Unofficial Google Products Help Centre

Every interaction a user has with your app matters. That’s why we’re constantly evolving our advertising recommendations and policies to ensure that no matter where and on what device users are engaging with your apps, they have good experiences. With the launch of the iPhone X, app developers now need to plan for new design considerations as the rounded corners, notch, and home screen indicator on the extended screen can obscure content and lead to poor ad experiences for users when ads are placed in these areas. Example of ad appearing outside of “safe area” on iPhone X That’s why we’ve put together a guide to help you adapt your ad strategy for iPhone X. This includes guidance for how you can shift placement of banner or native ads to designated “safe areas” for this new device. We’ve also updated our policies to indicate that ads must not be placed where objects may interfere with the user's typical interaction with the ad or app, such as under the home screen indicator on th...

It has been a busy time here in Mountain View as more than 7,000 developers joined us at Shoreline Amphitheater for this year’s Google I/O. We made a number of big product announcements but I can’t help being most excited about one in particular — the newly redesigned AdMob ! Many of you rely on in-app ads for revenue — in fact, over 1 million apps now use AdMob to earn across iOS and Android. And to date, we’ve paid out over $3.5 billion dollars to developers like you. But we knew we could be doing even more to help you be successful. So we rebuilt the AdMob platform from the ground up to help you build a profitable business faster and to stay profitable as you scale. Simple to use with a brand new user interface Your time is valuable and we want you to spend it growing your business, not navigating our screens. With the new AdMob, everything from navigation to dashboards has been organized around your apps. The tools and features you need most are right at your fingertips. We’ve als...

I/O is a magical time at Google. Every year, thousands of developers gather in Google's backyard to share new product ideas and learn about our latest innovations in computing. We're meeting at an exciting time for the developer community. It's a time when consumers have more choices than ever before—like where to shop, what to watch, which games to play and how to communicate with friends and family. Your product needs to stand out. You need tools to help your business grow. And you need to make sure your users are happy. We think we can help. This afternoon, my team and I will share 3 new innovations for developers to make it easy for users to pay for your services, build profitable businesses and grow your user base. Check out our live stream here or at the end of this post. Enabling users to pay with Google Starting today, our suite of payment solutions will be expanding. The Google Payment API enables merchants and developers to turbocharge checkout conversion by offe...

Google I/O 2017 is one week away (May 17-19th), and we’ll be there. Google I/O brings together developers from around the globe for an immersive experience focused on exploring the next generation of tech. This year there will be dozens of talks discussing important topics that matter to you like design & development, growing your business, the latest in mobile tech, and more. We’ll also give you a look into “what’s next” for AdMob. Be sure to catch the keynotes to be the first to hear about the latest AdMob innovations: Wednesday, May 17th Google Keynote 10:00 AM PST, 5:00 PM GMT Join Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, as he gives a “first look” into all the latest and greatest technology innovations at Google. Watch the livestream | Add to Calendar Growth & Monetization Keynote 3:00 PM PST, 10:00 PM GMT Hear from Sridhar Ramaswamy, SVP of Ads & Commerce, on how new ads and monetization innovations can help you build a customer-centric business. Watch the livestream | Add...

Seven years ago, Cheetah Mobile began as a small company of ten employees that built software for PCs. Today, they are a leading developer with over one thousand employees. Their popular apps Clean Master and Battery Doctor have been downloaded by millions around the world and Clean Master itself has over 600 million MAU worldwide. The Problem With an ever growing user base, Cheetah Mobile needed to find creative ways to help them reach their global user base while monetizing their apps with innovative new ad formats. They needed to be able to use diversified high-quality ads to improve their revenue while also preserving the user-focused experience of their apps. The Solution Cheetah Mobile work with Google, using AdMob to find new ways to improve the performance of their apps. Cheetah expanded on their use of native display ads by introducing the newly launched native video format. By doing this, Cheetah was able to diversify the ad mix and increasing user engagement by tapping int...

A new episode of The Mobile Ads Garage has hit YouTube! If you haven't seen it before, The Mobile Ads Garage is a video tutorial series that covers how to use the Mobile Ads SDK to display ads from AdMob and Doubleclick for Publishers. Each episode covers one aspect of the SDK, breaks down the feature, and shows screencasts of real implementations on both Android and iOS – all in a friendly format. After hearing from publishers that you’d like a smoother path to integrating mediation, AdMob has worked with a bunch of network partners to open the source for their mediation adapters. For those of you unfamiliar with the our mediation platform, mediation adapters allow the Mobile Ads SDK to interface with third-party ad SDKs to fetch third-party ads on your behalf. Open source mediation adapters have a few key benefits. First, there are now two repositories on GitHub with adapter source that publishers can refer to for a look at the inner working of the adapters themselves. Second,...

Have you started using AdMob rewarded video, but feel like you could be getting more out of it? We know it can be hard to get it right the first time, so we recommend A/B testing when implementing rewarded video in your app. Why? Because rewarded video gives you so much more flexibility and even the smallest tweaks can make a huge difference in your app revenue or give you peace of mind that you’re improving your user experience. With that in mind, here are four steps to help you run an effective A/B test. 1. Start with a defined goal and a hypothesis: Step back and decide on a single hypothesis that has the most potential to improve your business and start there. So where should you start testing?  One good place is the design elements in your ad template and how it can impact greater user ad engagement.For example, if you have a hypothesis that font sizes impact clarity and user engagement then you could create two variations with different font sizes (10pm and 13pm) to test k...

To improve our product and service, we send out a survey to our developers every 6 months. In the past, we have used your feedback to improve our service model, product interface, and ad formats. This year the survey is shortened and mobile friendly. Our questions should only take about 10-15 minutes to answer. You may have received a survey by email over the last few weeks, if so please take the time to respond to it as we value your input. To make sure that you're eligible to receive the next survey email, please: Update your contact details Update your email preferences to receive ‘occasional survey’ messages Whether you’ve completed this survey before or you’re providing feedback for the first time, we’d like to thank you for sharing your valuable thoughts. We’re looking forward to feedback! Posted by: Susie Reinecke, Publisher Happiness Team

AdMob’s rewarded video is a quick and simple way to monetize your app effectively. Two developers share their learnings and success stories of using rewarded video ads to grow their revenue and business. 1. JOYCITY: Game of Dice JOYCITY, a leading mobile-first developer of games and entertainment for iOS and Android, released Game of Dice, a fast-paced, quirky game that has amassed a legion of fans worldwide. How they use rewarded ads JOYCITY aimed to monetize non-spending users in the in-app-purchase (IAP) heavy game without cannibalizing IAP revenue. By implementing AdMob’s rewarded video ads demand and by including multiple third party demand sources via the AdMob mediation feature, JOYCITY were able to incorporate rewarded video ads into their gaming app and increase revenue. Results JOYCITY saw overall revenue of Game of Dice increase, with their IAP revenue in particular increasing by 10%, while also maintaining their daily active user rates. Somin Oh, Ad Monetization Manag...

Duolingo is an online education platform that helps millions of people around the world learn languages and also one of the most popular educational apps globally. It was selected by Apple as iPhone App of the Year in 2013, and by Google as Best of the Best for Android in 2013 and 2014. The Problem Building, supporting, and expanding on a platform used by that many people can be expensive and complex. Thus, Duolingo faced a profound challenge — how could they monetize a free, beloved product without undermining their mission or hurting the trust of their users. The Solution Duolingo saw ads as a way to build a sustainable business while still placing product value as the most important feature. When implemented properly ads can have a transformational effect on a business's ability to grow. However, if implemented poorly they can be intrusive, poorly designed, erode trust and result in a bad user experience. So to ensure the best user experience, Duolingo chose to use AdMob nati...

At AdMob, we know how important user experience is to creating a great app. Non-intrusive ads make for happy users and higher ad engagement rates, and we think rewarded videos are the next step in meeting and exceeding a users expectations for a great experience. Here are three ways AdMob can help improve your user experience with rewarded video ads. 1. Consistency With reliable UX patterns, you’ll form clear breaks in your apps where users are expecting to see engaging ads. And when it comes to rewarded video, ads that appear at just the right moment will provide a mutual benefit to both user and publisher. For example, in a gaming app, you might want to reward your user with extra lives in exchange for watching a video at a moment when the game would otherwise end. Your users will thank you for it! 2. No tricks A rewarded video is still an ad, so it is important to make the value exchange between user and publisher transparent. Users are presented with a clear description of the ac...

Episode fourteen of The Mobile Ads Garage is live on YouTube! If you haven't seen it before, The Mobile Ads Garage is a video tutorial series that covers how to use the Mobile Ads SDK to display ads from AdMob and DoubleClick for Publishers. Each episode covers one aspect of the SDK, breaks down the feature, and shows screencasts of real implementations on both Android and iOS – all in a friendly format. This video is a special one for two reasons. Not only is it the first to feature AdMob's open source plugin for Unity, but it's also the Garage debut of AdMob's own rewarded video ads! Previously, publishers who wanted to use the Mobile Ads SDK to integrate rewarded video ads had to use mediation to source ads from other networks. Now, however, AdMob has its own rewarded demand , which means you can take advantage of the format with no mediation required. In this episode, you'll see screencasts and a breakdown of how to request and show rewarded video ads with th...

In this post, we’re going to discuss an easy way to help avoid violating our policy against interstitial ads that unexpectedly launch ( Layout Encourages Accidental Clicks - Unexpected Launch Interstitials ): implementing a splash page (Loading/Title Screen) in your app. A splash page is a static screen, containing no clickable content, which launches before the user gets to the ‘Home Screen’ of your app. First, we’ll talk about the violation itself. If you choose to implement interstitial ads in your app, you need to ensure that your implementation won’t encourage users to click on it accidentally. An example of a violating implementation can be found below (Fig.1): Fig.1: This interstitial ad implementation violates our policies, as an interstitial launches on the ‘Home Screen’ of the app without any action by the user. In the example above, an interstitial ad launches while the user is idle on the ‘Home Screen’ of the app. This implementation is in violation of our policies, as i...

We often hear from developers that you’re looking for tips and ideas for growing your app. Our team of apps experts are constantly building new resources and insights to help developers like you grow your business. We regularly share personalized suggestions for your app via email in addition to news on the latest product features. Additionally, we send periodic invitations to live video sessions and events offering personalized tips for your region. To ensure you’re getting this information from us, we need to have up-to-date contact details and communication preferences for you. Here are a few quick and simple steps you should take when you log in to your AdMob account, to make sure we can get in touch: Step 1: Make sure that the email address you've listed in your account to receive communications from us is correct and is one that you’re regularly checking . You can check which email address we’re using to reach you by logging into your AdMob account and going to your Persona...

Cross posted from the Google Ads Developer Blog . If you've created a Native Express ad unit recently, you may have noticed a new template format alongside App Install and Content: Video App Install. In the past few weeks, AdMob has rolled out support for video assets in Native Ads Express, giving publishers a new way to create more engaging presentations for their users. How to get started Enabling video demand for a Native Express ad unit is easy. Just open the ad unit's settings in the AdMob console, and look for the Ad type checkboxes at the top of the editor: Check the checkbox marked "Video app install," and save the change. In a short while, your ad unit will start serving video creatives alongside the other two formats, with no code changes to your app required. That means you can update your existing apps to display this new format without redeploying to the Play Store or App Store. An important thing to note is that video creatives are only available...

In today's post, we'll be discussing AdMob account suspensions due to invalid traffic. We have found that there are two types of publishers who may have invalid traffic issues with their accounts. The first are publishers who may unintentionally send invalid traffic to their accounts, typically by testing on live ads. For those, we hope that increased transparency into our policies and processes can decrease these unintentional violations and help our publishers play by the rules. The second are publishers who intentionally bypass our rules, ending up with a variety of invalid traffic issues in order to artificially inflate their ad revenue. That’s why we work hard to maintain a policy compliant ecosystem for our publishers, advertisers, and users. In short, if you play by the rules, AdMob is here to help you grow your business. We receive many questions about account suspensions, so let's go through the top questions about this process and steps you can take to help keep...

Yesterday, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), we announced important updates to AdMob that could help you unlock new business with rewarded video formats and free, unlimited and real-time analytics reporting. These features will help you monetize your games more effectively by helping you keep your players engaged with more immersive ads and by giving you a faster understanding of how they are interacting with your game. Over the last year, developers embraced AdMob’s platform to mediate rewarded video ads to nine leading rewarded networks , including TapJoy which we announced yesterday. And we’re not stopping there. AdMob developers around the world now have access to Google’s own video advertising demand from Google AdWords, significantly increasing the breadth and scale of rewarded demand available. That means AdMob now offers a single platform solution including mediation, demand, and reservations. And for those publishers currently using either IronSource or MoPub, adaptors...

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is less than one week away in San Francisco. We’re excited to give you a glimpse into how we are helping mobile game developers build businesses and improve user experiences, while monetizing successfully. Our Google Developer Day will take place in Room 2020 of the West Hall of Moscone Center on Monday, February 27 . We'll share how new devices, platforms, and tools are helping developers grow successful businesses and push the limits of mobile gaming. Then stay with us for a diverse set of lightning talks and panels covering topics including virtual reality, machine learning, monetization and more. Here’s a look at the schedule: Opening Keynote || 10AM : We’ll kick off the day by sharing how Google is ramping up efforts to help game developers grow their businesses and make Android a great platform for games. From Play store updates optimized for discovery and engagement, to performance upgrades making high fidelity gaming come to life on ...

In today’s topic, we’re exploring how you can help stay compliant with AdMob policies when using the AdMob interstitial ad format. If you have ever received a policy message for “Layout encourages accidental clicks - Interstitial Ads”, or have had trouble with implementing interstitials to trigger on time, read ahead for our best practices. App layouts that encourage accidental clicks are a common policy issue for publishers. When implementing interstitial ads within a mobile app, there may be a slight delay in when the ad gets triggered after a user selects an action. In the example below we can see that an interstitial ad launches unexpectedly with a delay on the second screen after the page has already loaded. This delay can occur due to carrier latency when requesting the interstitial ad. Carrier Latency causing a delay in the interstitial ad Pre-loading your interstitial ads will allow you to avoid latency when the ad is displayed to the user. In the corrected example below, th...

All views expressed in this blog post are solely those of the author, and not that of Google. This guest post is from Sreeraman Thiagarajan, a Google Developers Expert in the app marketing and monetization space and a published author on the Economic Times . Sreeraman is featured as our guest blogger to share insights and tips from his experience to help AdMob developers grow their earnings. If you’re new to AdMob, be sure to sign up here . In the introductory post we saw how AdMob lets app developers take control of monetizing their apps - here’s the second part on optimization and measuring. Optimizing revenue and volume: A counter question I often get goes like this “But other networks offer better eCPM (more dollar for every one thousand impressions served), why must I choose AdMob?” Answer for this lies in understanding two metrics and the two respective fundamentals behind each of these metrics. The first metric is ‘fill rate’ which means how many relevant ads can the a...