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Sticky Ads: Rules and Declaration in ADX

March 25, 2023 || By Editorial Staff

Sticky ads are ads that stay afloat while the user is viewing the content of webpages. Some publisher uses their ad units to show sticky ads to improve viewability and ad performance. These ads are persistent or fixed ad units that stay visible when users scroll content on the page up or down. There are certain implementation specifications that publishers must stick to if they wish to use Sticky Ads.


The attributions of ads and their content must be visible at all times.

Summary
  • Sticky Ads: Rules and Declaration in ADX
    • Vertical Ads

Vertical Ads:

You should comply with the ADx seller program guidelines and be extra careful about the following-

  • Do not overload your page with ads. Make sure that the amount of content on the viewable screen or viewport always surpasses the ads, which is specifically for vertical sticky ads on the Desktop.
  • No other page content must be overlapped or underlapped because of the vertical sticky ads. The ad must be at a distance from the content, navigational site functions which include scrollbars, or another ad. This declaration is inclusive of pages that have a responsive design and whatever issues that arise from resized windows.
  • Ads should not appear or disappear in the scroll at any point and must scroll into and out of the viewport.
  • Vertical sticky ads should not float anywhere on the page and must not follow the cursor, and must move on the vertical axis only and not horizontally.
  • It must not move from its fixed position on the screen and should be visible without stuttering, choppiness, or delay while the user scrolls through the content.

Horizontal Ads:

Other than complying with the ADx guidelines, Publishers must be careful with the following-

  • Never overload your page with ads and have the ads take up less amount of the viewable screen or viewport than the content. A clear differentiation between ad and content must be provided by ad implementation. These are applicable for horizontal sticky ads on desktop and mobile sites, and if you use horizontal sticky ad units for display, you need to simply declare that.
  • The sticky ads must not come close to the content, navigational site functions, or any other ads, which includes pages that have a responsive design and any issues that may arise from resized windows.
  • They should not move with the cursor or float away from the edges of windows. 
  • They must not have any stuttering, choppiness, or delay when the user scrolls through content.

Applicable for both Horizontal and Vertical sticky ads:

Keep in mind that sticky ads are not ideal for all types of websites; for instance, they are not compatible with gaming pages or pages that evolve dynamically. So, before you implement the unit across your site, go through a thorough A/B testing process. See if the user experience is good and if the sticky ad unit disrupts the page’s performance or not.

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Editorial Staff at Publisher Growth is a team of blogging and AdTech experts adept at creating how-to, tutorials, listings, and reviews that can publishers run their online businesses in a better way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Vertical sticky ads are portrait-shaped ad units that persist on the sides of the page. Horizontal sticky ads are landscape-shaped ad units that persist at the top or bottom of the page.

This ad is a horizontal banner ad that adheres to the top or bottom of the user's viewport as they scroll.

Sticky ads are not supported by all networks. Neither Facebook nor Google AdSense allows them unless you use their anchor ad units. Publisher accounts can be banned if they violate these rules.