Trusted WordPress tutorials, when you need them most.
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
WPB Cup
25 Million+
Websites using our plugins
16+
Years of WordPress experience
3000+
WordPress tutorials
by experts

How to Manage Ads in WordPress with AdRotate Plugin

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on WPBeginner. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Learn more about Editorial Process.

Do you want to manage banner ads in WordPress with AdRotate?

Placing banner ads on your site is one of the most common ways to make money from your blog. Many bloggers use ad management software to maximize their ad earnings without ruining the user experience.

In this article, we will show you how to easily manage ads in WordPress with the AdRotate plugin.

how to manage ads wordpress with adrotate plugin

Why Use a WordPress Ad Management Plugin?

Advertising programs like Google AdSense and others require publishers to add a code snippet on their website to display ads.

As a WordPress publisher, you can do this by either editing the code in your theme files or by using an ad management plugin.

If you are a beginner who just started your blog, then adding code into theme files is not an ideal solution. You cannot properly manage different ad sizes or their placements. You also increase your chances of messing up and causing unexpected WordPress errors.

On the other hand, using an ad management plugin allows you to easily insert ads anywhere on your website. You can save multiple ad codes, rotate them, and show/hide ads on different pages.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how to manage ads in WordPress like a pro using the AdRotate plugin.

Manage Ads in WordPress with AdRotate

First, you need to install and activate the AdRotate plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, visit the AdRotate » Manage Adverts page from the WordPress dashboard and click the ‘New Advert’ link to create your first ad.

adrotate add new advert

This will bring you to the ‘New Advert’ page. Here, you must provide a title for your ad because it will help you identify it inside the WordPress admin area.

After that, you can paste the ad code generated by your advertising network like Adsense. Alternatively, you can also generate your ad code if you are running self-hosted ads.

new advert box

For hosted ads, you can upload banner images and enable click tracking.

You need to select the activate option to make this ad available on your WordPress site.

Next, scroll down on the page to the usage and schedule section. Here, you can schedule your ad and get the shortcode, which you can add to your posts, pages, or sidebar widgets.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Advert’ button to store your settings.

You can repeat this process to create as many ads as you want and then decide which ads you want to be displayed on your site.

Grouping Your Ads Together

Many WordPress bloggers join multiple advertising networks and partner programs. You may also have advertising spaces in different locations and in different sizes.

Grouping allows you to easily sort your ads into different categories for easier management.

To create a new group, head over to the AdRotate » Manage Groups page and click on the ‘Add New’ link.

adrotate manage groups add new

This will bring you to the ‘New Group’ page.

First, you need to provide a title for your group. This will allow you to easily identify the group in your WordPress admin area.

new group

Next, you have to choose a display mode. AdRotate allows you to customize how you display ads from a specific group.

For example, you can display one ad from the group at a time, a block of ads, or dynamic mode which changes the ad after a few seconds.

Next, you can select the group auto display options. AdRotate allows you to automatically insert ads from a group into posts, pages, and sidebar widgets.

post injection

At the bottom of the page, you will see all your ads that you can associate with that group. Simply select the ads that you want to include and then click on the ‘Save Group’ button.

Manually Inserting Ads in WordPress

While you can associate your ads to groups and automatically insert them into posts, pages, categories, and widgets, some publishers may want to have more granular control over which ads to display in which location.

AdRotate makes it super easy to insert ads anywhere on your WordPress site.

Each ad you create on your site has its own shortcode that you can copy and paste into your WordPress posts or pages and even custom post types.

To get this code, visit the AdRotate » Manage Adverts page and click on any ad to edit it. On the Edit Ad page, scroll down to the usage section to copy the shortcode.

adrotate banner usage

Similarly, you can also edit a group to get the shortcode and then use it anywhere on your website.

If you want to display ads in your WordPress sidebar, then go to the Appearance » Widgets page and add the AdRotate widget to your sidebar.

Bonus: Use AdSanity to Manage Ads in WordPress

Apart from AdRotate, you can also use AdSanity to manage advertisements in WordPress.

It is an advanced ad management plugin that lets you show ads anywhere on your website using ready-made blocks, widgets, and shortcodes. You can even use AdSanity to show a random ad to visitors without writing a single line of code.

First, you will need to install and activate AdSanity. For detailed instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, head to the AdSanity » Create Ad page and type a title for the ad that you are going to create. Next, you can choose a banner size and add code for the self-hosted or external ad.

You can also add a tracking URL and image according to your liking.

Adding notes to an AdSanity advert

After that, you can also use categories and sub-categories for different advertisement groups on your website. Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Publish’ button to store your changes.

Next, simply open the block editor in WordPress and embed the AdSanity block to your page. Then, you can choose the ad you want to display from the dropdown menu within the block itself.

Showing a single ad on your website or blog

Finally, click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button at the top. You have now successfully embedded an ad on your website.

For detailed instructions, see our tutorial on how to manage ads in WordPress with AdSanity.

We hope this article helped you learn how to manage ads in WordPress with the AdRotate plugin. You may also want to see our tutorial on how to optimize AdSense revenue in WordPress and our handpicked list of the best WordPress ad management plugins and solutions.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us. Here's our editorial process.

Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

Get FREE access to our toolkit - a collection of WordPress related products and resources that every professional should have!

Reader Interactions

12 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
    Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
    You can get more details about the contest from here.
    Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!

  2. Jiří Vaněk says

    I started blogging about a year and a half ago, and I’m still waiting to reach a certain level of traffic. Currently, I’m at very few people, around 130 visitors per day, so I don’t want to burden the blog with ads yet. I’ve set an internal threshold in my mind around 300 daily visitors, and then I’ll try to tastefully integrate AdSense. I already have the account and the codes. It’s good to gradually prepare thanks to guides like these.

    May I ask, from what number of users do you think it makes sense to actually consider having ads on a website?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      There is no answer that is right for every person it all depends on what you feels works best for your site and how your visitors respond to ads on your site.

      Admin

  3. Ralph says

    I have google adsense ads on my website for 2 months now and just set them to automatic. Only change is I blocked them on some particular urls and disable spaces like sidebar. It is quite ok but could be better, especially in longer content where google puts 5 ads and then I have 4-5 full screens of content without any ad. And often all ads are just 1 ad, which look like a spam to me.

    Maybe this plugin is a better way to earn money with ads and will make my site look better.

  4. MIke Dunn says

    I assume Ad Rotate will rotate a preset list of ads in the same spot on my website so all the advertisers get the same number of views? What is the CDN issue?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      For issues with the plugin, you would want to reach out to the plugin’s support and they should be able to assist.

      Admin

  5. EMMANULE OWINO says

    Have created a wordpress website. how can i allow the advertisers to post ads to my website through their front end panal. ” am meaning the best plugin for that”

  6. Deepa says

    hi,

    we would like to know that how the adrotate will work based on payment. and how it calculates cpc, cpm amd ctr. can we know about the buyable version of adrotate plugin with payment.

  7. Steve Williams says

    The concept behind of this plugin is good. However, if you throw a CDN in the picture, ads will no longer rotate. This is why I stopped using it.

    My 2 cents.

    Steve Williams

Leave A Reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

WPBeginner Assistant
How can I help you?

By chatting, you consent to this chat being stored according to our privacy policy and your email will be added to receive weekly WordPress tutorials from WPBeginner.