New to DFP - How to interpret reports

Adsense only in DFP for now.

[NickMNS]

I just began using DFP, I have implemented the code on one page (dynamic page) of my website. I am currently only showing AdSense ads. So the obvious question, why DFP if I am only using AdSense. That is because the page is a JS web app and I needed to auto refresh the ads after multiple user interaction. This is not possible with AdSense alone.

But my question is not about implementation, as that appears to be working well. The ads are appearing for both mobile and desktop users. The question is about interpreting the reporting, between both the DFP and the AdSense reports.

First I do not see any ad impression reported in Adsense for the impression that occur with DFP. Is this normal?
I do see impressions and earnings and clicks reported in DFP. Is this revenue in addition to or included in the revenue reported in AdSense? If it is added, when and how will I get paid?

What are some of tricks or tips for gleaning value from the reporting in DFP? it took me many years to really gain my full agility with the Adsense reporting, I'm hoping that DFP will be a little smoother. But my first impressions is that it is even more envolved.

[frankleeceo]

If you are serving adsense with DFP only. Simple adsense report would work. You only need DFP reports when you start adding other advertisers (or house ads, etc). But then you only need to do that with more advanced click tracking I believe which I am not personally.

You could always check "Request source" under adsense report, if you are using dynamic allocation.

[NickMNS]

Simple adsense report would work.

But it doesn't appear to be working. If I go into my ad units report in AdSense it doesn't show any impressions for the ad unit being used. In fact in the ad-units section (where when gets the code) the ad unit is being shown as "idle". Yet in DFP I have got a good number of impressions and clicks and if I got to the page on my site ads appear.

Now that the month has ended I should see in my payments report money added from dfp (I assume). I am waiting for it to be finalized, my balance is show but with no details.

[frankleeceo]

What you describe appears that the "raw adsense code" is not served at all, you are instead serving purely DFP provided demand (On DFP report it can still show as "adsense", but just not the ad unit that you wanted it to point to, because it is indeed adsense inventory, just dynamic allocation. The "raw code" should be served and adsense register impression correctly if you set it to 100% serve.

If you have setup Dynamic Allocation, the earning does not assign to specific ad units. Could that be where you are seeing discrepancy?

Set the ad unit served to adsense with sponsorship at 100% instead of price.

Or you might need to troubleshoot to see if other ad codes are overriding your intended inventory location. (ie higher cpm or sponsorship overserving whatever you intended) I believe there are some trouble shoot feature in DFP that I have used while I was setting up my stacks.

In my case, DFP demand is paid as "Dynamic Allocation with DFP competition" from adsense. And it is not attributed to any ad unit.

I would look at "day report", and separate category by "request sources". Do you see "Dynamic Allocation with DFP competition", or "Dynamic Allocation with No DFP competition", or "no Dynamic allocation"? This is usually how I determine the performance myself.

And to add, dynamic allocation payment is lumped together with Adsense payment.

[Runfun]

...and you've to link your Adsense account: admin -> global settings -> link your adsense account

[NickMNS]

@Runfun can you be more specific, because there is no "link Adsense Account" setting in "global settings".

@frankleeceo
I have setup dynamic allocation and I have created 1 line item as price priority. About 75% of my impressions go directly to Adsense and the rest to the price priority ad unit.

If I go to my Adsense ad-unit report there is a difference between my earnings reported there and reported in the common report by the shown in DFP. So it appears like my account is being credited, but it definitely lack transparency.

[frankleeceo]

If you use the same login for both DFP and adsense, and you have the adsense as default, no linking is necessary.

The DFP report will always have discrepancy based on your price priority. The "ad server" earning is based on the price that you have set for the line item. For example, you may set 2 CPM for the line item where DFP serve all that impression to the ad unit, but the actual adsense earning is only 1 CPM. So you will see 2 CPM on the DFP report yet receive the "real" earning on adsense.

The "adsense" portion of the DFP report should closely match the "Dynamic allocation" part of your adsense report, while seeing a mismatch on the "ad server" based on your price priority point. Does that make sense?

If anything, always go with the adsense report as it reflects the "true" earning in the bank.

Example:
DFP inventory Ad unit <- Price priority adsense 2 CPM line item.
Dynamic allocation (if DFP can serve above 2 CPM, it will pull demand). If not everything else will be served with line item.
As far as DFP knows, it serves 2 CPM to whatever line you specficied, so report will show as such.
Adsense receive the impression, but it does not have to serve the 2 CPM that you specify, because at this point is just "raw" adsense code. This part CPM might actually be lower, because dynamic allocation took out some of the "higher" paying impressions.

Kinda hard to tell without looking at your stack and setup in detail. But I hope what I say make sense. It took me a while to wrap my head around the concept too.

[frankleeceo]

Extreme test case.

Set price priority at $20 CPM, almost all impressions should go to adsense ad unit, and DFP will show you earn $20 CPM.
Adsense will still show the "normal" earning.

[Runfun]

If you don't link it with your Adsense account you can't choose the line item Adsense or am I wrong? Since I used those line items all reports are better than before and I could even select my ad units I've made in Adsense.

[frankleeceo]

I think you are right, you cannot use the adsense line item unless you link it. But I only saw that option when account is "upgraded to Adx enabled, for me at least.... I personally did not see improvements after linking.

[NickMNS]

I got this message today in Adsense

In the past 7 days, your ad code has appeared a significant number of times on sites you don't own. To avoid lost revenue, make sure to add these sites to your verified sites list in My Sites.

Could this be caused by DFP. I'm not seeing any strange URL's showing up in my reporting?

[NickMNS]

@runfun

If you don't link it with your Adsense account you can't choose the line item Adsense or am I wrong?

I found this in the DFP documentation that suggest you may be wrong.

Linking a separate AdSense account to DFP is not necessary
You only need to link an AdSense account to DFP if you plan to traffic multiple AdSense properties in your network.

source: [support.google.com...]