Article about why your server's numbers don't match

what your advertisors says they are sending to you..

[grnidone]

I don't know if any of you have this problem, but I have been struggling with this for several months.

The numbers from our server logs don't match what the ad agency says we should we should be getting from advertising. I found this article, and thought others might benefit.

There are also links to a couple of other previous articles that also have good information.

[url=www.clickz.com/cgi-bin/gt/article.html?article=2548] Article here [/url]

-G

[rcjordan]

I serve my banners through CentralAd. My CentralAd reports have matched pretty well w/ Flycast for almost a year now.

[Brett_Tabke]

When I want to cross check numbers, I run a cache busting counter. Something with a .cgi?xyz form style submission in it where the ?xyz changes on every page. This is the same way cache busting banner servers work.

[grnidone]

>When I want to cross check numbers, I run a cache busting >counter. Something with a .cgi?xyz form style submission >in it where the ?xyz changes on every page. This is the >same way cache busting banner servers work.

Brett, I have read that three times and I can honestly say I don't understand what it is that you do. Can you give an example or explain a little more? It is the "Something with a ..." sentence that I am having the most trouble with.

-G

[rcjordan]

The cache-busting that I use adds a question mark and a random number to the end of the url. That way, the url is seen a unique and the page (or banner) aren't called from cache. Sorry, lousy explaination, but I'm braindead this AM.

I used cache-busting when setting up CentralAd, so perhaps that explains why I've always matched out.

[Brett_Tabke]

So, a cgi program can serve a html document (like the one you are reading), or it can redirect the browser to a graphic image.

A url such as:
[webmasterworld.com...]

Will get cached by a browser and not be updated unless they hit refresh.

A url:

[webmasterworld.com...]

Will get cached some some, but not all browsers.

A url:

[webmasterworld.com...]

Will not get cached by 99% of the browsers if you update that string to reflect the time on each page. Most 'banner buster' urls use a random number. You can update that string from a cgi script if the page is dynamically generated.

You can also do if from simple java script. Drop over to search engine world and look at the source to the page for the banner busting type java script code.

When using an image type counter for this cache busting purposes, you have to have something on your server that can deal with the 'weird url'. Either have the server setup to ignore the extra stuff, or have a cgi banner server program redirect the call to the real image.

I guess after laying it out, I have to agree it is kinda involved to do yourself.