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AD OPERATIONS TEMPLATE

Ad Ops Troubleshooting Guide Template

Symptom-based troubleshooting: quick reference table, step-by-step diagnostics for common ad ops issues, and escalation.

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What's inside

Field

Details

Issue

Short description

Campaign

Severity

P1

Reported By

Date

Status

Investigating

Quick Reference

Find your symptom. Start with the most likely cause. Work down.

Symptom

Most Likely Cause

First Thing to Check

Ads not serving

Line item inactive, targeting too narrow, no eligible creative

Ad server: is the line item active and approved?

Under-delivery

Pacing set wrong, targeting overlap, low bid in auction

Daily delivery report — compare actual vs. target

Creative not rendering

Wrong file format, oversized asset, HTTPS issue

Preview the creative in the ad server

Tracking discrepancy > 10%

Caching, ad blocking, pixel timing, iFrame sandboxing

Compare timestamp windows — are both counting the same period?

Clicks not working

Broken redirect chain, wrong click macro, landing page down

Click the ad yourself — check each redirect hop

Wrong ad showing

Targeting conflict, priority/weight misconfigured

Check targeting rules and line item priority in ad server

Blank ad slot

No eligible line item, ad blocker, JavaScript error

Browser console — look for errors in the ad tag

Revenue mismatch

Rate type confusion (CPM vs. flat), missing impressions, timezone mismatch

Reconcile: IO rate x delivered impressions = expected revenue

Troubleshooting: Ads Not Serving

  • Is the line item active? Check start/end dates and approval status

  • Is there eligible creative? Correct size, approved, not expired

  • Is targeting too restrictive? Try broadening — does it serve then?

  • Is the ad unit on the page? Check page source for the ad tag

  • Is there a competing line item with higher priority consuming all impressions?

  • Check frequency cap — has the user already been capped?

Troubleshooting: Under-Delivery

  • Check pacing setting — even vs. ASAP vs. front-loaded

  • Check targeting overlap — is another line item stealing impressions?

  • Check available inventory — is there enough traffic for this targeting?

  • For programmatic: is the bid competitive? Check win rate

  • Check for ad quality blocks — is the creative being rejected by an exchange?

Troubleshooting: Tracking Discrepancy

  • Confirm both systems are counting the same date range and timezone

  • Check if third-party pixel is firing (Network tab in browser dev tools)

  • Check for caching — cached pages won't fire the third-party pixel again

  • Check for ad blockers — some users block third-party tracking but not the ad itself

  • Verify pixel placement — is it in the impression tag or the click tag?

Escalation

Severity

Definition

Escalate To

Timeframe

P1

Campaign not serving, revenue at risk

Ad Ops lead → Engineering

Immediately

P2

Under-delivery, discrepancy, wrong creative

Ad Ops lead

Within 2 hours

P3

Minor display issue, cosmetic, low-volume

Handle yourself, document

Next business day

Resolution Log

Document what you found and how you fixed it. Future you (or the next person on the team) will thank you.

Date

Root Cause

Fix Applied

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