If you display ads on your site, you probably know how difficult it can be to:
- Keep track of those ads performance and replace existing ads for new ads when needed
- Insert your ads at the right spot on your site without wasting time trying to edit the code
Ad Inserter is a free plugin (with a premium version) that makes it easier for you to manage any of the ads that you use on WordPress, including AdSense and Amazon Associates. Both Google and Amazon recommend this plugin for inserting ads, which is a testament to its quality:
Ad Inserter benefits you in two ways:
- It will save you time by making it easier for you to insert and manage your ads.
- Beyond time-saving, it can offer extra functionality like A/B testing, ad rotation, adblock detection, and a lot more.
In my Ad Inserter review, I will show you exactly how this popular plugin works.
How To Create An Ad With Ad Inserter
To start, I’m going to show you how the free version of Ad Inserter works. The Ad Inserter WordPress plugin free version has a broad feature list and includes most of the features, which makes it an excellent option for bloggers.
Then, in the end, I will discuss some extra things that you get with the Pro version.
Creating A New Ad Block
Ad Inserter works by using something called Blocks. A “Block” is a location where you want to display ads. You can include multiple ads in a single block, as well as rotate ads within a block.
In the free version of the plugin, you can use 16 different blocks. To manage them, you go to Settings → Ad Inserter:
To insert an ad, you need to paste its code into the box. For example, you could paste in the code for an AdSense block:
If you don’t like using the code directly, you can also use the Tools to create your ad using the WordPress Visual editor, which is nice if you’re working with custom banner ads:
Ad Inserter also includes a tool to help you generate the AdSense code right from your WordPress dashboard, which is convenient.
Automatically Inserting Your Ad Block On Your Site
Once you’ve entered your ad, Ad Inserter can help you insert it pretty much anywhere on your site. This automatic insertion feature is one of the most powerful parts of Ad Inserter.
In the free version of the plugin, you can automatically insert ads before or after:
- A post
- Content
- Specific paragraphs
- Random paragraphs
- Comments
- Excerpts
And you can also put them:
- Near a specific element (using CSS)
- Above your site’s header
- In your site’s footer
- Between comments, excerpts, or blog posts
- At custom positions using hooks
Finally, you can also manually insert ads with:
- Shortcodes
- Widgets
- PHP functions
To automatically insert your ad somewhere on your site, you need to select an option from the Automatic Insertion dropdown:
Then, you can configure that option. For example, if you chose After Paragraph, all you need to do is enter the number for which paragraph to insert the ad after. If you want to go even deeper, you can expand the Counting interface for even more control:
And when you save your settings, your ad is live! For example, you can see that Ad Inserter automatically placed it after the first paragraph on my test site:
If you’re ever unsure where Ad Inserter is going to place your ad, it includes this helpful front-end tool that you can access from the WordPress toolbar:
Exploring The Deeper Features Of Ad Inserter
The tutorial above is a good example of Ad Inserter’s basic functionality. But one of the reasons that the Ad Inserter plugin is so popular is because it includes tons of other helpful features that you can optionally use for even more control.
Insert Ads At Custom Hooks Or CSS Selectors
Ad Inserter is beginner-friendly and comfortable for casual bloggers to use as it has a ton of pre-built placement options.
But if you know a little bit about code, Ad Inserter offers some unique placement methods that you won’t find in many other plugins.
For example, you can use the HTML element option to insert your ads near specific CSS selectors:
And you can also register your hooks to insert ads anywhere in your theme’s template files (this is an advanced method that requires some PHP knowledge – but it’s really flexible):
Easy Ad Rotation
Sometimes, you might want to rotate ads at a position instead of displaying the same advertisement over and over.
Ad Inserter makes this simple. When you turn on the Rotation Editor, you can create different ads that will rotate within the block. You can even give each ad its unique share of impressions. Fr example, you can:
- Display Ad A 75% of the time
- Display Ad B 25% of the time
Simple Spacing Adjustments
Another great thing about Ad Inserter is that it makes it easy to adjust the spacing around your ad. For example, this lets you make sure that your automatically inserted advertisement doesn’t get too close to your post’s text.
Rather than needing to use any code, you can adjust spacing using the live preview:
Whitelists/Blacklists For Ad Targeting
For some ads, you might want more control over where they display. For example, you might want to display a WordPress-focused ad only in the WordPress category on your blog.
To do that, Ad Inserter lets you use Lists. You can either whitelist certain content or blacklist it:
Device-level Targeting
Ad Inserter also enables you to target by specific devices. For example, you might want to show ads to desktop users and not mobile users:
Other Misc Settings
In the Misc options, you can configure:
- AMP support
- User targeting – e.g., only display ads to users who aren’t logged-in
- Ad schedules
- Minimum word count for ads to display
As you can see, there’s a lot of deep functionality here!
4 Reasons To Consider Buying Ad Inserter Pro
For most bloggers, the free version should offer more than enough functionality. The Pro version does some advantages, though. Here are 4 reasons you might want to pay for the Pro version.
1. More Blocks – Up To 96
The free version lets you create 16 different ad blocks. If you ever run out, the Pro version expands that. Depending on which version you choose, you can expand it to between 64-96 code blocks.
You also get the option to use more custom hooks.
2. A/B Testing / Ad Statistics
The free version lets you rotate ads, but if you want to really A/B test those ads with data and/or view impression/clicks statistics for your ads, you’ll need the Pro version.
3. Sticky Ad Positions
Ad Inserter Pro lets you display “sticky” ads that stay with users as they scroll down the page (with an optional close button).
4. Country-Level Geotargeting
Finally, Ad Inserter Pro also makes it possible to geotarget your ads to specific countries, which is helpful if you have ads that only accept users from specific locations.
How Much Does Ad Inserter Pro Cost?
As I mentioned above, you can use the free version of Ad inserter plugin or you can grab Pro version if you are an experienced blogger and need more features and control.
There are four different Ad Inserter Pro plans:
- Personal – $20 – 64 code blocks and use on 2 sites
- Freelancer – $30 – 64 code blocks and use on 5 sites
- Personal – $50 – 80 code blocks and use on 25 sites
- Personal – $100 – 96 code blocks and use on 100 sites
Download Free Version | Download Pro version
Final Thoughts On The Ad Inserter Plugin
Ad Inserter is one of the most popular and highly rated ad management plugins at WordPress.org for a reason.
At a basic level, it makes it easy to manage your ads and display them on your site. But it also gives you access to a lot of smaller features that give you deep control over how your ads function.
As I said, I think the free version has enough functionality for most bloggers. But if you need more functionality, the Pro version is a great value starting at $20.
Let me know your thoughts about Ad Inserter WordPress plugin? Have you used it? What’s your initial feedback and review? What did you like the most and what more features are you looking for? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.