We wanted to let you know that yesterday at around 2pm PST, a bug in our system caused less relevant contextually-targeted ads to appear for approximately 10 hours. You were still credited for all valid clicks and impressions on the ads which appeared on your sites, but this bug may have impacted your overall AdSense for content revenue if you had visitors to your pages during these hours. Please note that because we're unable to determine which ads would have been viewed or clicked on by visitors to your sites in the absence of the bug, we will not be manually adjusting yesterday's earnings.
Our engineers have now resolved the issue and have confirmed that ad targeting has returned to normal. We apologize for this issue; please know that our engineers are performing a thorough analysis of what occurred and will make changes to prevent similar problems from happening in the future.
Friday, 6 March 2009
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Introducing expandable ads on AdSense sites
We're excited to introduce to you expandable ads, a new type of ad that can appear on your pages. Expandable ads are rich media ads that can expand beyond the original size of the ad unit, following a user-initiated action. This creates more real estate for the ad, allowing for more interaction from interested users. For instance, expandable ads may stream a movie trailer, show video game clips, or display various views of an item for sale.
Expandable ads will be served as third-party ads and will be created by Google-certified rich media vendors for the top display advertisers in our network. And like other Google ads, you'll earn based on whether the expandable ads on your site are priced on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) basis. Keep in mind that you'll generate earnings from CPC expandable ads when a user visits the advertiser's landing page, and not when a user simply clicks to expand the ad.
We thought you might have more questions about the launch of expandable ads, so we've addressed a few key points below:
Will expandable ads alter my site's layout or be disruptive to my users?
No. In order to protect the publisher and user experience, we've created several policies around how expandable ads work:
You're automatically eligible to receive expandable ads if you've added the AdSense code directly into your site's source code and you've enabled image ads. Please note that expandable ads are currently only available to specific advertisers located in the U.S., who can bid on specific sites where they'd like their ads to appear.
You won't need to upload any special "iFrame-buster" files from third-party vendors onto your own servers to allow these new types of ads to expand on your site. Although we don't currently offer expandable ads for all ad serving solutions, we're actively working to support more implementation methods soon, and we thank you for your patience in the meantime.
Can I filter specific expandable ads shown on my site?
Yes - like the other ads on your pages, you can use your Competitive Ad Filter to block contextually-targeted expandable ads. Please note that for third-party ads, we recommend using the top level domain (e.g. 'example.com' instead of 'example.com/sample.html'). Additionally, you'll still be able to use your Ad Review Center to block specific placement-targeted expandable ads. In the Ad Review Center, expandable ads will be classified under the "Rich Media" ad format.
To learn more about expandable ads, please read our FAQs.
Updated eligibility section for accuracy
Expandable ads will be served as third-party ads and will be created by Google-certified rich media vendors for the top display advertisers in our network. And like other Google ads, you'll earn based on whether the expandable ads on your site are priced on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) basis. Keep in mind that you'll generate earnings from CPC expandable ads when a user visits the advertiser's landing page, and not when a user simply clicks to expand the ad.
We thought you might have more questions about the launch of expandable ads, so we've addressed a few key points below:
Will expandable ads alter my site's layout or be disruptive to my users?
No. In order to protect the publisher and user experience, we've created several policies around how expandable ads work:
- Ads will expand only after a user clicks and interacts with the ad. Mouseovers or rollovers won't trigger the ad, in order to prevent accidental expansions.
- An expandable ad won't expand more than double its width or height.
- Once expanded, the ad will appear as a layer over the page content so that your content will not be modified or shifted in any way.
- The user may close the expanded panel at any time.
- All expandable ads must comply with our standard AdWords image ad policies.
You're automatically eligible to receive expandable ads if you've added the AdSense code directly into your site's source code and you've enabled image ads. Please note that expandable ads are currently only available to specific advertisers located in the U.S., who can bid on specific sites where they'd like their ads to appear.
You won't need to upload any special "iFrame-buster" files from third-party vendors onto your own servers to allow these new types of ads to expand on your site. Although we don't currently offer expandable ads for all ad serving solutions, we're actively working to support more implementation methods soon, and we thank you for your patience in the meantime.
Can I filter specific expandable ads shown on my site?
Yes - like the other ads on your pages, you can use your Competitive Ad Filter to block contextually-targeted expandable ads. Please note that for third-party ads, we recommend using the top level domain (e.g. 'example.com' instead of 'example.com/sample.html'). Additionally, you'll still be able to use your Ad Review Center to block specific placement-targeted expandable ads. In the Ad Review Center, expandable ads will be classified under the "Rich Media" ad format.
To learn more about expandable ads, please read our FAQs.
Updated eligibility section for accuracy
Updates on account access and reporting
We'd like to take a moment to explain a login issue that some of you may have encountered last night, as well as let you know about an upcoming stats delay you may notice.
Login loop
If you tried to sign in to your AdSense account between 10:45 and 11:35 p.m. PST last night, you may have found yourself in a "loop" between the AdSense login page and your Google Accounts page. We're in the process of trying out some new designs for our US English homepage, and we rolled them back after users reported a login error with one of the designs. If you're still having trouble accessing your account, please clear your cache and cookies and then try logging in again at http://www.google.com/adsense. Rest assured the next time the new designs are rolled out, you'll actually end up where you want to be: in your AdSense account! Thanks especially to the forum posters and Twitterers for quickly bringing this to our attention.
Slower stats
You may notice more of a delay in your AdSense and Google Ad Manager stats than usual today, as our engineers will be performing some maintenance work on our system. Please be assured that ads will continue to be served to your pages, and all activity will continue to be tracked as usual. Although it may take longer than usual to see impressions, clicks, and earnings reported in your account, you'll be credited for all valid activity on your sites. We apologize for the short notice, and appreciate your patience as we work to keep our systems updated for you.
Updated to include login instructions and Ad Manager
Login loop
If you tried to sign in to your AdSense account between 10:45 and 11:35 p.m. PST last night, you may have found yourself in a "loop" between the AdSense login page and your Google Accounts page. We're in the process of trying out some new designs for our US English homepage, and we rolled them back after users reported a login error with one of the designs. If you're still having trouble accessing your account, please clear your cache and cookies and then try logging in again at http://www.google.com/adsense. Rest assured the next time the new designs are rolled out, you'll actually end up where you want to be: in your AdSense account! Thanks especially to the forum posters and Twitterers for quickly bringing this to our attention.
Slower stats
You may notice more of a delay in your AdSense and Google Ad Manager stats than usual today, as our engineers will be performing some maintenance work on our system. Please be assured that ads will continue to be served to your pages, and all activity will continue to be tracked as usual. Although it may take longer than usual to see impressions, clicks, and earnings reported in your account, you'll be credited for all valid activity on your sites. We apologize for the short notice, and appreciate your patience as we work to keep our systems updated for you.
Updated to include login instructions and Ad Manager
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Reports have gone international
One of the requests we frequently hear from our international publishers is to view reports in currencies other than U.S. Dollars. That's why we're happy to announce that publishers located in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain can now view AdSense reports in Euros.
If you're located in one of these five countries and make this update, we'll convert your earnings to Euros on a daily basis using the prevailing market rate from the previous day. With earnings converted daily, you'll avoid the risk of currency exchange fluctuations between USD and the Euro. You can still choose to receive payments in either Euros or U.S. Dollars and select from a range of payment methods as well.
To make the switch to local currency reports, you'll need to agree to a new set of Terms and Conditions. Here are the main changes involved:
Before agreeing to the new Terms, we also recommend that you download and save copies of your past reports in U.S. Dollars for your records. Once you update your account, you'll be able to view current and historical reports only in Euros. However, you'll still be able to view your prior payment history of U.S. Dollar earnings.
We encourage you to update your account to local currency reports soon, as we may require this change in the future. If we're able to offer this to publishers in other countries, we'll provide details here on Inside AdSense. For more information, please feel free to visit our Help Center.
If you're located in one of these five countries and make this update, we'll convert your earnings to Euros on a daily basis using the prevailing market rate from the previous day. With earnings converted daily, you'll avoid the risk of currency exchange fluctuations between USD and the Euro. You can still choose to receive payments in either Euros or U.S. Dollars and select from a range of payment methods as well.
To make the switch to local currency reports, you'll need to agree to a new set of Terms and Conditions. Here are the main changes involved:
- The party that publishers are contracting with changes from Google Inc. to Google Ireland Limited.
- Publishers are responsible for paying any local taxes in their jurisdiction. Google will only issue VAT refunds to publishers with an address in Ireland.
- The governing law changes from California law to either English or local law.
Before agreeing to the new Terms, we also recommend that you download and save copies of your past reports in U.S. Dollars for your records. Once you update your account, you'll be able to view current and historical reports only in Euros. However, you'll still be able to view your prior payment history of U.S. Dollar earnings.
We encourage you to update your account to local currency reports soon, as we may require this change in the future. If we're able to offer this to publishers in other countries, we'll provide details here on Inside AdSense. For more information, please feel free to visit our Help Center.
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