Sam Zebra | Mastering Google Ad Manager & Programmatic Advertising

About This Site & Me

Hi, I’m Sam — an independent publisher and digital-marketing enthusiast documenting my path to becoming a Google Ad Manager power user.

I decided in 2025 to go all-in on learning programmatic advertising the right way. Instead of keeping notes privately, I’m sharing everything publicly: every setup step, every mistake, every optimization win. The goal is to create the resource I wish existed when I started — clear, no-fluff, actionable guides that actually work for small-to-medium publishers.

Topics I’ll cover: GAM vs AdSense, inventory setup, line items & orders, Prebid header bidding, Google Ad Exchange access, reporting, GAM 360 features, and real-world yield experiments.

Latest Articles

Article 1: Why I Chose Google Ad Manager Over Plain AdSense (November 2025)

Published November 14, 2025

Google AdSense is fantastic for beginners, but once you want real control — multiple demand sources, granular reporting, header bidding, programmatic guaranteed deals — you need Google Ad Manager. This post explains the exact differences, when to make the switch, and how I got my GAM account approved fast… (continue reading on site)

I walk through the actual approval checklist Google uses, how to structure your first network, and why having original content (like this site) matters.

Article 2: Step-by-Step GAM Inventory Setup

Coming November 18, 2025

Creating ad units, placements, key-values, channel targeting, and the most common mistakes new publishers make that tank fill rate.

Article 3: My First Header-Bidding Integration with Prebid.js

Coming November 22, 2025

Full code snippets, GAM + Prebid setup, timeout settings, and the surprising 40 % revenue lift I saw on day one.

Understanding Programmatic Guaranteed vs Open Auction

Published November 12, 2025

Real numbers from my own small site: how much more reliable revenue you get from programmatic guaranteed deals and how to pitch advertisers for them.

This site is a personal blog. I do not collect any personal data directly.

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Contact: sam@samzebra.com for any privacy-related questions.

Mastering Google Ad Manager