What is ad inventory?
Every page you publish is space someone could pay for. Here's how to count it.
Facts checked 6 Oct 2026 · by the AdSworn team
Ad inventory is all the advertising space a website has to sell: each ad spot on each page, multiplied by how often it's seen or how long it's available. Networks count it in impressions (page views × ad spots). Direct sponsorships count it in periods (this spot, on this page, for these weeks). Inventory isn't equal: a page that ranks for a buying search is worth far more per view than one read for trivia, so price it by the page, not by the site.
Two ways to count it
| By impressions | By period | |
|---|---|---|
| The unit | One ad shown once | One spot on one page for a set time |
| How much you have | Page views × ad spots per page | Pages × spots × weeks in the year |
| Priced by | Per thousand impressions (CPM) | A flat price per period |
| Used by | Ad networks and programmatic auctions | Direct sponsorships |
A site with 50,000 page views a month and two ad spots per page has about 100,000 impressions of inventory a month. Sold by period instead, the same site's 120 articles with two spots each are 240 placements, each available 13 times a year in 4-week blocks.
Not all inventory is worth the same
An ad network pays roughly the same for a view on any of your pages. A direct buyer doesn't. They care who's reading. A page that ranks for "unlimited video editing service" reaches people about to spend money; a page that ranks for "celtic symbols" reaches curious readers. The first can sell for many times the second, per view.
So the most valuable inventory on most sites is a handful of pages: the ones that rank for searches people make when they're ready to buy. Find them in Google Search Console by reading the searches behind each page. See buying intent keywords.
| Real search | AdSworn's reading | Clicks, last 4 weeks |
|---|---|---|
| “freelance marketplace” | Buying intent | 3 |
| “best online video editor” | Buying intent | 2 |
| “best freelance marketplace” | Buying intent | 1 |
| “online freelance marketplace” | Buying intent | 1 |
| “dallas cowboys logo” | Research | 65 |
| “emoji names” | Research | 64 |
| “cowboys logo” | Research | 34 |
Sold, unsold and remnant
- Sold inventory is booked by a buyer at your price.
- Unsold inventory is space nobody has booked. Most small sites have far more of this than sold.
- Remnant inventory is unsold space handed to a network to fill at whatever the auction pays.
Remnant beats an empty spot, but it trains you to accept the lowest price. A better use for an unsold spot is to advertise itself: show the page's real traffic and a button to sponsor it. On AdSworn every unsold spot does this automatically, so the space markets itself to the next buyer.
Packaging your inventory to sell
- Pick a small number of spotsOne at the top of the article, one inside it. Two good spots sell better than six weak ones.
- Set formats and termsA banner for 4 weeks; a sponsored post for 12 weeks or a year. Clear products are easier to buy.
- Price page by pageFrom each page's own traffic and the searches behind it, not one rate for the whole site.
- Show proofTraffic read from Google, per page, where buyers can see it before they ask.
- Banner ad at $75 / 4 weeksyou get $69
- Sponsored post at $1,300 / yearyou get $1,196
Starter rates from what sites charge for ads they sell directly: $10–20 per 1,000 views (Google). Banner $15 per 1,000 page views ($25 minimum, 4 weeks); sponsored post $20 per 1,000 over a year ($150 minimum). Pages that rank for buying searches start at $75 and $750. If both sell all year. You set your own; we take 8% only when you get paid.
Getting more out of the inventory you have
More traffic is the slow way to more inventory. There are faster ones:
- Sell your buying-intent pages first. A few pages that rank for searches people make before they buy can earn more than the rest of the site together.
- Offer two formats on the same page. A banner and a sponsored post reach the same readers in different ways, and many advertisers buy both.
- Sell longer terms. A sponsored post on an evergreen article can run a year: one sale instead of thirteen.
- Refresh pages that are slipping. Updating an article that used to rank often brings its traffic back, and its value as inventory with it.
- Make unsold space sell itself. An empty spot that shows its own audience and a "Sponsor this page" button keeps marketing the page for you.
Then price it by the page. See how much to charge for ads on your website and how to make an advertising rate card.
Straight answers
What does ad inventory mean?
The advertising space a website has available to sell: each ad spot on each page, counted in impressions (how often ads are seen) or in periods (how long a spot can be booked).
How do I calculate my ad inventory?
For impressions: monthly page views times the number of ad spots per page. For direct sponsorships: the number of pages times spots per page times the periods you sell in a year.
What is remnant inventory?
Ad space that wasn't sold directly and is passed to an ad network to fill, usually at a lower price set by an auction.
Which of my pages are most valuable to advertisers?
The ones that rank for searches people make when they're ready to buy, such as service and comparison searches. Their readers are worth more per view than readers of trivia pages.