VK AdNetwork plugin is designed to place VK Ad Network ad blocks on your website. Advertising blocks are the content you want to display, for example, a banner of VK Ad Network.
User Guide
You don't need any additional knowledge to work with the plugin and place advertising blocks, you just need to do a few things:
- Install the plugin at the link https://wordpress.com/ru/plugins/vk-adnetwork
- Register in the VK Ad Network by following the link https://ads.vk.com/hq/registration/partner
- Get client_id и client_secret.
- Enter the received data on the Settings page.
The plugin will create:
- a platform for your site in the VK Ad Network account (its name will be WP: your-domain),
- advertising block on all pages of your site in WordPress, located above the content.
After creating the ad unit, you can edit it on the Ads page. You will be able to change the position of the ad unit.
Once you have registered with the VK AdNetwork and provided all the required information, we will verify your details within 24 hours. You can check the verification status in both your VK AdNetwork account and on the Statistics page.
Creating an ad unit
To create an ad unit, navigate to VK AdNetwork → Ads and click on New ad. You will see the ad edit view.
Start with defining a title for your ad unit. We recommend using descriptive titles that make it easy for you to identify the ad later, for example, “Campaign A | Leaderboard | Header”.
Embedding ads into your website
VK AdNetwork offers various ways to include ad units on your website.
You can use one of the following methods:
- Via ad positions.
- Inserting shortcodes manually.
Ad unit parameters
To modify the ad unit parameters, navigate to Ads and either create a new ad or open an existing one.
In the Ad unit parameters section, you can choose the display options for the ad unit.
Ad position relative the page content
For an InPage ad unit, you can choose three options of ad placement in the Block vertical alignment section:
- in the top section,
- in the page content,
- in the bottom section.
For blocks of size 970x250 available placement in the footer of the page.
You can place 300x600 and 300x250 blocks in the sidebar of your site.
For all sizes and formats of ad units, you can use shortcode insertion in any places of pages.
Shortcodes
Shortcodes are the easiest way to insert an ad anywhere within a static page or a post.
You can find the shortcodes provided by the VK AdNetwork on the Ads page. They have the following structure:
[vk_adnetwork_the_ad id="5"]
Using the WordPress editor, you can insert a shortcode anywhere within an article or other page.
Display errors
If the ad is not being displayed properly, we recommend taking the following steps.
- Disable any ad blockers
Please disable ad blockers and add-ons like Ghostery. Even with the ad block disguise feature enabled in myTarget Ads, it might still block some resources.
Check your antivirus settings. For example, Kaspersky Antivirus has an option called “Anti-banner”.
- Update all plugins and WordPress
Update to the latest version of VK Ad Network, its add-ons, all other plugins, and WordPress. The issue you are experiencing might already be fixed.
Check that you have entered valid client_id and client_secret in the settings.
- Test another browser
Test another browser or device. If ads show up there, it might still be an ad blocker or similar script causing this. Please see above.
- Disable caching
All caching plugins allow disabling caching for logged-in users, which is the best option to see changes quickly.
- Check Ad health
Please look into Ad health notifications. You can find them in your WordPress backend by clicking on the Advanced ads menu or as a logged-in admin in the toolbar in the frontend of your site.
Click on the links provided with the error message to find more information or jump to the solution right away.
- Check for warnings in your backend
Some general problems are also mentioned at the top of the advanced ads settings page. Just go to VK Ad Network > Support to see them.
- Disable code optimization features
Some plugins, server settings or custom code “optimize” or minify scripts or other output of the frontend code. The most common source of conflict here is if they (re)move JavaScript code or scripts. Since most ad codes break if manipulated like this, the features conflict with them by design.
VK Ad Network tries to solve such issues automatically, but we might still miss something.
Plugins or services that we already found moving (any) ad code from pages are:
- Autoptimize
- CloudFlare – problems could still arise with their Rocket loader enabled.
We are recommending Autoptimize and WP Rocket caching and site speed optimization.
- Cheсk for JavaScript issues
JavaScript is the programing language that many ad codes are using. If another plugin, theme or custom code causes a JavaScript error it might also break other code and therefore prevent ads from showing up.
This page is a perfect resource for all you need to know about how to spot JavaScript errors.
Not every JavaScript conflict must interfere with your ads, but it normally breaks something else, so fixing them is good for your site anyway.
- Check for plugin and theme conflicts
With tens of thousands of plugins in the WordPress universe, there is always a chance that some won’t work well together.
Please try to rule out a plugin conflict by disabling some of them. You might want to look especially for plugins that:
- alter the content of posts and pages,
- optimize or minify code in the frontend.
You can disable plugins and fall back to a default theme for your account only and not everyone else on your site using the Health Check plugin.
Using the ad debug mode
Ads debug mode helps you identify problems on the page that may prevent ads from displaying. Debug mode is especially useful if the display conditions are not working properly.
The problems described below are often caused by code not working in other plugins or themes and can cause problems not only with VK AdNetwork. Therefore, it is generally recommended to fix them.
Enabling Ads Debugging Mode (WordPress)
You can find the debugging mode in the "Debugging Mode" block on the ad editing screen.
Tick the "Enable Debug Mode (WordPress)" checkbox.
Once enabled, the output of the ad unit will be replaced by debugging content.
In addition, all ad unit display restrictions (display conditions, visit conditions, expiry date) will be ignored.
The size of the debug ad unit is determined by the width and height you set for the ad unit, and 300×250 if you did not set them. The contents of the debug ad can be scrolled horizontally and vertically.
Enabling Ads Debugging Mode (VK AdNetwork)
You can find the debug mode in the "Debug Mode" block on the ad editing screen.
To test the correctness of displaying ads on the site, we recommend using the debug mode (VK AdNetwork) beforehand.
Tick the "Enable debugging mode (VK AdNetwork)" checkbox.
After ticking the checkbox, adverts will be broadcast in test mode, without charging for impressions and money.