How to Get a Google Adx Account: Two Options in Detail

There are two ways for publishers to access Google Exchange (AdX):

• By invitation: You can wait for the invite or reach out to Google support and ask them to evaluate your website.

• Through a Google AdX reseller like Snigel: A tool called Multiple Customer Management lets publishers who don’t have their own account access AdX through the reseller’s account.

In this post, we’ll cover both options in detail including:

• The requirements for joining

• How to join step-by-step

• The pros and cons of each option

Then, we’ll cover frequently asked questions regarding AdX and AdX resellers.

You can gain access to AdX by partnering with Snigel, a Google Certified Publishing Partner. We help publishers get the most revenue out of every impression through custom ad setups and strategies. Get in touch for a free assessment.

1. Google Invite

Google Ad Exchange (formerly DoubleClick Ad Exchange) is known for only allowing premium publishers and advertisers to join, which is why you need an invitation to join directly. While this makes it difficult for most publishers to join, it also makes AdX an important part of your ad strategy. By having access to premium advertisers, publishers can earn more revenue per ad impression and display higher quality ads on their website.

Minimum Requirements for Getting a Google AdX Account

Before getting a Google Ad Exchange account, you need to gain access to Google Ad Manager (GAM). The requirements for GAM aren’t publicly displayed and are constantly changing, however, most well-established companies can join.

Once you have a GAM account, there are additional requirements for joining AdX, such as:

• No history of policy violations, unsafe content, or invalid traffic

• An updated ads.txt file with details of all buyers

• At least 5 million monthly pageviews

• A minimum of 10 million ad impressions per month for at least 6 months

• Content must be in a supported language

However, these requirements are just a starting point — an invitation is never guaranteed. There are often further requirements regarding content type, ad viewability, and more. These additional requirements are not clearly stated and many publishers never know why they were rejected.

If you don’t meet these requirements, skip down to learn more about accessing AdX through a reseller.

How to Get an Invite to Join Google AdX: Step-by-Step

As we mentioned above, the first step is to sign up for a Google Ad Manager account.

Here's a brief overview of how to do that:

• Create a Google AdSense account. (Note: You aren’t required to actively use AdSense to have a GAM account, you just need to have an AdSense account.)

• Follow this signup link to create a GAM account.

• Click ‘Create account’.

• Follow the prompts.

• Return to this link and sign in with the information you just used to create the account.

Once your GAM account is set up, you can wait for an invite or reach out to Google Support.

If the support team doesn’t respond or responds with a confusing message, it’s likely you don’t meet the requirements. This is often one of the most frustrating aspects of trying to join AdX — many publishers never find out why they were rejected.

Note: Large publishers who reach a certain threshold of traffic will be assigned a dedicated account manager. In this case, you can reach out directly to that account manager.

The Pros and Cons of Managing Your Own AdX Account

The main advantage of managing your own AdX account (vs working with an AdX reseller) is that you get direct control over the ad auctions. However, Snigel gives you full control over your ad setup, so you’ll still have that advantage even if you work with us.

Another advantage of connecting to AdX yourself is that there are no fees if you manage your own account. However, the cost of managing your own ad setup to get maximum revenue can be quite high because you have to account for the salaries of a team of ad ops experts, the cost of additional ad tech, and more.

The main disadvantage of creating your own AdX account is that you’ll also have to manage all other aspects of your ad setup and ad strategy yourself including:

• Connecting to other ad exchanges and SSPs.

• Choosing which of those ad exchanges and SSPs are the best fit for every ad spot, user geolocation, device, etc.

• Implementing and troubleshooting third-party ad tech designed to automate ad setups.

• Choosing the appropriate ad setup and strategy for every geo, device, etc. including ad refresh rates, floor prices, ad sizes, auction timeouts and much more.

• Determining whether CPM or CPC will return more revenue for a given ad space, geo, etc.

• And much more.

Publishers who are serious about earning maximum revenue from display ads have to plan for all of the bullet points listed above which takes years of expertise, a huge time commitment, and a large budget.

2. How to Earn More Revenue with an AdX Reseller like Snigel

As we mentioned above, AdX resellers use the multiple customer management (MCM) tool to give publishers access to AdX through their (i.e., the reseller’s) account.

An important note to make is that not all ad platforms with an MCM account are Google Certified Publishing Partners (GCPP). A GCPP has been specially vetted by Google to provide high-quality services to publishers.

You can learn more here: In-depth Guide to Google Certified Publishing Partners (GCPP)

Snigel is both an MCM partner and GCPP.

Requirements and How to Join

Each AdX partner will have their own eligibility criteria for joining ranging from having a specific amount of traffic to the type of content you produce. However, all ad solutions require publishers to have valid traffic and original content.

Snigel works with websites generating high quality content and making at least $50 USD per day. We work with websites in any vertical including technology, gaming, education, music, and more.

If you meet these requirements, get in touch for a free assessment. Publishers that switch from AdSense to AdX with Snigel see a 57% increase in revenue, on average.

Pros and Cons of Connecting to AdX through Snigel

The main advantages of working with Snigel are:

• We do the heavy lifting for you. Instead of maintaining all of the requirements for having an AdX account and taking the time and resources to optimize your ad setup for maximum revenue, we handle it all for you. This includes implementing and troubleshooting our ad tech. But rest assured that you’ll still have complete control over what happens with the ads on your website.

Learn more: Header Bidding Optimization: A Comprehensive Guide

• You can increase CPMs by making Google demand compete with other top SSPs and ad networks. Snigel’s header bidding solution, AdEngine, connects publishers to all the top SSPs and ad networks. Then, AdEngine automatically creates an auction for every ad impression where all premium ad networks and ad partners have a chance to bid in the milliseconds it takes a web page to load. This increases the competition which in turn increases CPMs. Header bidding with AdEngine can increase ad revenue by more than 50%.

• Our advanced, AI-powered ad tech creates new opportunities for ad revenue. For example, Snigel’s dynamic floor pricing uses AI to automatically adjust the floor prices every hour for each user GEO, device, browser and much more. This combats bid shading (a technique advertisers use to lower bids without losing the auction), which can increase overall ad revenue by over 5% on its own. We also offer next generation ad formats that can increase ad revenue by 23+%, server-to-server processing (S2S), video ads, adblock revenue recovery, and much more.

• You can lean on our ad strategy experts to get the most out of every ad impression. It takes years of experience working with all types of websites and ad setups to truly know how to maximize ad revenue and most publishers don’t have that expertise. That’s why publishers who are serious about maximizing revenue potential end up working with ad strategy experts. Snigel’s ad experts excel at creating a custom ad setup that fits the exact needs of your website and users so that you’re getting the most out of every ad impression. And, every one of our publishers gets a dedicated ad ops expert who works with them throughout the entire engagement.

Learn more: How to Create an Ad Monetization Strategy: A Complete Guide

The main disadvantage of working with an AdX reseller such as Snigel is that you won’t get to keep 100% of the ad revenue you earn.

With Snigel, the revenue share is 20/80 — where you keep 80% of the revenue you earn. However, most publishers find that even with the revenue share, they’re able to earn more revenue working with Snigel than they could on their own. 

Get in touch to see how Snigel can help you squeeze every dollar out of every ad impression. 

Bonus: Maximize Revenue by Using Snigel and AdSense Together

Many publishers find that they’re able to earn the most revenue when they use Snigel and AdSense simultaneously. This is because AdSense often performs better for ad units with high click through rates (CTR) and when the majority of traffic comes from Tier 3 GEOs, while Snigel consistently outperforms AdSense when it comes to impressions and traffic from Tier 1 GEOs.

Many Google AdX partners don’t offer the option to use AdSense alongside their ad platform. But Snigel will help you determine whether our technology and strategies or AdSense can earn more for you and then you’re free to use either option for any given ad unit.

Get in touch for a free assessment.

FAQs

What are the benefits of Google AdX?

Google AdX gives publishers access to high-quality advertisers and full control over which ads end up on their website. You can read more about Google Ad Exchange here.

How does Google AdX work?

Google AdX connects publishers and advertisers through real-time ad auctions. Publishers can determine floor prices, who can bid, and more. Then, advertisers decide if they want to place a bid. The highest bidder wins the auction and their ad creative is displayed on the publisher's website.

Should I use Google AdX or AdSense?

Whether you should use Google AdX or AdSense or both depends on your preferences as a publisher, where your traffic comes from, and whether your ad units get a higher click through rate (CTR) or higher impressions. In general, Google AdX is better for traffic from Tier 1 GEOs, impressions, and for publishers who want full control over the ads that end up on their website. AdSense is better for traffic for Tier 3 GEOs, high CTR, and for publishers who prefer a more hands-off approach.

Snigel can help you decide which one is better for your website and any given ad unit.

What is the difference between Google AdX and Google Ad Manager?

Google AdX is an ad exchange where publishers and advertisers connect to buy and sell ad inventory through ad auctions. Google Ad Manager is an ad server where publishers can manage ad inventory and track revenue.