As far as I am aware there is no option to add channels to the build in AdSense option in DFP for Ad Units.

That is the main disadvantage of using the build in system over adding your AdSense code as Third Party Creative.

If you are using Adsense-enabled DFP units you can set channels and other properties using either of the following

GA_googleAddAdSensePageAttr("param", "value")
Use this tag to override AdSense parameters for all the ad units on the page.
GA_googleAddAdSenseSlotAttr("unitname", "param", "value")
Use this tag to pass AdSense parameters for a particular ad unit. If both a unit-level and page-level setting exist, the unit-level setting would override the page-level setting.

You can override the following parameters:
Border: param = google_color_border
Title: param = google_color_link
Background: param = google_color_bg
Text: param = google_color_text
URL: param = google_color_url
Alternate ad URL: param = google_alternate_ad_url
Ad unit (text, image, text/image): param = google_ad_type
Corner style: param = google_ui_features
Channel: param = google_ad_channel

[google.com...]

Thanks for the help. I have no idea how to implement the above code.

In your DFP header Tag add:

GA_googleAddAdSenseSlotAttr("DFP_Ad_Unit_name", "google_ad_channel", "AdSense Channel ID");

Example:

<script type='text/javascript' src='http://partner.googleadservices.com/gampad/google_service.js'>
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
GS_googleAddAdSenseService("ca-pub-YOUR_PUB-ID");
GS_googleEnableAllServices();
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-YOUR_PUB-ID", "DFP_Ad_Unit_name");
GA_googleAddAdSenseSlotAttr("DFP_Ad_Unit_name", "google_ad_channel", "4132147310");
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
GA_googleFetchAds();
</script>

DaStarBuG Thanks for your help.

I am serving all my ads true doubleclick as of two days ago. I have had a huge reduction on page views. I have no idea what is going on. Same amount of ads no reduction in visits. 150,000 page views with Adsense now 60,000 with doublclick. What is causing the problem?

Maybe you missed to implement one of the two tags on some pages?
If the header tag is not present Ads wont be loaded.
If the body tag is missing there is no ad unit to display Ads.

Make sure you implemented all tags correctly.

Also are you serving only AdSense via DFP or third party Advertising as well?
Which method of displaying AdSense via DFP do you use?
Did you implement AdSense as Creative or use the build in AdSense feature of DFP?

I am using the "GA_googleAddAdSenseSlotAttr" tag but it does not work, as I do not see my channels getting any implressions in the old Adsense interface.

Been running this for 3 days now, I really miss having my channels work in the adsense page.

This is what I have in the header:
<script type='text/javascript'>
GS_googleAddAdSenseService("ca-pub-000000000000");
GS_googleEnableAllServices();
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-000000000000", "BottomLargeRectangle");
GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-000000000000", "RightSideLargeSkyscraper");
GA_googleAddAdSenseSlotAttr("BottomLargeRectangle","google_ad_channel","0081123828");
GA_googleAddAdSenseSlotAttr("RightSideLargeSkyscraper","google_ad_channel","1635632969");
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
GA_googleFetchAds();
</script>

And with the new interface?
I don't see why it should not work.

Recheck your Channel-ID just to make sure though.
And of course make sure that the Ads are actually called with the second DFP tag inside your HTML

My advice is like DaStarBug's, personally I take my adsense code from my adsense members interface (with a channel name already tagged to it - as you would do normally) and instead of copying and pasting it into the website page directly I copy and paste the exact same code into DFP as a 'creative' (a third-party one) as part of the ad 'Inventory' under the 'Order' name of 'Google Adsense'. I then get this to show in the chosen 'Ad Unit'. I also deactivate the 'Ad Unit' from showing adsense as a competitive alternative, instead show it only as a separate 'creative' in an 'Order'.

This means I can compete the 'Google Adsense' order in DFP against other Direct Advertiser 'Orders' or I can 'weight' them to show alternatively with each independent 'Order' depending on how many impressions I want to show (in a defined time frame) ... the Google order in DFP places the adsense code (with the channel info attached as per normal) on to my site, so when I look in the adsense member information/interface area all my normal channel information is accounted for.

------------------------

DE-Bunking The Jargon For Those Unfamiliar But Interested ... it is helpful if you watch a few of the google DFP introduction videos as well to get the overall picture of what is happening.

The below is only one way of using a very powerful piece of software, this is the most basic way of using it, but with experience you will learn other 'tricks' and 'get-arounds' like displaying two separate ad sizes 300x250 and 336x280 in the same 'Ad Unit' etc .... but this is just intended as 'DFP 101'.

1. An 'Order' is just the name of the company who is advertising on your site. Each new and separate company as a Direct Advertiser gets a separate 'Order' name. You can also give your ad networks, like adsense, that you are a member of an 'Order' name and institute their code under this order name.

2. 'Ad Inventory' and the 'Creative' are very much linked together, the 'Inventory' is just the catch all group name for any and all 'Creatives' you will display for each different company - there can be more than one Creative under the same Inventory name - usually the Inventory would have a separate purpose, or more usually, have separate ad sizes from the same company or 'Order'.

2.A Under Each company 'Order' you will have an 'Ad Inventory'. The Inventory can contain just one advert or more than one advert, but usually they will be of the same size. So for example a Direct Advertiser, who wants three different adverts (called a 'Creative') which are all 300x250 in size, gets them put under the same 'Inventory' name. This is so that each of the three 'Creatives', under the same 'Inventory' name, can show different products, with a different url leading to a different landing page. This way you can tell all the 'Creatives', grouped together under the same 'Inventory' name, to go to the appropriate sized 'Ad Unit' in a rotation policy. You will send your 300x250 'Creative' under the 'Inventory' to an 'Ad Unit' which displays 300x250 sized ads on your page and not to an 'Ad Unit' which displays 728x90 ad sizes.

2.B The 'Creative' is just the advert code which will show the advert. This is normally either Java Script or Plain HTML that your 'Order' (advertising company) gives you, or that you take from your own ad network membership site, like Adsense. From adsense you can place both a creative for just text ads and a creative for just image ads under the same Inventory name to do split A/B testing - as long as the channel info has been attached in the adsense user interface all of the usual data will be recorded in adsense.

3. In a separate section of the interface is where you define your 'Ad Units' in which all order/inventory/creatives (from each different advertiser) will be displayed in, either in competition for this 'space' or in a rotation policy - An 'Ad Unit' is the size of the Ad Space on your website, either 300x250 or 336x280 or 728x90 etc. Each 'Ad Unit' placement gives you some code to copy and paste into your website HTML structure where the Ads are going to be displayed (this is like copying and pasting in the adsense code directly into your page). Some extra JS Code is given to you to place in the <head> section of your HTML page code to 'pull' the adverts from DFP and 'place' them in the appropriate places on the page where you have put the 'Ad Unit' code - this is done just once.

Order = 'Google Adsense' - The name of the advertiser
Inventory = 'Ads300x250' - The group name of the advert types/sizes.
Creative = 1.) '300x250TextOnly' 2.) '300x250ImageOnly' 3.) '300x250TextRed' 4.) '300x250TextGreen' etc. - The different creative names and types in which you have added the advert code.
Ad Unit = 'TopSideBar300x250' - The name of the ad unit space on your website. This is the ONLY code you need to put on your website and it is generated when you have decided on the number and size of the Ad Units you are going to use and where they are going to be placed.

The biggest advantage of course is that you can compete adsense ads against other ad networks you are members of, or even against or with direct advertisers. You do not have to alter any code on your website once it is in place from DFP - the altering of the primary advert codes, and adding in of extra companies as 'orders', all takes place in the DFP interface - the 'Ad Unit' code generated always stays the same and always stays in the same place you want the adverts to show on your site, you would only change this code if you were changing the advert size or moving it to a new location.

Ummmmmm, everything above that I said about 'Inventory' I actually meant 'Line Item' ... replace the word 'Inventory' (every time I used it) with the words 'Line Item' and it makes sense ... embarrassed silence ... I knew I should have had DFP open and logged in when I was talking about it. doh! When you start working with it, it becomes clearer, honest.

sorry for the confusion.

Is DFP worth the effort to learn how to set it up and implement it? It looks very complicated. Does it really increase revenue?

Increase Revenue? Not really if you are just displaying Adsense, you might as well just copy and paste the code in, but perhaps you also have a Chikita ad network membership, (or a.n.other) or Direct Advertisers, then yes it can very much increase your revenue by utilising 'competition' and filling in spots when direct advertisers only want certain conditions like 'single countries' or 'certain times of the day' etc.

Some countries get my Direct Advertisers Adverts, others will get Adsense instead, and some of the poorest countries will get no advert, to improve page speed there, this is all possible by using either DFP or indeed OpenX.

And if for example you really do not know if an adsense or chikita ad in your prime location on your web page earns you the most money then try it out by rotating them in the same spot over 2 weeks, alternating them evenly.

After 2 weeks, when you have the data, you then just need to 'weight' the best one (e.g. the adsense creative gets a '10' and the chikita creative gets a '2' - then for every ten adsense ads chikita will be shown twice). And this method will increase revenue by showing that winning ad network more often in your prime location, you can do this for any ad spot you have on the page, for any ad network you are a member of ...

Is it worth 1 or 2 days to get to grips with and learn, to be in complete control of your advertising space? This is probably a better question. And the answer is most definitely 'yes'.

Is it complex to set up, yes and no - Just start by setting up your 'Ad Units' first, and put the 'Ad Unit' code on your web page in the right places - then create an 'Order' using 'Adsense' as the name. Create the 'Line Item' under the Order name and give it a 'Creative' by copying and pasting in your Adsense code from your Adsense centre - then point the line item at one of your ad units ... and you are more or less done.

It is easier to understand by 'doing' than 'reading' about it as plain text. DaStarBug's own adsense forum is good for answers and step by step guides for novices to DFP as a third party ad server.

What I will say is that the vast majority of the top 1,000,000 Professional Publishers all use DFP, either as 'DoubleClick for Publishers Small Business' (for medium sized publishers, which you should apply for) or the larger publisher interface 'DoubleClick for Publishers' which would be the New York Times etc.

Joe Publisher, thanks for the info. I am only running Adsense - nothing else I've tried comes close - but I was recently told that using DFP just for Adsense makes Adsense advertisers compete against each other and raises RPM. Maybe not so much, though...

Adsense advertisers (through Adwords) already compete against each other in the 'normal' auction process before each Ad is shown on your site.

What someone might be saying is that if you have your own adsense code and it is published as a separate 'creative', shown through your DFP 'Ad Unit' as a separate 'Line item' then any Ad Unit can also have another adsense block compete against it when you 'check' the box saying you want the Ad Unit to have adsense as a 'competing' network ... like doubling down in poker, or splitting a 'pair' in Black Jack ... would this increase revenue? I honestly don't know. Gut feeling? Maybe ... but probably not.

But would I still recommend using DFP, even with just Adsense? Yes. I don't want to say too much in an open forum, but in essence, by taking the time to learn about DFP, it shows you are more 'serious' as a publisher and you are given much greater control by Google over your ability to show adsense through DFP, how it is shown, and to whom it is shown to etc.

A lot of small publishers complain that the 'Premium' publishers are given too much advantage in adsense compared to the small publisher, who have to copy and paste their code in directly from the adsense centre and then 'have done with it', having no real control over it. Some of this playing field can be levelled if you use DFP, and this is without breaking adsense TOS.

I would also suggest cultivating some Direct Advertisers, even just small businesses local to you, show their ad to just the one location (even down to just one state or city) and everyone else outside the target zone sees an adsense ad ... start small and grow this side of your publishing business.

I also know a lot of people say that 'adsense is the best and nothing comes close', but unless you use a third party ad server you can never really have a true A/B test of differing ad networks.

Try another ad network and actually compete it against adsense in a 'real' head to head - try different locations on your page, etc. you might be surprised that chikita might do better at different times of the day than adsense, in differing locations, for example.

If you have three adsense adverts on a page then perhaps the third adsense advert is the lowest bid in the auction, so it might be worth replacing just that one adsense advert with a chikita one (or a.n.other network) or rotate that adsense block with a chikita block to see how it truly competes in alternate servings over the same time frame.

[edited by: JoePublisher at 11:58 pm (utc) on May 28, 2011]

Thanks - you've given me a lot to ponder. It probably is worth taking the time to learn how to implement DFP.

Google for "How to set up DFP Small Business for serving Ads on your sites" from StarBuG

I wrote a comprehensive tutorial about how DFP works

@dDaStarbuG

I followed your tutorial and have implemented DFP. Your instructions were great! I will see how it goes....