Article Design

Articles come in many different forms and functions. However as with all native integrations, it is important to match the atomic units of the site on which the native ad lives. In the case of an article page, the atomic units refer to the article's metadata: headline, image, description, body of content, share options, and so forth. 

Keep this in mind when designing any units on the page:

The most engaging and high-performing article integrations are those that are fully expanded below the site's primary article, matching the organic content's atomic units. In fact, when compared to a standard below-the-article widget integration, the "infinite article" integration saw as much as a 263% increase in engagement, with the average infinite article placements seeing a CTR of 1.51% on desktop placements.

Here are best practices for designing and implementing the infinite article placement: 

1. The most successful infinite article placement designs are ones that match the article itself, providing the user with a continuous feed of content that places equal design emphasis on both the organic content and the promoted content.

2. If you have a feed of content below the initial post or comment section, place the native ad below the article, comments, and content recommendation widgets to mimic the appearance of another article. The unit should be designed to fit visually into this section of the site, matching the atomic units of the main post itself.

3. Many modern publications implement cursor-triggered functionality in their headlines and images. For the best results, match the native ads functionality to that of the article itself. If the article's image has a rollover or hover design, replicate that functionality in the ad as well.

We understand that not all publishers have the resources to create a fully expanded, infinite article integration using the above guidelines. If that is the case for you, we recommend following the below guidelines as secondary measures: 

1. Many modern publishers have infinite-scrolling feeds below every post, where the below-the-post area becomes, more or less, a new article. Integrate here, with the same design guidelines as the Homepage.

2. On desktop and tablet, article pages often have sidebar or below-the-fold feeds of top content, trending content, and more. Integrate into each of these feeds to create optimal inventory. 

3. For gallery-based articles, native ads can be designed to fit in below, or preferably within, the gallery.

4. It’s OK to have multiple native placements. One below the article, one in the sidebar feed, and one or more in any gallery feed below the post. As a publisher, the more inventory you have to sell, the better.