• One of the many methods through which Gourmet Ads offers improved site performance for Publishers is by using tags that load in an asynchronous way. This method is becoming increasing popular, especially after Google’s adoption of asynchronous tags in 2010.  But what exactly are asynchronous ad tags, and how can they benefit you?

    Before explaining the asynchronous method, it is important to note how tags load and why they slow down web sites. Most tags today are loaded in a synchronous manner (think linear). When a page loads a synchronous tag, it waits for the tag content to load before moving on to the next content. The page starts by loading the first tag. After the tag has been completely loaded, the page moves on to the second tag, repeating the process for the remaining tags until all the tags are loaded successfully. Assuming each tag takes half a second to load, you’re looking at a total load time of 2 seconds to load all 4 tags. According to Nielsen, a user spends an average of 20 seconds on a single web page, which means your ads (not your content) are eating into nearly a quarter of the user’s page experience!

    What’s the fix?

    Gourmet Ads offers asynchronous tags, which include lightweight Javascript with one portion running in the header of your site and the other on the page itself. If your site is on the WordPress platform, we’ve made tag installation simple via our Gourmet Ads WordPress plugin.  Asynchronous ad tags send the ad request only once for all ad placements on the page thus reducing the load time. The ad calls don’t keep the page content from loading.

    The key benefit of asynchronous ad tags is a faster load speed for your site. 

    Compare this to our standard Javascript ad tags which load synchronously, meaning one page element at a time, in order of how the elements appear in the code. So, if one element is not loading, it will hold up everything that comes after it.  Asynchronous tags, on the other hand, make multiple ad server calls simultaneously; if one element isn’t loading, it won’t hold up the rest of the elements.

    Apart from loading significantly faster, other advantages of asynchronous ad tags include:

    • The ability to run display, video and native ads from a single header element
    • Quickly and easily update the header tag remotely for new placements or code updates
    • Easy debugging of advertising campaigns
    • Automatic integration with high-impact placements
    • Ability to seamlessly run roadblock campaigns

    Make the switch!

    If you’re not currently running asynchronous ad tags, become a Gourmet Ads Publisher to utilize these easy-to-use tags on your site.