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Health Check Report

Our latest Health Check report (V2) offers a detailed analysis of your website by examining a wide range of metrics, which we combine into an overall publisher health score.

We cover many factors that contribute to good ad technology practices, including performance, implementation, industry risks, and ethical and sustainable practices. We benchmark these against industry best practices, giving you a comprehensive view of your domain's health, along with practical and insightful feedback on how to enhance it - ultimately improving your revenue and monetisation prospects.

Explore each section to understand the data, how it's been collected, and what it all means.

Finally, our Plan section, using the Crawl-Walk-Run methodology, will guide you through the next steps, advising you on how to keep improving your health score, with the goal of maximising your site’s revenue potential.

Exploring the report

As you navigate through our Health Check report you will notice there are a number of handy features that help bring together all the data in both an informative and visual way.

Here’s a little guide to some of these features:

  • Traffic light system

    Throughout each section, we have used a colour-coded system similar to the classic traffic light colours: green, amber, and red.

    • Green means good (or even perfect).
    • Amber indicates fair, with some room for improvement.
    • Red signals poor and in need of improvement.

    While thresholds will vary depending on the metric, the colour meanings stay consistent, helping publishers easily spot where they’re doing great and where there may be room for improvement.

  • Benchmarking

    A standout feature of our reports is the graphical charts that visually represent the scores for certain measurements and where the thresholds fall. Additionally, whenever possible, we include the average scores for both the entire network and related cohort publishers, so you can see how your site’s health stacks up.

  • Further links

    Each section will provide a link to the documentation and, in some cases, a link to further insights into the data.

  • Comments

    Our comment blocks are designed to give a quick summary of each section, highlighting what’s going well and what might need a bit more attention. Tied to our traffic light colours, the background of the comments will reflect the section's metrics, making it easy to see at a glance how that section is scoring.

  • “Powered by” badge

    CI collects and reports as much health data as we can ourselves. However, to make sure we're providing the most thorough report possible, we sometimes use market-leading third-party services. When this happens, you'll see a “Powered by” badge in those sections.

  • Point in time

    Our overall Health Check report, along with each individual report that makes it up, is generated at a specific point in time. This means there may be cases where the data is a bit outdated and doesn’t capture the latest changes or improvements. But no need to worry - new reports can be generated at any time, allowing us to track your progress over time.

  • Save pdf / Print

    We have optimised your report so it can be easily exported as a PDF to save or print at any time.

Health Score

One of the standout features of the report is the overall Health Score, located at the top of the page. This score is calculated by Content Ignite, taking into account all the metrics throughout the report, and weighting them based on the factors that most impact your setup and performance as a publisher in the ad industry.

Comparing your current Health Score with previous scores (if available) gives you valuable insight into your progress. It shows the points difference and provides an assessment of where your site’s health stands within our network and among your cohort.

By diving into the analysis of each section, you’ll gain further context and identify the factors that might be influencing your score. Plus, you’ll find recommended fixes to help boost your score even further.

Ads.txt

Your ads.txt file is key to maintaining a trustworthy, secure, and transparent relationship between you as a publisher and the advertisers looking to invest in your valuable ad space. It’s crucial for authorising inventory, protecting your ad revenue, and aligning with industry standards set by the IAB.

In our ads.txt section, we focus on the health of your file, pinpointing where optimisations can be made. This includes flagging any bugs that might be affecting its validity and operation, as well as offering recommendations based on industry standards for direct vs reseller relationships and the number of exchange accounts present.

A clean, concise ads.txt file with only valid exchanges, free from errors, and promoting more direct relationships is the best way to streamline your demand path, ultimately helping you maximise revenue.

How to improve your score

  1. Start by ensuring your ads.txt file is error-free. Look out for duplicate lines, syntax errors, incorrect formatting, spelling mistakes, and missing fields. Fixing these is a simple but effective way to boost your score.
  2. Next, review your inventory for any outdated or unused lines. An ads.txt file cluttered with unnecessary entries can cause various issues, like slowing down the verification process, using up extra computing resources, allowing potential unauthorized reseller access, creating inefficiencies in bidding, and making the file more complex to manage.
  3. Finally, optimise your supply path by reviewing your exchanges. Focus on building more direct relationships and using unique exchanges. This approach not only attracts a broader range of supply sources, reducing dependence on a single source, but also increases competition, which can drive up CPMs, reduce ad fraud, and open up access to more specialised markets.

For more detailed insights into your ads.txt file, visit the Publisher Hub (link found in this section) where you’ll find in-depth analysis and further guidance in our ads.txt documentation.

Useful Resources

Core Web Vitals (CWV)

Core Web Vitals (CWV) are a set of user-centred performance metrics that measure key aspects of a website's experience: how quickly a page loads, how responsive it is, and how stable the content is. The aim is to ensure an engaging and enjoyable user experience.

For publishers in the ad industry, CWVs are crucial as they can directly impact both user experience and search engine rankings, both key factors in driving traffic and maximising revenue. The longer publishers can keep users engaged on their site, the more likely they are to see and interact with more ads.

Our CWV section analyses four key metrics graphically to show trends over a two-week period, providing an average and giving publishers insight into where improvements are needed by comparing industry benchmarks through our traffic light system.

Metrics we check

  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

    CLS tracks how much a web page's content unexpectedly shifts while loading. Unexpected movement of a page’s content can disrupt the user experience and lead to annoying and sometimes damaging misclicks. A low CLS indicates a stable page layout, enhancing user satisfaction and trust, and leading to longer site visits.

  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

    LCP reports the time it takes for the largest visible image, video, or text block to render in the viewport when a user first navigates to the page. Quicker load times can create a positive first impression and increase engagement, reducing bounce rates from users.

  • Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

    INP assesses a page’s overall responsiveness by measuring how quickly it responds to user interactions, such as clicks, taps, and keyboard inputs, throughout the user’s visit. The final INP value is determined by the longest interaction found, ignoring outliers.

    The less a page lags and the quicker it responds to user interactions, the less frustration there is. This increases the chances of longer engagement and the likelihood of ad viewability and interaction.

  • First Contentful Paint (FCP) FCP is the measurement of how quickly the first piece of content (text or images) appears on the screen when the page starts loading.

    A quick FCP increases the perceived reliability with the site and reassures users that the page is loading. Both factors likely increase the chances that users will stay and potentially see and interact with ads.

How to improve your score

Each CWV metric has its own specific measurements and guidance on how to optimize the factors that contribute to them. We recommend reviewing the Google web.dev documentation found in the useful resources to improve these metrics and increase your scores.

Useful Resources

Implementation

Our one-tag solution simplifies integration and setup for publishers by handling the heavy lifting on our end once on page. To ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently, there are several key metrics that play a crucial role. Our Implementation section dives into these metrics and highlights factors that could impact your performance, health score, and most importantly - your revenue.

Metrics we check

  • Direct vs Non-Direct Tag Placement

    First, we check whether our CI tag is placed directly on your site or through other methods, such as Google Tag Manager (GTM) or Google Ad Manager (GAM). Non-direct placement will undoubtedly introduce extra latency and load times, reduce performance, and add unnecessary complexity, all of which will likely affect your revenue.

  • Tag Latency

    Latency issues tied to non-direct tag implementations, can significantly impact your revenue potential. Minimising latency between the page load and tag firing boosts load times and helps prevent lost revenue due to delays to getting ads to page, reduced exposure to the ads per user visit, decreased viewability and lost user interaction opportunities.

  • CMP issues

    A Consent Management Platform (CMP) is essential for managing user data privacy and consent, which directly affects ad serving. CMP errors can lead to issues such as loss of personalised ads, lower CPMs, unfilled ad slots, limited programmatic bids, compliance risks, lost trust, increased latency, and even financial penalties. Reducing CMP errors is key to maintaining positive ad revenue and a good user experience.

    To minimise errors, your CMP must be properly integrated and configured to capture accurate user consent. Opt for a reputable industry platform that is regularly updated, making sure to conduct routine testing to ensure it’s functioning correctly.

    We commonly track issues like incorrect execution order and a missing CMP “Stub” during implementation - both of which are essential for the process to run smoothly. Our integration guides are here to help publishers set things up correctly, so you avoid any revenue loss. And remember, CI is available to deploy CMP integrations directly from the Fusion platform to ensure you have the optimal setup from the get go.

  • Mobile Ad Density

    Mobile Ad Density (MAD) refers to the ratio of ads to content on a mobile screen. Balancing MAD is crucial: while higher rates (typically above 30%) might increase impressions and fill rates, they can also negatively impact user experience by being intrusive, obscuring content, affecting site reputation, and slowing load times. Keeping MAD within a balanced range ensures a good user experience while still meeting your monetisation goals.

How to improve your score

Identifying the areas needed for improvement and working with CI to help optimise these factors will best ensure your implementation and performance is working to your advantage. Alongside our recommendations in the report, the additional resources provided here will offer further insights and guidance on making improvements, helping to boost your health score.

Useful resources

Risk

Understanding how your website is perceived by audiences and brands in the ad industry is crucial for attracting advertiser spend and maximising your revenue.

With analytics provided from industry leader Pixalate, we provide a comprehensive insight of key risk factors such as ad fraud, viewability, invalid traffic, brand safety, and traffic sources that impact the overall risk health of your website.

Our risk section identifies and categorises these critical areas, helping you focus on actions that can reduce potential risks. By maintaining a low-risk profile, you can build greater trust and credibility with advertisers, attracting high-quality, premium ad creatives. This, in turn, opens up better revenue opportunities. Additionally, delivering high-quality ads can enhance audience retention and engagement, boosting your reputation in a competitive market.

How to improve your score

Each risk factor will have its own pathway to creating positive change and improving your risk health score. Our feedback should provide a snippet of the issue at hand, which can then be explored further through additional reading or by using some of the following useful resources.

Useful resources

Ethical Media

Ethical Media, as defined by The Goodnet, a leading ethical intelligence company, refers to publishers who operate themselves ethically and create content that promotes ethical living. The goal is to foster content that supports sustainable lifestyles, promotes diversity, encourages collaboration, and ensures ads are delivered in an ethical, sustainable way.

The Goodnet’s data assesses your site across a variety of ethical and sustainable metrics, resulting in an overall Ethical Media Index (EMI) score. This score is based on three key categories: Corporate Systems, Advertising Science, and Content Ethics.

Emphasising ethical practices goes beyond just following laws and guidelines — it’s also key to unlocking revenue potential. By positioning yourself as an ethical partner, you can attract a wider range of advertisers who are keen to work with like-minded businesses. This approach can help build stronger relationships, attract more campaigns, improve ad quality, and contribute to creating a healthy, reputable business with long-term success in mind.

By exploring this data, you'll gain valuable insights into where your site stands in the ethical media landscape, as well as identify areas for improvement to help you operate as ethically and sustainably as possible.

How to improve your score

Based on the results for each category, the first step is to explore the areas that might be lowering the score. From there, we can work together with you and The Goodnet to provide a better breakdown and propose the best ways to make improvements.

Useful resources

Header Bidding

Our Header Bidding section evaluates how well your site and publishing strategy are optimised for programmatic advertising. We specifically focus on Prebid, an open-source software suite designed to implement header bidding solutions. First, we check if Prebid is part of your ad setup, and if it isn’t, we advise on the benefits it could bring - such as increased competition and revenue through simultaneous ad exchange bidding, greater auction transparency and control, and free open-source access. By introducing this competition among advertisers, you’ll often see a rise in revenue.

If Prebid is already in place, we move on to analyse your setup to ensure it’s working to your advantage.

Metrics we gather

  • Prebid Version

    With new versions being released almost every fortnight, it’s common for your Prebid version to fall behind. It’s crucial to stay up to date with these releases to benefit from the latest features and fixes. We’ll check your current version and report how many versions behind you might be.

  • Prebid SSPs

    An auction needs bidders, and the same applies to programmatic bidding. However, the number of Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) involved needs to be carefully balanced. While more SSPs can increase competition, raise CPMs, and improve fill rates, they can also add pressure on load times, increase latency, and at a certain point, provide diminishing returns.

    Conversely, having too few SSPs might reduce latency and benefit from having simplified focussed partnerships, but it can also limit competition, fill rates, demand diversity and introduce instability. This could lead to lower CPMs and reduced revenue opportunities. Our report will review your current setup to help you find the right balance if needed.

  • Prebid Timeout

    When the page first loads and the header auction begins, demand partners (bidders) have a set amount of time to place their bids. This is known as the Prebid Timeout. It’s important to strike a balance: too short a timeout, and SSPs won’t have enough time to bid; too long, and overall ad performance might suffer due to increased latency.

    We’ll review your Prebid Timeout settings and provide feedback on whether adjustments are needed to optimise performance.

Beyond Prebid, we also check if you’re benefiting from Amazon’s UAM/TAM platform, a server-to-server solution that complements Prebid to further boost competition. This can be easily configured within Fusion, where we handle all the complex integration for you.

How to improve your score

While deciding to integrate programmatic header bidding solutions like Amazon and Prebid requires aligning with business goals, introducing them into your ad ecosystem can have a significant impact.

With Prebid in place, a few simple adjustments such as reviewing your connected SSPs, fine-tuning timeout settings, and ensuring your version is up-to-date, can help you maximise revenue opportunities and achieve a higher score in this area.

Useful resources

Sustainability

With the goal of reducing your website’s environmental impact and attracting unique demand from advertisers seeking sustainable publishers, our Sustainability section evaluates your site using the Website Carbon Calculator.

This tool calculates the energy usage and emissions of a web page (based on your site’s homepage) to determine data transfer, energy and carbon intensity, sources, and traffic. With this, we provide a clear picture of your domain’s sustainability health across three key areas:

  • Sustainability Output

    An assessment of how your site compares to the global web landscape, providing an output score that indicates how clean (or dirty!) your site is.

  • CO2 Emissions

    The amount of CO2 (CO2e) produced in grams each time someone visits your website’s homepage.

  • Green Energy/Hosting

    An evaluation of your energy source and whether your hosting provider uses data centres powered by renewable and sustainable sources, as verified by The Green Web Foundation.

Translating this into real figures

Using these metrics, along with data on page visits to your site from the previous month, we can deduce real-life figures to showcase your sustainability stats - an eye-opening insight into your website’s impact.

How to improve your score

The ultimate aim is to reduce your carbon emissions and ensure your energy sources are green. This not only lessens your environmental impact but also attracts environmentally conscious advertisers, increasing demand for your site.

Simple steps like reviewing your hosting provider, optimising images and videos, and caching content can make a significant difference. Explore some useful resources for more information on how to start reducing your website’s carbon footprint.

Useful resources

Plan

Now that we've completed a full health check, what’s next? That’s where our Plan section comes into play.

Using the Crawl-Walk-Run approach, we guide each publisher through a series of strategic tasks and goals. We start with the Crawl stage, where we suggest small but significant changes that will begin to positively impact both your site’s health and revenue potential.

Next, we move on to the Walk and Run stages, offering further recommendations for enhancements and features. These steps are designed to steadily improve your site’s health and keep you on track for long-term revenue success.