Affiliate link blocker

[DanHorvat]

You know what would be great?

If Matt followed through on the thread that he created and posted the URL of the problematic page and the contents of the problematic file in the /go folder so we can check it out.

Until he does, we can only make wild guesses on what's wrong.

[JackTenSuited]

I've been redirecting fine to bet365 using the flytonic built in redirector which seems to use the php header:location function.

[baldidiot]

So what exactly is the problem with the OnlineCasinoDirectory.co.uk site and Mattbar's site? What's different there? Let's get to the bottom of this.

Mine (OnlineCasinoDirectory.co.uk) is using individual php files with header location redirect code in them. For Bet365 it's just the standard aff link (eg: http://www.bet365.com/home/?affiliate=xxx_xxxxxx). Weird that it works on the second click but not the first though?

[baldidiot]

You know what would be great?

If Matt followed through on the thread that he created and posted the URL of the problematic page and the contents of the problematic file in the /go folder so we can check it out.

Until he does, we can only make wild guesses on what's wrong.

I was at a beer festival with him most of the day on friday and I don't think he's been around much this weekend. Will give him a kick in the morning to follow up as I would like to get to the bottom of this.

[Mattbar]

Matt, give us the URL of the page where the ads are located and the full code in your /go file.

Hi Dan missed this last week.
Redirect URL: http://www.onlinebetting.org.uk/betting-sites/bet365.html
Actual URL: http://www.bet365.com/home/?affiliate=365_380245

The redirects are through the weblinks function of joomla. Bald idiot helped me set them up and as you know I am a bit of newbie so I don't have too much experience with them.

[Mattbar]

I was at a beer festival with him most of the day on friday and I don't think he's been around much this weekend.

All of this is True

[baldidiot]

Hi Dan missed this last week.
Redirect URL: http://www.onlinebetting.org.uk/betting-sites/bet365.html
Actual URL: http://www.bet365.com/home/?affiliate=365_380245

The redirects are through the weblinks function of joomla. Bald idiot helped me set them up and as you know I am a bit of newbie so I don't have too much experience with them.

In hindsight I guess I could have probably said something along those lines on your behalf as I was there when you were setting them up, but wasn't sure if it was my place. Plus there was a chance you'd gone off and changed how you were doing it...

Come to think of it, I actually don't know the method by which weblinks handles the redirects, does anyone know? I'm assuming it's php rather than htaccess but never dug under the bonnet.

It's interesting that jacktensuited said that flytonic works for him using header location code as that's what doesn't work for me on my example.

Could you try the link here with the ad blocker: http://www.bestbettingsites.org.uk/review/bet365/ - that's the same type of link that I used on OCD but through flytonic.

[DanHorvat]

I cliked all links on OnlineCasinoDirectory.co.uk and ComeOn, Mr.Green and Bet365 are blank. However, when I refresh the page, ComeOn and Mr.Green show up fine, while Bet365 tab disappears altogether when I attempt to reload the /goto file. However, after that failed reload, the click on the Bet365 link works and Bet365 site opens just fine. Very strange.

On OnlineBetting.org.uk the link is getting blocked every single time, first click, reload, second click, whatever. The raw affiliate link isn't getting blocked, which means that the software that is doing the redirect is causing the problem. I'm 99% sure the problem would disappear if you used manual redirection through PHP files.

The BestBettingSites.org.uk link works fine.

I'm using PHP header() function on Betinsight.co.uk and I think everything is ok but can't know for sure. Click away on these aff links and let me know if any are blocked: http://www.betinsight.co.uk/betting-bonuses

[DanHorvat]

Well this sucks.

On another site, using exactly the same PHP header() files and even the same affiliate links, some are getting blocked. Unibet, Bet365 and Betfair - while the others work.

Click these and let me know if they're getting blocked:
http://phpstack-8365-18594-44084.clo.../link/Betfair/
http://phpstack-8365-18594-44084.clo...m/link/Unibet/
http://phpstack-8365-18594-44084.clo...m/link/Bet365/
http://phpstack-8365-18594-44084.clo...ink/Ladbrokes/

AdBlock Plus obviously evolved to the point where it catches some of our aff links as a false positive.

EDIT: Just a thought - could Bet365, Unibet and Betfair be using most Flash? I know Bet365 and Unibet are. Not sure about Betfair.

Keep this up guys. We need to get to the bottom of this.

[Mattbar]

Click these and let me know if they're getting blocked:
http://phpstack-8365-18594-44084.clo.../link/Betfair/
http://phpstack-8365-18594-44084.clo...m/link/Unibet/
http://phpstack-8365-18594-44084.clo...m/link/Bet365/
http://phpstack-8365-18594-44084.clo...ink/Ladbrokes/

Hi Dan

Using Ad Block Plus, all of the links are blocked except for Ladbrokes at my end!?

Sorry I don't have much know-how to help, I am grateful for the effort you are putting in to get to the bottom of this though.

[DanHorvat]

Using Ad Block Plus, all of the links are blocked except for Ladbrokes at my end!?

Cheers, that's the exact result I'm getting. I put Ladbrokes there as a control.

This SUCKS. I guess I'm going back to normal aff links. If I'll lose just one paying customer, it's a risk I'm not prepared to take. Back to ugly links then.

Are we certain the raw affiliate links are never getting blocked by AdBlock?

[Mattbar]

Are we certain the raw affiliate links are never getting blocked by AdBlock?

I'm not seeing any of the raw links blocked by my ad blocker.

[baldidiot]

I'm not seeing any of the raw links blocked by my ad blocker.

Matt - Have you tried putting the raw affiliate link around some text on the site and then clicking it or are you just putting the link in your browser?

Dan - are you saying the php header() method is getting blocked on some sites but not on others? Would that suggest it's also something to do with the site that it's on or something else about how the link is on the page?

One more to try if you don't mind for those of you with adblock plus - does the Bet365 link here work: http://www.bettingsites.co/bookmakers/bet365.html - it uses the exact same method as mattbar does on onlinebetting.org.uk.

[DanHorvat]

Does the Bet365 link here work: http://www.bettingsites.co/bookmakers/bet365.html - it uses the exact same method as mattbar does on onlinebetting.org.uk.

Blank. Disappears when I attempt to reload that blank page.

Dan - are you saying the php header() method is getting blocked on some sites but not on others? Would that suggest it's also something to do with the site that it's on or something else about how the link is on the page?

I'm suggesting that the method is not the problem, and that in fact header() function is our best bet as it has the least chance of being detected as malicous behavior by AdBlock Plus. The other methods obviously fare much worse (as they're probably used more often by spammers).

I'm using the simplest method possible, index.php file in a folder:
header( 'Location: http://ads2.williamhill.com/redirect...d=xxx&lpid=xxx' ) ;

Using that method, Bet365, Unibet and Betfair are blocked and Ladbrokes, for example, is not.

I thought a part of the reason why those links are blocked is that the site is hosted on phpstack-8365-18594-44084.cloudwaysapps.com for development purposes. But the identical Bet365 link on OddsNavigator.com doesn't work either.

But it works just fine on Betinsight.co.uk! Actually it's the exact same code. The exact same PHP file with the exact same affiliate link.

It also works on my Croatian site (again, same file). Both that site and Betinsight.co.uk have a good DomainAuthority, Alexa rank and similar metrics, while OddsNavigator.com does not at the moment.

We're far from knowing what's really going on, but I would assume this: AdBlock Plus evolved to ludicrous heights and it has become somewhat of an antivirus program in its complexity. It probably learned to detect stuff like domain authority, redirect attempts, and how much Flash content there is on the link target. Think of it as a spam detection filter such as that SpamAssassin filter that uses a lot of different metrics to come up with a number, and then looking at the number it decides whether the message is spam or not.

What we're seeing here is a false positive which we provoked with our redirects because some Amazon or Adsense affiliate assholes were using the same thing for malicious purposes. And because of things we can't control such as Bet365 popup being used by every bloody spammer in the world.

I think it's safe to say Matt saved me a bucket load of money by pointing this out. Maybe now I have the answer on why the conversion rate on my projects has been at an all-time low recently.

[Mattbar]

Matt - Have you tried putting the raw affiliate link around some text on the site and then clicking it or are you just putting the link in your browser?

This is a right can of worms. My hopes for an easy solution (for all of us) look dashed.

The ad blocker is so clever if I stick a raw aff link in text it simply doesn't show the link text on the page AT ALL and that is really scary. For example if I stick a raw Bet365 aff link under the text "100% bonus up to £200" that text will only show up if my ad blocker is disabled. If I stick /go link under the same text the text does at least show up but the redirect is then blocked when you click on it. Putting raw aff links in text only serves to get my text deleted making my articles sound (more) gibberish.

[Mattbar]

Sorry correction to that last post.
the /go link is not blocked in main body text and goes out as it should however if you click the "claim" button below or the "£200 bonus button" above the link gets blocked (same /go link). Now how can we explain that?

[universal4]

I agree that with my minimal testing it seems that raw links are blocked in more cases that switching to them now would be a futile exercise for most people.

I just ran a quick test on a site that uses a go/visit link in html and a number of playtechs worked just fine and yet the bet365 (on a sports page) new tab disappeared on the first two clicks but did open on the third attempt holding the ctrl key. The links I tested were just simple text links.

Holding the ctrl is not really a solution since this tells the adblocker that the link you are following is ok no matter what it is, although I wonder if we would all get the same results if the target_blank was not on most of the links being tested??

We should keep in mind that even though the adblockers have evolved much the past few years they mostly started out as popup blockers.

Rick
Universal4

[baldidiot]

So raw links aren't going to save us here.

Interesting that adblocker seems to behave differently for the same link based on the context (in text v button). It's definitely a lot more sophisticated than I first thought.

Next step in figuring this out would maybe be to create a page with a series of different link types to see what's getting blocked and what isn't. To make things simple should we just look at the Bet365 link to start with?

I'm happy to set this up unless someone else wants to do it?

What are the parameters we should look at:

* New window v same window
* In text v distinct unit (eg: button) v image
* Redirect methods: htaccess, php header(location), html meta refresh

Any others?

[baldidiot]

Also, is it worth getting input from Bet365 on this as well? I know it's affecting other programs as well, but figured that it's easier to figure it out for one and apply to others.

Rick, can you use your forum powers to make a Bet365 rep aware?

[universal4]

What is also interesting to keep in mind in designing the test is why or (whythef***) it responds differently on subsequent clicks?

I mean does it see you have a 10 second old cookie and then it says...."ok go ahead".....
Or does it say "Gee you really wanna see that site so go ahead"......

It is my sincere desire to see all affiliates that sell any kind of adblocker not get paid a single commission penny for selling an adblocker due to all their visitors running any kind of adblocker.

Rick
Universal4

Side note:

Rick, can you use your forum powers to make a Bet365 rep aware?

Sure, I waved my wand over the thread......lol