When AmpedSense is first installed, it creates a default segment that targets all of your traffic. This means any ad recipe you place into that segment will be shown to all users on all devices, and on all pages, posts, archives, etc. This is great at first, however you’ll most likely want to create some different segments to target what parts of your site you’d like ads to appear on.

If you don’t want ads to appear on a specific article or page, such as your home page, all you have to do is create a segment that targets that page, and then don’t place any ads on it.

Don’t show ads on a specific page:

1. Create a segment for ‘All devices’ and ‘Specific page’, and pick the page you want to exclude.

2. Reorder segments so this segment has the top priority.

3. Don’t add any ad recipes to this segment.

Don’t show ads on the home page:

Follow the same steps above, creating a segment for the home page only.

Don’t show ads on a category of posts:

Same steps above, but for a segment that matches a specific category.

Don’t show ads on…

Get the hang of it? Just create a segment for whatever you don’t want ads to show up on, make it highest priority, and then you’re done.

Toggling the Testing flag

To make your reporting page look a little cleaner, you can choose to toggle the ‘Testing’ flag to ‘No’ in the segment admin so that it doesn’t show any stats for a segment that you’re not really testing.

If you’re using a caching plugin (such as Wp Super Cache, Fastest Cache, or WP Rocket, etc), be aware that it affects how split testing is performed.

A cache works by saving the server-processed page to a static file, so that same exact page is shown to every visitor without having to recompute it (that’s why it’s faster).

However when you’re split testing, you want to show slightly different versions of pages to your visitors. Visitor A should see a page rendered with your first ad recipe, and Visitor B should see that page with your second ad recipe. If a cache had saved the page, then visitor B would never see a custom page with the second ad recipe, and you’d never get stats on which ad recipe is the best.

Most ad rotation plugins do not work if you have a caching plugin enabled in wordpress.

Luckily AmpedSense is cache-friendly if you choose ‘Client render mode.’ This allows split testing to happen in real time, instead of showing the cached version of your split test.

Even in client render mode, you’ll still have to remember to reset your cache whenever you make a change to ads.

Learn more about Client vs Server render mode in AmpedSense.

A new feature in AmpedSense is the render mode. This allows to you choose whether the split testing is performed at the server level (ie, in PHP), or at the client level (in Javascript).

Server mode is the default mode, and decides the recipes that will be shown to the user before they receive the page.

Client mode is cache-friendly, and allows the decision to be made once the user loads the page in their browser.

The main difference is that client mode is wordpress cache friendly (ie, even if you have a caching plugin enabled the split testing will happen in real-time), where in server mode the recipe chosen will be cached and not rotated until the cache expires.

Client mode gotchas

Even if you’re using client mode and have a caching plugin enabled, you’ll still need to reset your cache every time a new recipe is added/deleted, changed, or paused/resumed.

Client mode relies on the user’s screen resolution to determine whether the visitor is using a desktop, tablet, or mobile device (for segmenting).

Client mode may (in rare cases) cause extra spacing in your content (depending on if your theme was coded properly). When switching from server to client mode, please clear your wordpress cache and check that everything looks as expected.

Server mode gotchas

You may still run tests in server mode with a cache enabled, and over the long term the effects won’t matter, but for short term it may skew results a little since one variation may be shown one day, and another the next day (and traffic/environment could change from day to day). This is why we recommend that you use client mode if you have a caching plugin activated.

Server mode relies on the user’s browser (user-agent) to determine whether the visitor is using a desktop, tablet, or mobile device (for segmenting).

Switching render modes

To change between modes, choose the desired option from your settings page:

Some users of AmpedSense have trouble setting up their first tests because their ad configuration screen doesn’t allow them to specify the ad size, ad type, or ad color.

Your screen is supposed to look like this:

 

But instead it looks like this:

 

This happens when you have an ad blocker, such as AdBlock, enabled on your browser. Try disabling the ad blocker add-on, or using another browser without that extension installed, and you’ll be able to see the entire set of options.

If you just installed AmpedSense and are frustrated that no ads are displaying, take a look at these common situations that will fix no ads showing on your site:

1. Do you have a caching plugin enabled? Caching plugins are great, but it may be causing your site to show you a previously cached version of your pages before your ad recipes were enabled. Try temporarily turning off caching, or clearing the cache so you’re seeing the newest, fresh copy of your site. AmpedSense has a special feature called client side render mode which works great with caching plugins, but you’ll still need to clear your cache after making any changes to your ads. Read more about AmpedSense and caching plugins
2. Do you have a plugin that’s minifying javascript? Some speed optimization or caching plugins will attempt to consolidate javascripts. This breaks AdSense’s javascript and will prevent ads from showing on your site. Try disabling this option in that plugin’s settings.
3. Did you preview your ad? When creating or editing your ad recipe, be sure to click the preview button so you can see what it looks like before it goes live. Are you able to see your ad when you preview it?
4. Is this a responsive ad? If so, make sure you haven’t chosen a position that uses left or right alignment (choose center instead). This is because responsive ads take up the entire width of the container they are inside, and aligned ads can’t have containers. Read more about AmpedSense and responsive ads

If you’ve tried all the above and ads still are not showing up, contact support and I’ll be happy to figure things out for you.

One of the newest ad sizes Google has provided is the ‘responsive’ ad size. Ads with this size will automatically choose the best size based on the visitor’s device and browser.

For example, instead of setting up a 320 x 50 Mobile Banner ad for your mobile phone traffic and a 728 x 90 Leaderboard ad for your desktop traffic, simply choose a responsive size and the ad will adjust to the best width of your user’s screen.

AmpedSense makes it super easy to test the effectiveness of responsive ads on your visitors. For your first recipe, follow the standard instructions for creating an ad recipe of a fixed size. For your second recipe, be sure to select the ‘Responsive’ ad type when creating your recipe:

Since Google does not allow responsive ads to be made via their API, you’ll have to follow the instructions on the screen to generate and paste your responsive code.

1. Create a new ad unit in AdSense with the ‘Responsive’ size.
2. Assign the custom channel named at the bottom of this page (must name recipe first) to that ad.
3. Paste the code from Google into the code snippet box

Here’s what the AdSense screen should look like when you’re creating your responsive ad. Make sure you don’t forget to create the custom channel (it will automatically be assigned to the ad when you create it). You’ll already have had to name the ad back in AmpedSense to know the name of the custom channel.

If you are using more than 1 responsive ad on the same recipe, you can copy/paste the same ad snippet code. But you’ll need to make a specific ad for each different recipe.

Responsive ads fill up the container they are inside, so it doesn’t make sense to have an ad justified to the left or to the right. For your ad location on a responsive ad, be sure to choose ‘center’ if you’re placing it within the content.

Finally, you can preview the placement of your responsive ads with the Preview button at the bottom of the recipe creation page. You won’t be able to see the actual ad yet, but should see a black placeholder where the responsive ad will be shown.

Happy split testing!

After you’ve created a few recipes, you might want the ability to duplicate them to other segments, or create copies of them with slightly different settings. To do so, simply make use of the ‘Duplicate’ recipe feature.

How to duplicate a recipe

On the main AmpedSense screen, locate the ad recipe you’d like to clone. The icon looks like 2 pages (between the edit and the pause buttons):

A popup will ask you what segment you’d like to copy this recipe into. If you’d like to keep it in the same segment, simply hit ‘Duplicate recipe’, otherwise choose the desired segment from the drop down first.

Once you continue, you’ll see a new recipe creation page with the same settings of the cloned recipe. Note that this recipe has not been saved yet! You still have to confirm the settings, create a new channel, and hit save before it becomes actively part of the split testing rotation.

Cloning recipes can be especially useful if you’re just changing one thing between your ad recipes. For example, to test ad size, simply create a recipe, then clone it many times with different sizes for each copy.

Happy split testing!

One of the most common questions I get is whether you can specify exactly where you want ads served via AmpedSense to be placed. Good news – the newest versions of AmpedSense can now do this with built-in shortcodes!

Within your content

If the standard options of placing your ads above/below your content or inside at specific intervals is not adequate, and you would like your ads positioned very specifically within your content, follow these steps:

1) Set up your split tests to use one of the shortcode locations (ie, Shortcode position A, B, or C).

2) While editing your post/page within wordpress, type one of the following shortcodes into your content, exactly where you want the ad to be placed. This can be in either Visual or Text mode editing:

• [AmpedSenseShortcodeA]
• [AmpedSenseShortcodeB]
• [AmpedSenseShortcodeC]

3) You’re done! Go back and preview your ad recipe to ensure it’s where you want it. Keep in mind that the shortcode will need to be placed on all pages/posts in the segment it applies to. Ie, if this recipe is shown on all pages, be sure to insert the shortcode on all pages (nothing will break if you don’t, you just will have less ad views).

Within your theme

If you would instead want the ads to appear in a part of your theme, ie your header or footer, and that can’t be accomplished through the use of the AmpedSense Sidebar Widget, then feel free to edit your theme files to specify exactly where you want the ads to appear.

Disclaimer: the following requires editing PHP files of your theme. If you are not comfortable doing this, please consult with a developer. Always backup your files before editing so you can revert if needed.

1) Follow instruction 1 above.

2) Find the place in your theme file where you want the ads to be placed (in Appearance -> Theme Editor). Add the following code. Modify to B or C if needed:

<?php echo do_shortcode('[AmpedSenseShortcodeA]'); ?>


3) You’re done! Go back and preview your ad recipe to ensure it’s where you want it.

Periodically I will release new versions of the AmpedSense plugin. Upgrading your existing installation is easy, and I’ll show you how now.

Steps

1. Login to wordpress admin, and click on the ‘Plugins’ menu item in the left sitebar.
2. From the list of installed plugins, find the AmpedSense entry and click ‘Deactivate’.
3. Once deactivated, find the AmpedSense entry again and now click ‘Delete’
4. Confirm that ‘yes’, you do want to delete all files. Don’t worry, your settings and ads will still be saved. You will not lose your ad recipes or stats.
5. Once deleted, reinstall the plugin with the new version you have the same way you installed it before.

 

To upgrade, simply delete and install the new version

Enjoy your new version of AmpedSense!

Absolutely! Learn more about Split testing and caching plugins