Testing of live Adsense ads on a web site that is not yet live not good by Google?

by carlos123

Posted: 15 years ago 12 replies

I am putting the finishing touches on a system of developing Adsense sites super fast that I have had in the works for some time. As part of testing this system on three domains that I registered and will be turning into Adsense sites I am using my live Adsense code on one such domain.

Constantly refreshing my browser as I make changes to my code to see how the change appears on screen.

So far so good. But it dawned on me a few minutes ago that with every such refresh my Adsense ads continue to rack up impressions without any clicks.

Is this going to start hurting me with Google somehow? Where my account begins to get a high impression count but with no clicks? Or does Google not pay attention to ad impressions anymore?

I am not sure that this should be much of a concern since the template example I am more or less imitating (a WordPress theme) comes with their own Adsense code in it such that they too must be racking up impressions from all over the place with a low click through rate.

Any input on this would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Carlos

#ads #adsense #good #google #live #site #web

TheLeffer 15 years ago

Nope, nothing to worry about. They just care if you click on them.
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- carlos123 15 years ago
  
  Thanks for the input. It dawned on me after I posted my question above that I could eliminate any such concern by simply copying and pasting the Adsense code from the WordPress theme I am using as a base for my template.
  
  Which is what I have done. I figure if the WordPress theme authors don't care about having their Adsense code all over the place with everyone who downloads their theme...they won't much care if I use their code for testing my template .
  
  Carlos
  
  Thanks
  
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  Bewley 15 years ago
  
  Why not develop your website offline! Download the open source dev platform called xamp (just Google it) This will install Apache, MySQL database and php on your computer. Much like the set-up that your web host uses.
  
  You can test and develop to your hearts content without having to FTP to your host to see the changes in your code. Use an image place-holder, the same dimension as your AdSense add until you are ready to launch your live site.
  
  No chance of any accidental clicks on your AdSense adds - PM if you want any help setting it up.
  
  Thanks
  
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  carlos123 15 years ago
  
  Thanks very much Bewley for your gracious offer to help but I am developing locally on my computer using precisely what you suggest (only in my case I am using LAMP as opposed to XAMP).
  
  Whether I develop locally or off an already live, hosted site it makes no difference with respect to the Google ads. They get served up live no matter where I am developing my site (or an error probably occurs if their Javascript code can't connect to their ad server).
  
  In any case now that I am using someone else's Adsense code that they make available with every download of their WordPress theme it doesn't matter anymore. Presumably it's not a problem with the WordPress theme creators since their Adsense code will undoubtedly get lots of impressions without any clicks as people test their theme out.
  
  I am being careful not to click on their ads by accident. It does surprise me though that the creators of the WordPress theme I downloaded and am using as a base for the look and feel of my system template...included a live Adsense code in their theme. I mean people are undoubtedly going to be clicking on their served up ads without knowing any better. If enough testers of their theme do that it might cause Google to wonder what is going on.
  
  Then again I assume they knew what they were doing and left their Adsense in on purpose.
  
  I don't expect to need much more testing before I plug in my own Adsense code and make my sites live on a hosted server.
  
  Carlos
  
  Thanks
  
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dburk 15 years ago

Hi Carlos,

You can use 'ca-test' for your publisher id while you are working on your website.

Here's a link that talks about it:
google_adtest - Does it work?

If you are using Wordpress there is a nice little plug-in called "Who Sees Ads" that you should check out.
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- carlos123 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by dburk
  
  Hi Carlos,
  
  You can use 'ca-test' for your publisher id while you are working on your website.
  
  Here's a link that talks about it:
  google_adtest - Does it work?
  
  Interesting Don. Thanks for the tip. I think for now I will just continue testing with the Adsense code from the WordPress theme creator whose theme I downloaded.
  
  Still can't wrap my head around how they so readily made their Adsense code available to the masses of WordPress enthusiasts who will download their theme and play with it but it's their call.
  
  I'll have to write Google directly and find out from the horses mouth whether I can use something like ca-test. I mean the thread in question does indicate Google okayed this but I don't think I will have much of a defense saying that I heard it was okay to do this on a thread somewhere LOL.
  
  Carlos
  
  Thanks
  
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  carlos123 15 years ago
  
  Gulp! This thread has already been indexed by Google!
  
  I didn't mean anything asking about this Monsieur Google. Honest. Please bear with me as I am just a newbie at Adsense
  
  Carlos
  
  Thanks
  
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  carlos123 15 years ago
  
  Hmm...I just found a quote purportedly from Google (though I have not been able to verify that) which says...
  
  ""However, do note that Google adsense policies require that websites
  displaying Google ads be active and not under construction. This ensures
  that our program displays the most relevant ads on active, relevant
  websites. When your site is complete and active, you may add the adsense
  ad code.
  
  Please note that we constantly monitor all of the web pages displaying
  Google ads. If we find that one of your web pages violates our policies,
  we will notify you and ask you to remove the adsense ad code from that
  page."
  
  In view of the above I think I will just create a graphic of the ads being served up now and just use that instead. A bit of a pain but not too bad.
  
  Kinda weird that Google does not seem to make an official test publisher ID that can be used to help webmasters set their ad units appropriately into their websites before going live (or active as they call it).
  
  Carlos
  
  Thanks
  
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  AJsVRE 15 years ago
  
  Carlos,
  
  That's what I did when I was developing my site, I just use a picture of adsense that was the same size that I wanted and put it in my code. That let me know how the page would look. Before I ftp'd it to my server I just edited the picture and replaced it with my adsense code.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  carlos123 15 years ago
  
  That's what I am doing now AJ. Still...a bit of a pain when developing a template system that will allow one's to put ads wherever they want on a page. I can't just assume that everyone is going to use my preferred ad size (160x600 skycraper).
  
  Oh well...for now...it's good.
  
  Carlos
  
  Thanks
  
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paulgl 15 years ago

If you can and do load the website using your web browser,
the site is live. Maybe you mean something other than live,
like not yet ready? Most people with adsense have no choice
but to reload to see if their changes have taken place.
Just don't make your site officially under construction as that
may violate the TOS. Why not just take the ads off until the
site is officially ready?

Paul
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- carlos123 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by paulgl
  
  If you can and do load the website using your web browser,
  the site is live.
  
  Not quite Paul.
  
  I can load my web site just fine locally on my computer which runs a copy of server software locally. Like Apache, MySQL, PHP, and so forth. It's not live in the sense that no one can access my site from off the Internet until I have uploaded it to my web hosting server.
  
  What is live are the ads being served up by Google. They don't care or know whether the site which has Adsense on it is coming from off a live site hosted at a web hosting server or being generated entirely on localhost (my local computer).
  
  The Adsense code pulls in live ads from their ad server.
  
  So in one sense my site is not live in that it is not generally available over the Internet. But from Google's standpoint the site is live in that real ads are being served up in real time every time I reload the page.
  
  I hope that makes sense.
  
  Carlos
  
  Thanks
  
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