Publisher Provided Signals: Unlocking the Potential of First-Party Data

In the ever-evolving world of digital advertising, online publishers must adapt to new technologies and strategies to stay ahead. As the deprecation of third-party cookies looms, ad tech companies are on the lookout for viable and safe alternatives to maintain effective advertising. One such advancement is Google's Publisher Provided Signals (PPS), a powerful tool that can help publishers get maximum value from their first-party data and improve ad personalization.

As a trusted Google Partner, Snigel can help publishers to implement and benefit from this innovative technology.

This blog post will dive into the world of Publisher Provided Signals (PPS), explaining its importance, benefits, and how it can serve as a practical alternative to third-party cookies in the advertising ecosystem.

What Are Google's Publisher Provided Signals (PPS)?

Publisher Provided Signals (PPS) is a beta feature in Google Ad Manager, designed to help publishers effectively use their first-party and contextual data for improved programmatic advertising monetization during auctions.

By categorizing their first-party data into consistent audience or contextual segments, publishers can make their audience attributes more accessible to buyers, safeguard privacy, and exchange data without data leakage worries.

PPS enables targeting based on demographics, interests, or purchase intent across multiple sites and apps without disclosing a user’s personal data. PPS achieves this by allowing publishers to include tags to identify specific content and audiences in bid requests sent to Google Demand bidders, offering a seamless and scalable method to capitalize on distinctive first-party data directly in the auction process.

What Is The Difference Between Publisher Provided Signals (PPS) And Publisher Provided Identifiers (PPIDs)?

While both PPS and PPIDs play a crucial role in the digital advertising landscape, they serve distinct purposes. Publisher Provided Signals (PPS) focus on enriching traffic with information about audience and content segments, aligning with industry definitions. They allow publishers to tag specific content and audiences in bid requests, enhancing the auction process. Publisher Provided Identifiers (PPIDs), on the other hand, are concerned with identifying unique users, ensuring proper delivery of premium advertisements, and applying frequency capping. PPIDs are anonymized identifiers specific to individual publishers. Together, PPS and PPIDs form a comprehensive approach to user targeting and segmentation, each contributing uniquely to the advertising ecosystem.

What Are The Benefits of Publisher Provided Signals for Publishers?

Implementing Publisher Provided Signals offers several advantages for publishers, including:

• Seamless and scalable integration of unique first-party data in the auction
• Enhanced user privacy for ads personalization
• Reduced data leakage concerns
• Improved discoverability of first-party audience attributes
• Increased value for inventory across environments where limited contextual signals are available

Are PPS an Alternative to Third-Party Cookies?

Yes, Google’s Publisher Provided Signals (PPS) can be an effective alternative to third-party-cookies. While third-party cookies are primarily used for tracking users across multiple websites and building user profiles for targeted advertising, PPS enables publishers to send their first-party data to advertisers in a privacy-compliant manner to improve programmatic monetization and ads personalization.

PPS allows publishers to share their first-party audience and contextual data with buyers without data leakage concerns, which can be particularly useful in the era of increasing privacy regulations and the impending depreciation of third-party cookies.

That said, it’s best to implement a variety of third-party cookie alternatives rather than relying on a single solution. Our guide on the best third-party cookie alternatives breaks down the top solutions, how they work, and how you can implement them.

How Can I Implement PPS?

To get started with Publisher Provided Signals, follow these steps:

1. Enable PPS in Google Ad Manager:

To enable PPS, sign in to your Google Ad Manager account, click 'Admin', then go to 'Global settings'. Under 'Ad preference settings', turn on 'Publisher-provided signals (audience and content)', and confirm by accepting the terms and conditions.

2. Managing taxonomy settings:

Once PPS is enabled, click 'Inventory' and navigate to 'Publisher-provided signals'. Choose the taxonomy you want to configure (IAB Audience Taxonomy or IAB Content Taxonomy) and edit the Google Demand settings as needed.

3. Managing category mapping:

To map key values or audience segments to categories, go to 'Inventory' and click 'Publisher-provided signals'. Select the desired taxonomy and, under 'Category mapping', create a new mapping or edit an existing one. Choose the key values or audience segments you want to map and save your changes.

4. Reporting on PPS:

Monitor and evaluate the performance of your PPS implementation using Google Ad Manager's reporting features. In the 'Reporting' section, create a report and select 'Publisher provided signal (top level)' or 'Publisher provided signal (all levels)' as dimensions. Run the report to gain insights into your PPS performance.

By partnering with Snigel, you can seamlessly integrate PPS into your monetization strategy through AdEngine, our market-leading header bidding solution for publishers. Stay ahead in the ever-changing ad tech landscape, and optimize your revenue. Don't miss out on the power of Publisher Provided Signals. Get in touch with our ad ops experts today to maximize your ad revenue.

What Are the Supported Taxonomies?

Google Ad Manager currently supports two taxonomies for PPS:

1. IAB Audience Taxonomy: This taxonomy provides the industry with a common nomenclature for audience segment names, improving the comparability of data across different providers.
2. IAB Content Taxonomy: This taxonomy provides the industry with a common nomenclature for contextual segment names, categorizing page content without revealing user information.

Using standardized taxonomies can enhance your PPS implementation and make your data more appealing to potential buyers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Google's Publisher Provided Signals is a powerful tool for online publishers to maximize their ad revenue by leveraging first-party data and enhancing ads personalization. Staying updated with ad tech landscape changes and adopting new features like PPS can significantly improve your monetization strategy. To gain access to the PPS beta program and boost your ad revenue, get in touch with the Snigel team.