Manage email newsletters (Beta)

This feature is only available in Google Ad Manager 360. Contact your account manager to get started.

Publishers can use Google Ad Manager to serve reservation and Programmatic Guaranteed (publisher-managed) ads in email newsletter inventory.

On this page

• Activation
• Implementation
• Newsletter tags
• Ad badging
• Reporting
• Merge tag documentation for ESPs
• Frequently asked questions

Activation

First, you need to activate the newsletter feature.

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Admin, then Advanced features.
3. Under "Advanced features," review available features. Learn more about advanced features.
4. To activate a feature, under "Status," turn on the switch .

Implementation

1. Create or select an existing ad unit.

2. Create or select an existing line item.

   1. Expected creatives: select the sizes of the ad creatives you expect to appear in newsletters. Make sure the sizes selected here are the same as the sizes in the sz field in the newsletter tag.

   2. Targeting: include the ad unit created or selected in step 1.

      Note: Due to Apple's Mail Privacy Protection and caching policies by mail clients such as Yahoo, targeting by geography and device may be inaccurate.
   3. Creatives: only image creatives are supported.
   Note: Google recommends keeping a house line item as a back up to avoid having an empty space in newsletters if no ads fill.

3. Generate a newsletter tag for the ad unit.

   1. Go to the Tags tab for the ad unit.
   2. Select Newsletter Tag.

   3. Click Continue.

   4. Complete the fields in "Tag Options" as needed.

   5. Click Continue.

   6. Click Copy Tag.

   7. Copy the tag.
4. Paste the newsletter tag where the ad appears in the newsletter.

Newsletter tags

The following tags correlate to the fields on the newsletter tag generation page.

  You can learn more about these tag parameters in the developer documentation.

Field name	Tag parameter	Required	Description
Sizes	sz	Yes	The sizes of the ad creatives eligible to appear in this ad slot. Make sure the listed sizes match the sizes in the Expected creatives field of your selected line item.
View in browser url	url	Yes	A "view in browser" url lets users view newsletters outside an email client and on a web browser. The url value should be populated from the "view in browser" url merge tag provided by your email service provider (ESP). "Merge tags" are dynamic and customizable variables in emails (for example, *|ARCHIVE|*). The exact name of the "view in browser" url merge tag varies by ESP. Refer to your ESP's documentation to find the "merge tag" variable for the "view in browser url". See merge tag documentation for ESPs.
Ad position	clkp	Yes	The "ad position" value uniquely identifies a single newsletter ad placement. The default value is 1. If multiple ads are included in a single email, select a different value for each ad.
Unique string per email	clkk	Yes	The "unique string per email" value needs to be unique per recipient, per email sent. You may need to use the "merge tag" or dynamic variables feature in your email service provider (ESP) to generate this unique string, which is a concatenation of multiple "merge tag" variables. For example, *|UNIQID|*_*|CAMPAIGN_UID|*_*|DATE:d/m/y|* Refer to your ESP's documentation to find the combination of "merge tag" variables that will give you a clkk value that is unique per recipient, per email sent. See merge tag documentation for ESPs. Warning: You must not pass any information to Google that Google could use or recognize as personally identifiable information (PII). IP addresses cannot be used as clkk input.
Ad slot key-values	t	No	Target key-values. Warning: You must not pass any information to Google that Google could use or recognize as personally identifiable information (PII). IP addresses cannot be used as key-value input.

 

Here's an example of what a complete newsletter ad tag looks like for a set of mock values:

Mock parameter values example

Ad unit path (iu)	/1/example_ad_unit
Creative sizes (sz)	216x36|300x50|320x50
Unique string per email (clkk)	*|UNIQID|*_*|CAMPAIGN_UID|*_*|DATE:d/m/y|
Ad position (clkp)	1
Targeting (t)	genre=comedy&movie=Lilo & Stitch
URL (url)	*|ARCHIVE|*

Resulting ad tag example

HTML

<a href="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?ptt=21&iu=/1/example_ad_unit&sz=216x36%7c300x50%7c320x50&clkk=*|UNIQID|*_*|CAMPAIGN_UID|*_*|DATE:d/m/y|&clkp=1&url=*|ARCHIVE|*&t=genre%3Dcomedy%26movie%3DLilo%2520%2526%2520Stitch" target="_blank">
<img
src="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ad?ptt=21&iu=/1/example_ad_unit&sz=216x36%7c300x50%7c320x50&clkk=*|UNIQID|*_*|CAMPAIGN_UID|*_*|DATE:d/m/y|&clkp=1&url=*|ARCHIVE|*&t=genre%3Dcomedy%26movie%3DLilo%2520%2526%2520Stitch">
</a>

<a
href="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?iu=/1/example_ad_unit&sz=216x36%7c300x50%7c320x50&clkk=*|UNIQID|*_*|CAMPAIGN_UID|*_*|DATE:d/m/y|&clkp=1&url=*|ARCHIVE|*&t=genre%3Dcomedy%26movie%3DLilo%2520%2526%2520Stitch&click_type=wta">Why this ad?</a>

Ad badging

Publishers are required to include a link to Google's "About this ad" page below their newsletter ad creative by adding the following code snippet.

Example

<a href="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?iu=EXAMPLE_AD_UNIT&clkk=EXAMPLE_CLKK&click_type=wta">Why this ad?</a>

The code snippet is automatically included in the newsletter tag generated from the Ad Manager UI so that publishers aren't required to carry out this step.

Reporting

A newsletter ad impression is recorded when Ad Manager responds to an ad request.

You can also filter by "Email/Newsletter" using the "Inventory type" dimension to analyze data for newsletter ads only.

Merge tag documentation for ESPs (not a complete list)

• Adobe Marketo
• Bloomreach
• HubSpot
• Mailchimp
• SailThru
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Visit your ESP's website for merge tag documentation if they are not included in the list above.

Frequently asked questions

Can I reuse clkk values across multiple newsletter tags?

No. Reusing the same clkk value may cause users to land on the wrong page or a blank page, and inaccurate reporting.

How do I know if clkk is set up correctly?

When clkk is set up correctly, it generates a string that's unique per user, and per email send. To verify this, you can send out test emails. You should be able to click on the ad, land on the correct destination url and clicks are then reported. 

If the clkk has only one merge tag variable, then it's most likely wrong because you likely need more than one merge tag variable to form clkk.

Can I use the same line item for both newsletter and display ad units?

Yes.

How do I show different creative sizes depending on the device type/screen size?

The publisher can upload a single creative and use CSS @media queries to dynamically resize the creative based on browser viewport size. In the example below, if the screen size is at most 480px (for example, on a mobile device), then the creative is scaled to 100% of the parent container width; if the screen size is at least 480px (for example, on a desktop), then the creative width is 50% of the parent container width (the aspect ratio of the creative does not change as long as the size of the img element is not defined.)

Example

<html>
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"<style type="textcss">
@media only screen and (max-width: 480px){
#ad {
width: 100%;
    }
  }
@media only screen and (min-width: 480px){
#ad {         
  width: 50%;
    }
  }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <a href="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?ptt=21&iu=/1/example_iu&sz=1000x300&clkk=EXAMPLE_CLICK_KEY">
      <img id="ad" src="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ad?ptt=21&iu=/1/example_iu&sz=1000x300&clkk=EXAMPLE_CLICK_KEY">
    </a>
  </body>
</html>

Does reservation consent checking impact the functionality of newsletter ads?

Newsletter ads may be ineligible to serve if you've enabled reservation consent checking at the network-level and creatives trafficked for newsletter ad serving have detected or declared ad technology providers. To prevent any potential impact to serving, we recommend that you don't over-declare ad technology providers that aren't in use on newsletter ad creatives.