DoubleClick for Publishers

The Google Publisher Tag (GPT) is an ad tagging format that provides you with a number of benefits and improvements over the DART tag. Note that the greater length of the tag is not a reflection of its overall load time; in fact, you can expect faster performance and load time from Google Publisher Tags than from DART tags. See example GPT tags

Will my DART tags still work?

Yes. The DFP upgrade provides your organization with a scalable inventory structure that allows you to manage, target, and report on campaigns across your existing inventory channels, without needing to re-tag your sites. Your regular DART tags will continue to work without any changes.

However, while retagging isn't required, we highly recommend that you retag in order to leverage the additional benefits provided with the Google Publisher Tag, such as five of levels of inventory hierarchy or single request mode.

Can I use different tagging styles on the same network? On the same page?

You should ensure that a given page only contains GPT tags since the DFP ad server may not be able to correlate multiple request types, which will prevent ads from serving. However, it's OK to have one page that uses GPT and one that uses legacy DART tags as you upgrade from legacy tags to the Google Publisher Tag.

What are the benefits of using Google Publisher Tags?

There are multiple benefits of using these tags:

• Five-level inventory hierarchy: The Google Publisher Tag allows you to use more granular levels of inventory in the DFP front-end (DART tags allow only two levels). With five levels of hierarchy, you'll be able to create much more specific targeting based on your site content. For example, you could create inventory on an electronics site to target the following structure:

  Electronics > TVs > LCD > Brand > Under_1000

• Faster page loads: An asynchronous JavaScript fetch means that instead of waiting for the JavaScript to be returned from the DoubleClick servers, the page continues rendering and loads the ads into iframes when the creatives are returned from the server.

• Google Publisher Console: The tag comes with a built-in debugging and support tool called the Google Publisher Console, which is enabled on all pages containing the Google Publisher Tag. To activate the Publisher Console, load your webpage containing Google Publisher Tags into a browser and append ?google_console=1 to the URL and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F10 to toggle the console. The console provides checks for common tagging errors, visual highlights of all ad units and creatives on the page to help with debugging, and an alternative point of entry into the DFP front-end.

• Single request mode: Instead of sending individual ad requests to DoubleClick servers, the browser is able to send one request notifying the server of all ad units on the page. This enables advanced roadblocking and improves page load time.

• Automated setup for interstitials: DFP lets you specify that your tags are for an out-of-page unit and automatically adds the additional code. There's no need to add code manually.
• Video-specific benefits:
  Many of these features also require Google's IMA3 SDK (older SDKs are not sufficient).
  • Ad Rules and pods
    • Competitive exclusions
    • Frequency capping at the stream, pod, and content level
    • Bumpers
  • Optimized pods (beta)
  • Fallback (beta)
  • Content awareness
    • Target and report on content instead of just ad units, making cross-device video sales more efficient.
  • Skippable ads
  • Publisher Provided ID
  • Companion delivery options

What are the differences between the DART tags and Google Publisher Tags?

How does the Google Publisher Tag work?

The Google Publisher Tag is used to define available ad slots on your organization's website/network. Placing a tag on a page creates a communication path between the ad server and a user’s browser. When a page containing a Google Publisher Tag is rendered, the following sequence of events occurs:

1. A request is made from the user's browser to the ad server for gpt.js, the tagging JavaScript.

2. The tagging JavaScript builds and sends one or more requests (depending on whether single-request mode is enabled) to the ad server for ads tagged on the page.

3. The ad server recognizes the ad units and any custom targeting contained within the request.

4. The ad server selects and returns the best matching ad.

5. The JavaScript code associated with the ad tag displays the ad on the page.

Does the Google Publisher Tag work with https:// secure pages?

Yes. The Google Publisher Tag works automatically with secure webpages whose URLs begin with https://. There's no need to modify the tag in any way for serving on a secure page.