Any guidelines for antenna placement (distance, direction, etc)?

I have a tendency to just let the external antenna hang but recently I’ve noticed it not connect and I think it’s related to the antenna touching other parts of the chip or just bad placement (pointed down). The antenna does have a sticky back so I can stick it onto something but should it be pointed out (sticky side) or in? I’m assuming that the antenna should not touch anything too, so stick it to something so it’s not loose?