If you have decided to add online advertising to your site, the next step is to decide which ad sizes, in particular, you want to add. This is a long term decision as it is impractical to redesign your site every time you change your mind about including an ad unit.
Our ad size guide explains the most common ad units of the moment to website owners, with information about the ad unit itself as well as some advice directly for website owners. Unfortunately, we can’t tell you exactly what would be best for you as sites differ so wildly. We can, however, tell you which ad units generally perform the best, earn the most, as well as some other useful hints and tips.
Which ad sizes you put on your site depends more on the number of visitors you receive than the design of your site. Although it can be tempting to fill every spare space with an ad, this strategy will most likely not make you the most money. This is because most ad units are under-used and therefore the quality of the ad you receive on irregular sized ad units may compromise the quality of your site.
For most sites, the balance to strike between profit and annoyance to users is to just include the main three IAB Standard Ad Units – 160×600, 300×250 (or 300×600) and 728×90, such as we have done here on The Online Advertising Guide. However sites with a lot of traffic will have different priorities and budgets than sites with low traffic, so they may want to consider things differently.
Whether you are a large or small site, please check the relevant link:
However large your site, you also might want to consider following the Acceptable Ads standard for where to place ads. This is a standard developed by an ad-blocking company – and if you follow it their users might not block your ads. Find out more here >
All Ad Sizes for Website Owners
For a summary of all available ad sizes and how to best use them, we have put together this helpful infographic:
Click to enlarge
Back: Ad Size Guide