What Is A Sticky Ad?

Date First Published: 18th September 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Advertising

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 5/10

CONTENTS

Types Of Sticky Ads
Tips For Sticky Ads

Learn more about what a sticky ad is in this article.

A sticky ad, also known as an anchor ad, is one that remains visible when the user scrolls down the page and stays in exactly the same position when the user scrolls up and down. The ad is 'glued' to the webpage and can only be closed by clicking on the 'x' button. Sticky ads were created to resolve the problems associated with banner blindness and improve the visibility of ads. Banner blindness occurs when banner ads are not viewable for some reason, such as ads being too small, causing visitors to scroll down without noticing the banner ad or slow webpages.

Even though sticky ads always take up screen space until the visitor clicks on the 'x' button, they do not take up any space on the webpage once closed, making them less intrusive and giving higher conversion rates for advertisers and higher chances of revenue for publishers, but not as high as interstitial ads. Not all advertising networks support sticky ads. For example, Facebook Ads and Adcash do not support sticky ads, but Google AdSense supports them.

Types Of Sticky Ads

Bottom horizontal sticky ads - The most common types of sticky ads. These are landscape ads placed at the bottom of a webpage.
Vertical sticky ads - These are portrait ads that are placed on the right or left side of a webpage.
Horizontal sticky ads - These are landscape ads that are placed at the top of a webpage. The difference is that they are placed at the top instead of the bottom.
Sidebar sticky ads - These are square-shaped ads that are placed along with the sidebar content.

Tips For Sticky Ads

The following tips below should help ensure that the implementation and use of sticky ads provide a good user experience, is not intrusive, and is in accordance with Google's guidelines.

Do not overload the page with sticky ads. The content of the page should still be viewable with the sticky ads. With too many sticky ads, visitors will be unable to see the content on the page.
Do not overlap or underlap content, such as navigation bars and other ads, with vertical sticky ads.
Ensure that the sticky ads stay visible throughout the time scrolling within the viewport and do not disappear or reappear at any point whilst scrolling.
Do not stack sticky ads on top of each other.
Do not display another sticky ad as soon as a user has closed one.
Ensure that the 'x' button is big enough on mobile devices. If it is too small, users will be unable to close the ads and it will likely lead to a lot of accidental clicks.