Forum Moderators: phranque
using this rule:
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9_+-]+)/?$ search/links.php?assign=xyz&qry=$1 [L]
I applied this to my main site after testing it on another domain & everything works perfect except for adsense. For my main domain it shows ads in german!
But the old links (at top) work fine still and go to the correct uk adsense.
It is just puzzling me as to why it won't work.
I have tried the same rewrite rules for different domains and the ads were english so i am sure the rewriterule is ok.
I have 2 other domains where the rule seems to work fine with adsense too but on the main site i have the annoying problem.
I have tried different php pages, different link names but for some reason, when i try to apply it to a particular site it shows adsense in german or dutch!?
Does anyone know why this is? I have spent hours and hours trying to find a solution.. i just cant see what is making it change language. HELP!
[edited by: jdMorgan at 4:21 pm (utc) on April 9, 2005]
[edit reason] Removed specifics per TOS. [/edit]
Welcome to WebmasterWorld!
Let's be clear on a couple of questions -- How long after you made the change did you see the mistargeted ads? And how long has it been since then?
You have essentially changed all or most of your page URLs. As far as G's mediabot is concerned, these are entirely-new pages, and so may not yet be targeted. It's as if these were brand-new pages.
Where is the server for this site located, geographically and IP-address-wise? It is possible that G believes that this is a german hosting company, or that it is located in an IP block predominantly assigned to .de sites, so the default would be PSAs in german.
This is the only 'technical' reason I can think of why doing a rewrite would result in mis-targeted ads, aside from the obvious possibility of incorrect language declarations in the pages or server headers [webmasterworld.com].
Jim
The change only applies when i apply it to a particular site, the other 2 sites it works fine on are from the same hosting company and i have even used the same page on these other sites.
On the other sites, i make the change and immediately it goes to G's default ads in english-diplaying 'ads by google', when i refresh the browser a few times it delivers targeted ads in english.
On the main site, i make the change and immediately it goes to G's default ads in GERMAN-sometimes targeted ads in german but always 'google angzeinen'. Only when i refresh my browser a few times does it then switch to english ads and 'ads by google'.
It has been 2 days since i changed a few links to point to the new url.
I havn't changed all the url's, the old urls still work, adsense in english and targeted too.
But the new url is the problem.
The server is based in london im 90% sure of that.
What should i look for in the header check? it all looks ok so far..
thanks
"All servers are either in the UK or the US and IP blocks set-up accordingly,
we don't have any connections with germain hosting sorry"
Have i maybe done something wrong and google is penalizing me in some way?
I just don't get it!
Look at any language-related headers that may appear. Also check your browser's request headers [searchengineworld.com] to see your own HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE preference settings.
> Have i maybe done something wrong ...
Yes, maybe. My opinion is that it's just a strange side-effect of changint the URLs.
> ...and google is penalizing me in some way?
Probably not. Most Google "penalites" are imaginary or misunderstood, except when they manually ban your domain name. The result of that is most certainly not that your site begins to sprechen Deutch insteal of speaking English.
You might want to try asking about this over in the Adsense forum, in order to get a lot more expertise on how the language-targeting works.
Jim
Will try the adsense forum.
Thanks
