If you are Serving Blank Ads you Need to Read This

[Castielle101]

I recently started getting blank ads on my website and I was wondering what was happening. Who wouldn't right?

I recently learned that (example.com) is contracted by (Acme ISP) and it's a company that "targets ads" for them. What they really do is sell ad space in your Google Iframes. I would get all sorts of annoying ads auto playing and in different languages. Users were complaining about them. The worst part, they get the ad revenue from the impression and split it with (Acme ISP), NOT you.

When I opted out of "(Acme ISP)'s Segmented Ads", which is just another name for (example.com), I thought at least I wouldn't see their ads anymore on my website. Who knows how many other people are still seeing them, giving what should be my ad revenue to (Acme ISP)/(example.com) , but at least I shouldn't see them right? Well I didn't, except now, their code is still there in my Iframe and now it just serves a blank space.

I have NO IDEA how this is legal, why Google doesn't do something about this. I don't know how when you search it on the internet it's almost unheard of, but it's criminal. It's like renting a billboard, that the person you rent from can come and change what's on it whenever he feels like it and keep the profit.

If you want to be sure you can do 2 things. First try inspecting the element where your ad should be and look through all the Divs etc, and try and find something that looks like (example.com) inside your Google Iframe. Second, try viewing your website from a proxy. If you can see the ads when you do this, then it's your ISP that is blocking your ads with it's own code.

Please message others about this, because if this is allowed to continue, anyone who makes money of Adsense will suffer while the rich just get richer.

Cas

[edited by: martinibuster at 10:23 pm (utc) on May 27, 2014]
[edit reason] Removed specifics. [/edit]

[martinibuster]

1. That other ad network is not affiliated with Google AdSense. Check your code, make sure you haven't been hacked. That ad network partners with ISPs.

2. IF you are not hacked but displaying their ads through Google AdSense then that is happening because they won the bidding auction. They are the highest paying advertiser. If you don't want them advertising on your site block them via the AdSense control panel.

3. Blank ads can be caused by JavaScript code conflicts.

[jbayabas]

Blank ads could be many things:

1. Stop words
2. Not enough words or content on a page
3. Less than 6 month old site

[Castielle101]

My code will not change if they win the bidding auction lol. And yes they partner with my ISP, that's my whole point. They are literally intercepting and altering what is displayed on my page so that their ads are seen and my Adsense ads are not. I get no impression, yet they do and split it with my ISP.

How do I stop this from happening?

Cas

[webcentric]

What does your ISP have to do with this? Are they hosting your site? Are you running a site on a free hosting account provided by your ISP? Or are you saying that every time you log on and surf the Internet (your site or any other site) that your ISP is hijacking the ads on whatever site you're visiting and serving their own instead? A little more specificity might help shed some light. You don't need to post names but the following elements could be in play...

Also, if you are blocking ads using a utility provided by your ISP, it may be preventing the ad from showing but not preventing the source code from being loaded into your page. So you still see evidence of the ad in the DOM but a blank ad on the page. Make sure you are blocking the ad in Adsense itself as martinibuster has mentioned. Also be aware that multiple networks can serve the same ad and the same ad can be hosted at more than one domain. With domain blocking, you can sort most of that out fairly easily.

Again, if your computer, your ISP, or any other service is providing ad blocking but you haven't blocked the ad in Adsense, I can see how what you're seeing might be possible.

[not2easy]

I have heard of ISPs having agreements with affiliates, it is best dealt with by informing the ISP of the objections that you have and that merchants have for paying commissions for unearned traffic. If your ISP has made an arrangement like this you can open a blank browser window and type in an URL you want to visit like godaddy or amazon and see an affiliate link show up in the Browser's Address Bar before serving the domain you requested. The ISP does not generally understand that this is a most unethical thing to do and depending on their setup, could be considered a form of "cookie stuffing" which is illegal and subject to RICO laws. This has nothing to do with AdSense if this is the issue.