Get started & troubleshoot partner bidding

Use the following guide to understand how to get started with partner bidding and troubleshoot issues:

• Set up issues 
• General troubleshooting

Set up issues 

What to check	What you can do
Is your app approved in AdMob?	Apps must be set up and approved in AdMob before you can use partner bidding.  Check your app’s readiness status to see if your app is approved.
Are you using a partner bidding ad unit?	Check that your ad unit has the partner bidding setting turned on. Open the ad unit’s settings and confirm that the checkbox next to Partner bidding is checked. If not, you’ll need to create a new partner bidding ad unit. You can’t reuse your existing standard ad units or change the ad unit serving type once the ad unit is created.
Does your app have the minimum GMA SDK to use partner bidding ad units?	We recommend installing the following Google Mobile Ads (GMA) SDKs on your app to use partner bidding: 21.4.0 or later for Android 9.12.0 or later for iOS However, the minimum SDK needed to use partner bidding are: 21.0.0+ for Android 8.5.0+ for iOS
Have you installed the minimum SDK required by your third-party mediation platform?	Your third-party mediation platform may require a new SDK version to use Google as a bidder. Check with your third-party mediation platform to confirm that you’re using the required SDK version.
Does your app have any outstanding policy violations?	Check the AdMob Policy Center to see if your app has any policy violations that may be affecting your app performance or app’s ability to serve ads.

 

General troubleshooting

The following table outlines our recommendations for testing your partner bidding setup.

What to check	What we recommend
Are you testing Google bidding using your third-party platform’s A/B testing feature?	If your third-party mediation platform has an A/B testing feature or tool, consider using their tool to help you test Google bidding on your apps. A/B testing can help you compare Google demand performance on the following experiment groups: Control: Existing mediation setup with your current AdMob Network calls Experiment: Google bidding added to your existing mediation setup
Are you using a hybrid setup to test Google as a bidder on your third-party mediation platform?	Using a hybrid setup means that you have added Google bidding to an existing mediation waterfall that also includes the AdMob Network. This allows you to safely test Google bidding because the AdMob Network can still be called in the mediation waterfall if Google bidding doesn’t respond to a bid request. In a hybrid setup, it’s normal to see the number of calls to the AdMob Network decrease as Google bidding performance increases.
Are you testing Google bidding on all supported formats in your app?	When testing Google bidding, you may want to start off by testing all relevant and supported formats to allow Google bidding’s models to learn more about your app. You can create partner bidding ad units for the following formats: banners, interstitials, native, and rewarded ads. Note: Check with your third-party mediation platform to see which formats they support.
Are you testing Google bidding on all geographic locations?	Google bidding is available for all geographic locations. When testing, you may want to start with all relevant geographics for your app. This helps the Google bidding models learn quickly about your app.
How long have you been testing Google bidding?	When testing Google as a bidder, it’s best to test for at least 14 days before evaluating performance. This allows Google bidding’s models to converge and stabilize on your app inventory.
What metrics are you evaluating?	It’s important to remember that there are multiple metrics that will help you understand how Google bidding is performing on your app(s). These metrics include estimated earnings from Google, impressions, eCPM, and total revenue. Your Google demand payout should be the primary indicator for performance when testing Google bidding. Because Google bidding allows advertisers to access more of your app’s inventory, Google performance may vary depending on the new impression opportunities Google bidding will have access to.
Did you recently release a new version of your app with a new SDK version?	If you have recently released a version of your app with a new SDK version (GMA and third-party platform SDKs) and adoption is low, you may want to wait until your app has reached a healthy adoption rate to ensure your A/B test(s) are providing a fair comparison between your control and experiment groups.