4 Reasons Why Ads Are Not Showing on My Website
We sometimes get the question from our clients–why are ads not showing on my website? The truth is–there can be several reasons why. A lot of times, it may be due to technical issues. However, sometimes it can be affected by publishers’ own actions with the website and its content.
This article explains 4 of the most common reasons why the ads are not showing on your blog if you use a monetization platform. Moreover, it also covers the most common problems that Google AdSense publishers face regarding ad serving.
1. More Than One Header Bidding
Often, publishers want to test which header bidding solution will increase ad revenue the most. For example, a client may simultaneously decide to run a test with Setupad and another company.
Both companies have their own header bidding wrappers that may come into conflict with one another’s wrapper tags. Ultimately, this may result in ads appearing broken or not showing.
2. Defer Parsing of JavaScript
Defer parsing of JavaScript is one of the most popular suggestions when it comes to website speed optimization. But what does it actually mean?
When someone visits your website, a user’s browser starts to render your site’s HTML content from top to bottom. When it finds any JavaScript files, it must fetch and parse them first, taking extra website loading time and harming the user experience.
The defer attribute means ‘postponing’ the download and parsing of JavaScript until the website’s main content has finished loading.
Since ad tags are built using JavaScript, this method modifies the code inside them. For ads to work properly, they must be delivered at a certain moment and sequence. Because the moment when the JavaScript should load has been modified, a user might see a blank space instead of an ad.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use deferred JavaScript. Usually, this issue can be fixed by manually adjusting the code. However, there are also other ways to improve the website speed.
Our clients can request a free website loading speed audit, where our experts will offer solutions specifically relevant to your website.
JavaScript Deferred Example
In the example above, the client has deferred parsing of JavaScript using a WP Rocket (plugin for speed and performance optimization) WordPress plugin.
Related Article: Best Free Plugins For WordPress 2023
3. Minified JavaScript
Minification, also known as minimization, is the process that removes all unnecessary characters from a source code, such as whitespaces, line breaks, comments, etc. In the end, you’re left with a shorter code that consumes fewer browser resources to download.
JavaScript minification is necessary to improve the website’s loading speed. However, because ad tags are built using JavaScript, they can sometimes cause ad execution problems. This is because an ad tag should be put exactly on the page where the ads should appear. Moreover, debugging minified JavaScript is a tedious task.
Minified JS Example
4. Modified Tags
Mostly, Setupad’s ad tags consist of two parts–<iframe> element and <script> element. Sometimes, a publisher may change the sequence of the elements or divide them into two parts. This interferes with the HTML code and may prevent the ads from showing.
Similarly, an older WordPress plugin or an outdated WordPress theme can modify attributes inside the ad code, ultimately causing ad delivery errors.
Setupad Expert Opinion
Signe Kreicere, Technical Support Engineer at Setupad: “We suggest always checking for updates for your WordPress plugins. If the plugin has not been updated in the past year, consider switching to another one. Outdated plugins are also a big security risk for publishers as they may break other scripts on your website.”
The example below shows how modified <iframe> has resized the additional content.
What to Do if Google AdSense is Not Showing Ads?
Sometimes, AdSense publishers may face a problem when the ads do not show up on their blog because they have broken one or more of Google’s policies, such as those related to content.
So, what should you do if Google AdSense is not showing ads?
Related article: How to Make Money with Google AdSense?
• Get AdSense approval
If Google has found one or more policy violations on your website, your site won’t be eligible to show ads. There are many reasons why the website doesn’t get approved, but the most common one is if your website has duplicate content.
Another reason Google AdSense may not accept your website is insufficient content. Sites that mainly contain images or videos may also not be approved to show ads.
Always refer to AdSense Program Policies and check that your website doesn’t have any violating experiences. Then re-submit your AdSense application and wait for the approval.
• Check the ads.txt
Ads.txt is an IAB initiative that lets you declare authorized sellers of your ad inventory. Google uses ads.txt to determine which sellers can display ads on a publisher’s website.
If your website doesn’t have an ads.txt or misses the publisher ID, the auction for an ad request won’t run, and you will lose your ad revenue. All Setupad publishers must add an ads.txt file to their website to show ads.
• Fix Google penalty
If Google suspects your website of engaging in bad practices, such as phishing, spammy downloads, or malware, it might hide your website from Google Search or label it dangerous. Besides, many times, publishers may not realize they have engaged in bad practices.
For example, you or someone you have hired may have used black hat SEO tactics to improve search rankings, such as purchased links or stuffing your webpage with irrelevant keywords (keyword stuffing).
Although it is possible to fix the problem and request a review, it usually takes around 30 days (or more) for Google to recrawl your website and remove any labelings. Moreover, it may affect your search ranking for quite some time. Remember to use white hat SEO techniques only and always refer to Google Webmaster Quality guidelines to avoid getting a Google penalty.
Conclusion
As you can see, several things can go wrong and result in ads not showing on your website. We do not suggest solving technical issues by yourself unless you have a dedicated webmaster, as you may complicate things even further.
If you are a Setupad client, you should contact your Account Manager, and he will pass the case onto the Technical Support team, who will review and debug the issue. If Google has blocked your website, contact us, and we will help you to fix it.
Did you ever face any problems that resulted in ads not showing on your website? Let us know in the comments or email [email protected].
