Referrals 2.0 Solutions

Common answers to some common problems

[AdSenseAdvisor]

Hi everyone,

I know there have been a number of frustrating issues regarding Referrals 2.0 ads. Some of these are the result of underlying technical issues, which we're constantly working to resolve as quickly as we can, and some of these can be solved by publishers selecting certain settings when generating the referral code. I've been working with our referrals specialists and we wanted to share solutions to a few very common problems below.

1. If an advertiser ends their campaign or runs out of budget, those referral ads become unavailable and will stop showing on your pages.

If you've selected 'Pick best performing ads' or you've selected keywords or categories for your ad unit, then we will rotate different referral ads to fill the referral unit. If you haven't checked that option, your page will display an empty space where the now-unavailable ad used to appear.

To maximize your opportunities to generate referral earnings, we therefore recommend you check the 'Pick best performing ads' box when generating your referral code.

2. However, if you select an ad unit size that is only available for Google product referrals and check 'Pick best performing ads,' there's currently a system error that will cause no ad to be displayed. Our engineers are working to fix this as quickly as possible, but in the meantime, if you'd like to refer users to these Google products, please uncheck the 'best performing ads' box when generating code for that referral ad unit.

FYI - Many of you noticed that some of your referral ads weren't showing for a short time late last week. That particular error was resolved last weekend and shouldn't cause any more display problems.

Our engineers, product specialists and I sincerely appreciate your patience as we work out these Referrals 2.0 kinks. Please keep giving us your feedback on this product so that we can deal with bugs right away, expand the features that are working best, and generally continue to improve Referrals 2.0 for you.

-ASA

[mayest]

I'm about to follow netmeg's lead. I've had referrals on my site since they became available, and it just hasn't performed. I have two very low -priced conversions. Even worse, though it is supposed to show only the ads I selected (and that is all I have ever seen), the AdSense report indicates that a ton of other unwanted and unrelated ads have also been showing.

[Khensu]

I suspect that may offers are not getting any action so this is a way of throwing them a bone and keeping them in the program.

Not a very nice move for the publishers.

[icedowl]

Performance has been super poor.

On another note, I decided I'd try a specific subcategory for one last chance and found a new problem. Where it says that I can choose one of my own "AFC pallettes" for the text block color, my own pallettes do not appear. Grrrr!

[charlier]

I didn't see this thread and started a new one. Please excuse, anyway here are my complaints.

1. Put some navigation links so you can get back to the page you were on without starting clear back at the beginning and having to click 6 times till you get back where you were.

2. Speed up the server so you don't have to wait 6 seconds for a page to load. I almost thought I must be back on an old 300 baud modem!

3. Do a little human proofreading of what people are putting in the different categories or at least allow users to flag them as inappropriate. As a scientist with a site oriented towards other scientists I can assure you my audience will be very interested in scientific equipment but that does not include 'Hunting Spot Lights' or 'Office grill light'!

This could be a great product with a little care but right now it is crap.