hand side menu of the Line Item page and then select ‘Add Creative’ from the Creativesmenu page.

Next, select an Advertiser from the dialogue box and click ‘Continue’.

Our MissionSesame snaps jelyy dessert tootsie roll

sweet roll. 1500s, when an unknown printer

took a galley of type and scrambled.01On the next page, select ‘Third party’.

Name the creative in a way that corresponds to the ad tag, with the ad network, ad size, and position on the page listed, i.e. Sovrn_300x250_ATF.

Click ‘Creatives’

Select advertiser

Select ‘Third party’

Name creative

Step 4: Add a Creative (continued)

Here you have the option to add macros, which are strings of text that can be added to the ad tag URL to enable supported functionalities in DFP. Sovrn tags do not need macros.

Select the same ad size that you intend to target on the size.

Our MissionSesame snaps jelyy dessert tootsie roll

sweet roll. 1500s, when an unknown printer

took a galley of type and scrambled.01Uncheck ‘Serve into SafeFrame’, which is checked by default.

You’re done!

Track macros (or not)

Target ad unit size

Uncheck ‘Safeframe’

Click ‘Save’

22Step 5: Associate Creatives to Line Items

Step 1Click ‘Add Line Items’ from the new Creative page.

Step 2 Search and select the Line Item and click ‘Include’ to

associate the Line Item.

Step 3 Click ‘Save’!

23Step 6: Verify Creative to Line Item AssociationT H E F I N A L S T E P – Y O U ’ R E C L O S E !

Click ‘Associations’Click ‘Associations’ to check that the creative is linked to the correct line item.

Check line itemVerify that the appropriate line item displays.

You’re done!Click ‘Approve” to enable the line item to start delivering impressions within 30 minutes or so.

24In Conclusion

DFP isn’t easy to learn and it can take a while to fully understand. But it’s a worthwhile platform to learn if you want to increase your ad revenue.

You’ve got this!

25Ashley Fleckenstein

Marketing Associate, Sovrn

Ashley is on the Marketing Team at Sovrn, and works as a blogger and freelance writer on

the side. When not creating content for the web, she can be found skiing, hiking, or making a

mess of her kitchen.

Jose RosarioSenior Product Sales Engineer, Sovrn

Jose is an ad tech guru, sometimes electronic musician, DJ, and bookworm. As Sovrn’s

Sr. Product Sales Engineer, Jose is the liaison between product, sales, support, and

engineering.

Meet the authors!