There are free digital advertising courses available out there, like the ones from the IAB and MediaMath, but they are more focused on the buy-side (advertisers) and not the sell-side (publishers). As a publisher looking to find valuable information to further optimize your ad revenues, these courses clearly miss the point.
We stumbled upon Google Skillshop, one that’s finally for sell-side publishers and talks about Google Ad Manager. It discusses the basics and how to navigate around the platform. After taking the course, you’ll learn how to create ad units, Orders and Line Items, and how to generate ad tags. It’s helpful when it’s your first time using Google Ad Manager. While the coverage is pretty extensive, we find it to be more tailored to beginners.
We wanted more than what Skillshop had to offer. In fact, we were actually looking for a course that shares ad optimization strategies. As our site is growing, we need higher-level discussions on how to further increase our ad revenues while keeping our ad accounts safe, determine the right CPM floors and auction pricing, most optimal ad placements, and how to maintain it all.
The search was on...
That’s when we learned about PubGuru University and discovered they offer 4 major certifications courses:
- AdSense
- Ad Exchange
- Google Ad Manager
- Advanced Ad Optimization
Here’s a quick peak at the different courses offered and costs involved:
Here’s a quick comparison between Google Skillshop (Google Ad Manager course) and PubGuru University (all four paid courses) after going through both.
Features | Google Skillshop | PubGuru University |
|---|---|---|
Topics overview | Basic how to’s, navigation | Basic how to’s, navigation, ad optimization techniques, data analysis |
Platform | Google Ad Manager | AdSense, Ad Exchange, Google Ad Manager, Google Analytics, WordPress |
Author | Ad Optimization nerds | |
Target audience | Beginners | Intermediate to expert |
Community/Forum | Yes | Yes |
Price | Free | Paid |
Certification | Yes | Yes |
Overall rating |
Here’s a breakdown of the lessons that stood out from every certification course in PubGuru University:
AdSense Certification Course
- Using URL Channels in ad optimization
- How to properly submit a detailed and solid appeal to Google when your account gets banned or limited due to some policy violations.
- Running AdSense on Dynamic Allocation in Google Ad Manager
- Reporting metrics that really matter in Ad Ops
- AdSense on Price Priority line item priority in Google Ad Manager
- A/B testing site layouts with AdSense
Google Ad Manager Certification Course
- Deep dive into the Ad Unit settings
- Size Mapping for responsive ads (finally!)
- Line item types - what they are and when to use them (extremely helpful!)
- Setting up Dynamic Allocation for AdSense and AdX
- The logic behind how Google Ad Manager decides which line item to serve for every ad request (I personally felt like a Google Ad Manager expert after learning this!)
- Implementation for AMP, Apps, Video
Google Ad Exchange Certification Course
- Programmatic Native and its role in further optimizing demand
- Using AdX tags as “House” is no longer allowed (you can be flagged for invalid traffic)
- Unified Pricing Rules + exclusive tips & tricks
- Setting up deals (Programmatic Guaranteed, Preferred, Private) and how to negotiate prices
- Stopping Google demand from serving on pages with violation
Advanced Ad Optimization Certification Course
- Powerful controls inside the line items that can make or break your Ad Ops strategy
- Minimizing unfilled ad impressions
- CSS customization for Programmatic Native (what a gem!)
- Pareto Analysis in Ad Optimization (game-changer!)
- Setting up CPM floors based on Header Bidding performance
- Setting up competition among different demand sources in Google Ad Manager
- Preventing 2-Click Penalty (must know!)
- Open Bidding vs Header Bidding
- Page speed optimization with Lazy Loading (the most useful tutorial I’ve seen so far about Lazy Loading)
- Mobile Interstitials or full-page ad implementation
PubGuru University provides information for publishers at every stage of their ad optimization journey. Are you only using AdSense? They’ve got you covered. Have you transitioned to Ad Exchange? They’ve got a course for that! Are you taking the next step in your business using Google Ad Manager to traffic your ads? There’s a course for that too! Have you already been through all of the above and want advanced ad optimization strategies found nowhere else? It’s there!
No matter what stage you are at as a publisher, PubGuru University has a course just for you and shares information on what matters the most, optimizing your ads and increasing your ad revenue.