Placeholders
Placeholders adds 14 customizable Gutenberg blocks for standard advertising sizes. Perfect for wireframing, prototyping, or reserving space for future ad placements in your WordPress site.
Consider an alternative
Placeholders shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. Was last updated 10 months ago, and scores 36/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (<10 active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- Only tested up to WordPress 6.8 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Placeholders stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| ads | >100 |
| blocks | >100 |
| gutenberg | >100 |
| placeholder | >100 |
| wireframe | #15 |
About Placeholders
From the official readme · v1.0.2Description
Placeholders adds 14 customizable Gutenberg blocks for standard advertising sizes. Perfect for wireframing, prototyping, or reserving space for future ad placements in your WordPress site.
Features:
- 14 standard IAB ad sizes
- Customizable background and text colors
- Support for wide and full alignment
- Responsive design
- Clean, minimal styling
- Shows dimensions and ad name
- Grouped in dedicated “Placeholders” category
Available Block Sizes:
- Leaderboard – 728×90px
- Medium Rectangle – 300×250px
- Wide Skyscraper – 160×600px
- Mobile Banner – 320×50px
- Billboard – 970×250px
- Large Rectangle – 336×280px
- Half Page – 300×600px
- Small Square – 200×200px
- Square – 250×250px
- Small Rectangle – 180×150px
- Vertical Rectangle – 240×400px
- Large Leaderboard – 970×90px
- Portrait – 300×1050px
- Netboard – 580×400px
Installation
- Upload the plugin files to the
/wp-content/plugins/placeholdersdirectory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly. - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress.
- In the block editor, search for any ad size (e.g., “Leaderboard”) in the inserter.
- The blocks will appear in the “Placeholders” category.
Frequently asked questions
How do I use these blocks?
Open any post or page in the block editor Click the ‘+’ button to add a new block Search for an ad size (e.g., “leaderboard”, “medium rectangle”) Insert the block and customize colors using the block settings panel
Can I customize the colors?
Yes! Each block supports background and text color customization through the block settings panel.
Can these blocks be used for actual ads?
These blocks are designed as placeholders for wireframing and layout design. For actual ad serving, you would need to use an ad management plugin or service.
Are these blocks responsive?
Yes, the blocks are responsive and work well on different screen sizes. You can also use the alignment options (wide/full) to control their display.
Changelog
Initial release of Placeholders plugin.
1.0.2
- Fix asset generation script to use rsvg-convert for proper gradient rendering
- Regenerate icons and banners with correct gradient colors
1.0.1
- Add WordPress.org plugin assets (icons and banners)
- WordPress.org approved release
1.0.0
- Initial release
- 14 ad placeholder blocks
- Color customization support
- Alignment support
- Custom “Placeholders” block category
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Placeholders alternatives
All ads plugins →
FAQ
Placeholders: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 1, 2026
Is Placeholders free?
Yes. Placeholders is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Placeholders safe to use in 2026?
Placeholders shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. Was last updated 10 months ago, and scores 36/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Placeholders?
Placeholders is active on <10 WordPress websites and has been downloaded 414 times since it launched in December 2025. It was downloaded 38 times in the last 30 days.
Does Placeholders work with WordPress 7.1?
Placeholders is officially tested up to WordPress 6.8.10, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does Placeholders need?
Placeholders requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Placeholders last updated?
The latest version, 1.0.2, was released on December 1, 2025 (10 months ago).
Who makes Placeholders?
Placeholders is developed and maintained by Jake Spurlock.
What are the best alternatives to Placeholders?
The most popular alternatives to Placeholders are Google for WooCommerce (800K+ installs), Ad Inserter (300K+ installs) and Head, Footer and Post Injec… (200K+ installs).
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