The frequently asked questions page contains several of the most commonly asked questions and our solutions for them. This section will change over time and should be your first stop for a specific problem.
Why does clicking on an ad lead to a 404?
This is often caused by an issue with permalinks.
Go to Settings > Permalinks and re-save the Permalinks page. (Do not make any changes to the settings. Just click the blue button to re-save the current settings.)
Sometimes when new custom post types, such as AdSanity’s ads, are activated on the site, the permalinks do not reset to include the new type. This solution should reset the permalink structure and include AdSanity in the process. This will not affect anything on your site (unless you make changes to you permalink settings, in which that will have obvious implications).
Can you use AdSanity outside of the widgets?
Yes, there are many options – shortcode button in the classic editor, gutenberg blocks, Beaver Builder modules, and PHP template tags.
Shortcode example
[adsanity id=”put-the-ad-id-here” align=”alignnone”]
[adsanity_group num_ads=4 num_columns=2 group_ids=1,2 /]
Template Tag examples
Core Template Tags
AdSanity ads can be placed programmatically. There are two template tags available for users. One to add a single ad and one to show an ad group. You may want to add these tags to specific templates or template parts to display your advertisements.
To show a single ad:
<?php
adsanity_show_ad( array(
// any valid ad ID will do
// (you can get this from the main list of ads)
‘post_id’ => 1,
// (one of the following:
// alignleft, aligncenter, alignright or alignnone)
‘align’ => false,
// this will optionally return the output instead of echoing it
‘return’ => false,
));
?>
To show a group of ads:
<?php
adsanity_show_ad_group( array(
// an array of valid group ids
// (you can get these from the main list of ad groups)
‘group_ids’ => array(),
// number of ads to show total
‘num_ads’ => 1,
// number of ads to show per row
‘num_columns’ => 1,
// this will optionally return the output instead of echoing it
‘return’ => false,
));
?>
Add-On Template Tags
In addition to our core template tags, certain add-ons provide additional template tags.
To show rotating ads:
<?php
adsanity_show_rotating_ads( array(
// any valid group id
‘group_id’ => 0,
// (one of the following: alignleft, aligncenter, alignright or alignnone)
‘align’ => false,
// how many seconds to show an ad before rotating
‘time’ => 30,
// setting a max width can help keep ads responsive,
// but also no wider than necessary
‘max_width’ => 0,
// this will optionally return the output instead of echoing it
‘return’ => false,
));
?>
To show ordered ads:
<?php
function adsanity_show_ordered_ads( array(
// the number of columns to output
‘num_columns’ => 1,
// an array of valid ad ids
// (you can get these from the main list of ads)
‘ad_ids’ => array(),
// (one of the following:
// alignleft, aligncenter, alignright or alignnone)
‘align’ => ‘alignnone’,
// this will optionally return the output instead of echoing it
‘return’ => false,
));
What are the default ad sizes in AdSanity?
AdSanity will always have the capability to support any non-standard ad-size via an add-on plugin. AdSanity currently supports the following ad sizes by default:
- 1×1 – Responsive
- 1×2 – Responsive
- 1×3 – Responsive
- 1×4 – Responsive
- 2×1 – Responsive
- 3×1 – Responsive
- 4×1 – Responsive
- 6×1 – Responsive
- 8×1 – Responsive
- 10×1 – Responsive
- 88×31 – Micro Bar
- 120×60 – Button 2
- 120×90 – Button 1
- 120×240 – Vertical Banner
- 120×600 – Skyscraper
- 125×125 – Square Button
- 160×600 – Wide Skyscraper
- 180×150 – Rectangle
- 200×90
- 200×200
- 234×60 – Half Banner
- 240×400 – Vertical Rectangle
- 250×250 – Square Pop-Up
- 300×100 – 3:1 Rectangle
- 300×250 – Medium Rectangle
- 300×600 – Half Page Ad
- 336×280 – Large Rectangle
- 468×15
- 468×60 – Full Banner
- 720×300 – Pop-Under
- 728×90 – Leaderboard
These Ad Sizes were derived from IAB Standards. The Responsive ad sizes are to be used for dynamic HTML5 content that meets the new LEAN standards. As of December 2016, the IAB Standards have been updated (see https://www.iab.com/guidelines/iab-display-advertising-guidelines). If you wish to keep the version 1.0 defaults, download, install, and activate the attached AdSanity add-on via the WordPress plugin installer.
adsanity-size-filter.php.zip (2 KB)
Do we need all of the add-ons installed for AdSanity?
No. We typically recommend that you only install and activate the add-ons that you need to achieve the advertising goals for the site. Add-ons that are not in use should be deactivated and removed from the site.
Additionally, if you have the Google Analytics Tracking Integration Add-On installed you need to make sure that your site is successfully connected to your Google Analytics account. If you have it active and are not connected it will override your reporting for the site.
Why is the title of my ad not visible in the list of ads on the manage ads screen?
This often happens when an ad blocker is active in your browser. Disabling the ad blocker should fix the issue.
Does AdSanity work with caching?
As I’m sure you know, when you run a caching system, it is meant to take load off your server by reducing the number of requests to your server for dynamic data. Some types of caching block server requests all together. These kinds of caching systems are not compatible with AdSanity because it relies on the server to choose a dynamic set of ads to display on every page load.
AdSanity is, however, compatible with fragment or object caching systems. These types of systems are built into the WordPress core software and AdSanity leverages them if they’re in place. What this means is that if you’re using ad groups or a random ad widget, the ads in that group will rotate about every minute or so.
Why don’t my AdSanity statistics match my results from [choose your analytics package]?
Comparing numbers from different analytics packages can be difficult. Often, there is no one-to-one comparison between data that is captured between different platforms. This is partially caused by the difference in bot/spider detection.
Additionally, AdSanity calculates a view as soon as the part of the page that AdSanity is on is generated. Since we generate the ad view as soon as the ad is generated (not necessarily viewed), there can be a discrepancy in the stats versus something like google analytics or jetpack stats. The reason for this is that those other stat engines only render a view when the page (and their front-end code) is fully rendered to the user. If a page on your site is requested, but not fully rendered, you can expect this kind of result. Most of the traffic that we see the requested but not generated behavior on is triggered by some sort of bot that is just pinging your site to see if it gets a response.
Why aren’t my ads (which have destination links applied) linking to the destination?
This can occur due to an issue with permalinks.
Go to Settings > Permalinks and re-save the Permalinks page. Do not make any changes to the settings. Just click the button to re-save the current settings.
Sometimes when new custom post types, such as AdSanity are activated on the site, the permalinks do not reset to include the new type. This solution should reset the permalink structure and include AdSanity in the process. This will not affect anything on your site (unless you make changes to your permalink settings, in which that will have obvious implications).
Is there a demo or test version of AdSanity?
We do not have a demo or test version of AdSanity available. However, we do have a 30-day, no-questions-asked refund policy. So if you find the plugin does not suit your needs, we’ll be happy to refund the purchase price within that 30 day period.
How do I license AdSanity now that I’ve purchased a subscription?
There are two license keys named very similarly, one is called “AdSanity Core – Your License Type Here” and one is called “AdSanity Your License Type Here”. You want the second one.
You’ll want to:
- Enter the correct license
- Click save
- Click activate
In that VERY specific order.
The AdSanity plugin does not currently support selling ads within the plugin. One of our goals when developing this plugin was to keep it light and quick. eCommerce adds a lot of heft to an ad management plugin, and for many users that is a feature that goes unused.
Our intent is that you use AdSanity with an eCommerce solution of your choosing. We’ve written a blog post creating the feature with Gravity Forms – https://adsanityplugin.com/sell-ads-gravity-forms/.
Why do I have a blank ad in my rotating ad group?
There could be a few causes for the issue:
- Lazy loading may be active for the site. You’ll want to disable that if you want to use rotating ads.
- You may have an issue with permalinks.
Go to Settings > Permalinks and re-save the Permalinks page. Don’t make any changes to the settings. Just click the button to re-save the current settings.
- There may be no featured image set for the ad in question.
- If your ad is from an External Ad Service you’ll want to make sure the ad is allowed to display in a rotating format.
How does AdSanity handle privacy?
AdSanity does not collect any personally identifiable information on visitors to your website. Additionally, if you’re using the Google Analytics Tracking Integration Add-on we’re not a sub-processor – we don’t store this tracking information – it flows right into your associated Google Analytics account. You can refer to Google’s guidelines for any sub-processors.