5 Best Practices for Improving the Viewability of Digital Ads

Amberly Dressler
by Amberly Dressler 23 Feb, 2017
5 Best Practices for Improving the Viewability of Digital Ads
Getting your digital ad seen by its intended audience shouldn't be a struggle - as viewability isn't even a click through or a conversion. Still, it's considered a win if half the ad is visible for a second or two (depending on the network and the ad type). 

While there are many calling for 100 percent viewability, there are steps brands can take themselves to improve viewability including:

  1. Using Responsive Design
    Responsive ads fit the browsers visitors are using to access a website, which not only provides a better user experience but can also improve viewability since the campaigns will render properly regardless of device being used.

  2. Consider Page Speed

    Google recommends that brands ensure page loads are fast and reliable, including ad rendering time. Use of asynchronous ad tags is recommended by Google, and speed optimization tools such as Google Pagespeed can be used to analyze and optimize site performance according to the network. Mobile sites, for example, that loaded within 5 seconds, versus 19 seconds, were observed to have 25 percent higher viewability. 

  3. Produce Great Content
    Easy enough, right? While there are a lot of recommendations about improving viewability, one of the key components to whether an ad will be seen is if a person is willing to invest a few seconds of their time with it. 

  4. Go Vertical
    According to Google, the most viewable ad sizes are the vertical sizes units, for example, 160x600.

  5. Avoid the Top
    Google suggests (again) that the most viewable position for an ad is right above the fold, not at the top of the page.
Amberly Dressler
Amberly Dressler
Head of analyst relations, public relations, customer advocacy (People Heroes), customer community, content marketing (full funnel/lifecycle), content operations and optimization, reputation management and social media. Leads a team of nine superstars to exceed our goals multi-fold.