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Old 02-05-2008, 05:20 AM
KenDude KenDude is offline
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Default HTML Adsense Ads

Oracle, er Morgan,

I know the readme says not to ask specifics about HTML / ADsense ads that are not covered in the readme so I just wanted to ask something that is covered but that I don't quite understand.

Prior to the upgrade my HTML ads were using gab_item_html template and while exposures were tracked, click throughs never were. I read in the readme file that this template now tracks HTML ads, but that you want to use the "solo" template for Google Adsense ads because of something the "item" template does. I thought maybe the link shown in the adsense ad wouldn't work or something, but if I click on one it takes me to where I would expect to go. I do not have anything in my HTML ad for destination URL and obviously nothing for an image, just the HTML code and using all scripts, etc.

What is it with this setup that might cause an issue for Google? BTW I ran the CRON job after clicking on the Adsense ad, but the stats still only show impressions not the clicks so I'm a bit confused by the Readme file.

Thanks in advance, btw the upgrade seems to have gone flawlessly and I like that I can now have only 3 items in my Billboard listing (FLash, Image, HTML) and simply weight them. Previously I had 9 image, 2 flash and 1 html to "try" and balance things out, the weighting is much cleaner!

(FYI just noticed this morning that it is tracking clicks now for my HTML adsense ads, but again I don't want to do anything to tick off Google so I am trying to understand what it is doing, etc.)

Last edited by KenDude; 02-05-2008 at 03:20 PM..
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Old 02-05-2008, 04:01 PM
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The gab_item_html template can track HTML/text ads when you enter a 'Destination URL' or you have 'Track Clickthroughs' set to yes. There is a check in the JavaScript, so that if there is no Destination URL, window.open doesn't fire. 'Track Clickthroughs' is pointless without a 'Destination URL' though, and IIRC the Google TOS states something or other that basically means "do not mess with our ads in any way, shape, or form." You can have 'Track Impressions' set to yes, as that doesn't mess with Google ads, but 'Destination URL' should be left blank, 'Track Clickthroughs' should be set to no, and the gab_item_solo template should be used, as it doesn't contain the JavaScript, even if it doesn't fire. Best to keep Google ads free and clean of anything that might be interpreted as interference.
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Old 02-05-2008, 04:09 PM
KenDude KenDude is offline
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Ok thanks for the explanation, for the time being I'm going to leave my existing template with track clickthroughs on, but no destination url and see what happens. I see it is tracking clickthroughs now which will let me verify if the numbers I am getting reported back by Google are the same as what the site is tracking which is all I am really curious about.
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Old 02-05-2008, 04:25 PM
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Track Clickthroughs is pointless without a Destination URL. Click the ad to see. Me thinks I should change the code to prevent this.
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Old 02-05-2008, 05:58 PM
KenDude KenDude is offline
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It isn't really pointless for a HTML/Text ad is it? I mean if someone clicks on that Google Adsense text/html ad and goes someplace I'd like to know that it was clicked on, even though I don't necessarily care where they go. That way I can compare clicks in GAB vs. clicks in my Google reports to see if they match up!
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Old 02-07-2008, 06:05 PM
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Perhaps Google has some JavaScript that redirects clickthroughs to where Google wants, and while Google does not want you to click on your own Google ads, you might consider testing a clickthrough one time to see what happens.
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Old 02-07-2008, 08:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Morgan View Post
Perhaps Google has some JavaScript that redirects clickthroughs to where Google wants, and while Google does not want you to click on your own Google ads, you might consider testing a clickthrough one time to see what happens.
That's what I did, I know Google doesn't want me clicking ads on my site but I clicked on one to see if it works and if it tracks the click-through and it does.

BTW is there a way to empty out my tracking stats, say delete everything older than a certain number of days? My tracking db is HUGE almost as large as my forum db table!
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