Affiliate link blocker

[baldidiot]

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"......

If it really is as sophisticated as it's possibly turning out to be it could be that clicking a link twice sends a signal that it isn't an advert and that you want to proceed?

[Mattbar]

I just noticed something else supper weird.
If I go on my home page and click on the bet365 into offer claim the link goes out fine:
http://www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk/

Now if I go on my football page and click on the bet365 bore draw offer it gets blocked:
http://www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk...all/#moneyback

This is the same link with very little difference in code. Whoever fixes this needs a prize.

[baldidiot]

I just noticed something else supper weird.
If I go on my home page and click on the bet365 into offer claim the link goes out fine:
http://www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk/

Now if I go on my football page and click on the bet365 bore draw offer it gets blocked:
http://www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk...all/#moneyback

This is the same link with very little difference in code. Whoever fixes this needs a prize.

Those are so similar (only minor differences in the naming of the divs) I wonder if something to do with the page itself?

[JackTenSuited]

I just noticed something else supper weird.
If I go on my home page and click on the bet365 into offer claim the link goes out fine:
http://www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk/

Now if I go on my football page and click on the bet365 bore draw offer it gets blocked:
http://www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk...all/#moneyback

This is the same link with very little difference in code. Whoever fixes this needs a prize.

The homepage link doesn't work for me (neither does the 2nd page)

[DanHorvat]

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?

* Trusted domain vs new domain
* Simple anchor text (e.g. "Bet365") vs longer anchor text (e.g. "get your bonus at Bet365")
* http vs https

[DanHorvat]

I just noticed something else supper weird.
If I go on my home page and click on the bet365 into offer claim the link goes out fine:
http://www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk/

Now if I go on my football page and click on the bet365 bore draw offer it gets blocked:
http://www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk...all/#moneyback

Neither link worked for me, both are blank.

BTW, I clicked almost all of your links on that #moneback page and these are the brands that are blocked: Bet365, Betfair and Boyle Sports.

So the list of culprits is now as follows:
Bet365
Unibet
Betfair
Boyle Sports

If anyone noticed a new one that doesn't work, add it to the list.

[xecutable]

Quick question, might be neither here nor there but do you run any kind of optimization plugins for js, php, css etc? The reason why I'm asking is recently I ran one, and apparently it broke a lot of stuff like mobile compatibility etc and I just noticed today and spent 2 hrs excluding files.

Also what you mentioned that adblock is sophisticated you might as well check: https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads and scroll down to "acceptable" ads. It does say that it looks at the "flow" of the context and if your link for whatever reason seems to block the reader's flow it will be blocked.

P.S Apparently you can also fill an application here: https://eyeo.com/acceptable-ads-application.html so your website can be whitelisted in case you run into problems.

P.S2 ... offtopic: why does my betfair landing page have the olbg logo on it???

[vardan]

Neither link worked for me, both are blank.

BTW, I clicked almost all of your links on that #moneback page and these are the brands that are blocked: Bet365, Betfair and Boyle Sports.

So the list of culprits is now as follows:
Bet365
Unibet
Betfair
Boyle Sports

If anyone noticed a new one that doesn't work, add it to the list.

Bovada and Slots lv for me (redirected /visit aff. links)

Thanks to all for this thread, for your posts and will to resolve this big problem.
Hope you'll find a solution.

[JackTenSuited]

These links are blocked for me
william hill (affutd)
betfair
ladbrokes
coral
unibet
betvictor
bet365


these aren't
boylesport
888
skybet
betfred (activewins)

[Mattbar]

I have now noticed that this awful adblocker is blocking aff links sent directly to me in email (gmail).

I was having a go at Coral for not including my tracking links in their promo emails, when I turned off ad blocker the links appeared.
Again this seems random as my Boylesports tracking links are not blocked in my email.

[JackTenSuited]

I have now noticed that this awful adblocker is blocking aff links sent directly to me in email (gmail).

I was having a go at Coral for not including my tracking links in their promo emails, when I turned off ad blocker the links appeared.
Again this seems random as my Boylesports tracking links are not blocked in my email.

I had this happen with betfair, I ended up not pushing a promotion because I thought the affiliate managers were being inept (turns out I was)

[DanHorvat]

So what can we do to turn this around?

Let's use OddsNavigator as an example - what would I have to do in order to not have my Bet365 link blocked by Adblock?

[Mattbar]

I echo Dan's thoughts.

I've done a full inventory of my site and the links that always get blocked are:
Bet365, Betfair, Paddy Power, ComeOn and Boylesports.

It has to be up to the bookies to do something about this, especially 365 as they are in poll position for so many affiliates and surely they don't want to be dropped down lists based on adblockers.

[RacingJim]

I have now noticed that this awful adblocker is blocking aff links sent directly to me in email (gmail).

I was having a go at Coral for not including my tracking links in their promo emails, when I turned off ad blocker the links appeared.
Again this seems random as my Boylesports tracking links are not blocked in my email.

Yep same here. Annoying ad blockers.

My overall feeling on ad blockers is that they shouldn't block affiliate links where the user has clicked on something. Very often the user knows what they are doing when clicking on such links, this might be a link to an offer page and they usually want to go to this offer page if they have clicked very obvious call to action text or buttons!

Fair enough ad blockers blocking annoying ads in YT videos, banner ads on websites etc, but if they are even blocking out actual links and landing pages where the user has intentionally wanted to see that ad/landing page, well isn't that to the stage where the user themselves will find it annoying? I know I do. It becomes a functionality issue, user wants to gamble and get a sign up offer, Adblocker says no.

[DaftDog]

Adblockers are becoming more and more sophisticated so trying to deceive them would become a never ending task and a waste of time in my opinion.

I've added a message to my site that detects visitors who are using an adblocker and gives them a once off message why they should either turn it off or add my site to their white list.

[DanHorvat]

I agree, it's not worth it to fight Adblock as they'll prevail in the end.

If this is brought to Bet365's attention they'll just contact Adblock.

We should report false positives on our sites to Adblock and explain the situation. If they receive 20+ reports, they're bound to change their ways. Here they say we should "report bad filters by using Report issue on this webpage feature that will automatically collect important data of the current web page"
https://adblockplus.org/getting_started#false-positives

[Mattbar]

I selected the option 'Ad Block is blocking too much' while on my home page, www.latestbettingoffers.co.uk/ and it came back saying "Ad Block isn't blocking anything on this page". It clearly is blocking some of the /go links though.
Instead I submitted an 'other issue'. This is useful as it allows you to select parts of the page and links that are being blocked. I have explained in the report that the offers on the site are legit, as it affiliate marketing in general. Many of these offers are only available through aff links anyway and this is part of what visitors are looking for.

Hopefully if enough of us do this for our sites they will realise that this is a genuine industry and peoples livelihoods are at stake.

[DanHorvat]

I've just realized the Bet365 links on OddsNavigator are blocked only if they open in a new tab. Those that are set to open in the same window aren't blocked.

I will file a report with Adblock for each and every false positive situation. I suggest everyone does the same, along with a detailed explanation, like Matt did.

[Mattbar]

Oh my god you are right I didn't see that before - same window = no problems
cheers buddy

[baldidiot]

I've just realized the Bet365 links on OddsNavigator are blocked only if they open in a new tab. Those that are set to open in the same window aren't blocked.

I will file a report with Adblock for each and every false positive situation. I suggest everyone does the same, along with a detailed explanation, like Matt did.

That's interesting, and a fairly easy (albeit rather annoying) fix if that does turn out to be the root of the problem.

Does it the same thing happen for other brands?