If you expect one or more ads to be appearing on your site, but they aren’t, these are the things you’ll want to double-check.
Init.js Check: Make sure Broadstreet’s “header” code is present on your site
When setting up your site with Broadstreet, a first step is making sure our “header” code is on your site. It simply needs to be present, and does not need to actually be in the <head> portion of the page HTML.
The header code looks like this:
<script src="https://cdn.broadstreetads.com/init-2.min.js"></script> <script>broadstreet.watch()</script>
If you see the header code, verify that the init-2.min.js file is indeed being loaded. Some developers choose to load that snippet via an alternate method, and there have been cases where the script was apparently included, but the browser was not actually loading it.
If your are using Broadstreet’s WordPress plugin, the header code is inserted for you automatically. Check to make sure the plugin is installed and active.
Zone Check: Make sure the zone that you are targeting is on the page you expect to see the ad on
Sometimes the zone you expect the ad or campaign to appear in is not on the page. Check the page HTML and markup to verify that the zone is indeed present on the page. Broadstreet’s zone code looks like this, where 12345 is a sample ID of the zone you are looking for:
<broadstreet-zone zone-id="12345"></broadstreet-zone>
If you have a Broadstreet account with multiple websites, verify that you are indeed targeting the correct zone. Sometimes clients have similarly named “leaderboard” (and other) zones on different sites and mistakenly target the wrong one.
Advertisement Check: Make sure the creative is working
If you have uploaded a static banner ad, make sure that the file type is something your browser will render. A common mistake is to upload a PDF file instead of a common image format, such as a JPEG, PNG, or GIF. Other file types, like PDFs or Adobe design files are sometimes mistakenly uploaded.
If you have uploaded a third party ad type, like a snippet of sent to you by an advertiser, agency or other provider, here are some things to verify:
- That the third party ad is indeed active and should be serving
- That the third party ad is “secure” and supports SSL
- That the third party ad does not reference files or URLs that do not exist
- That the third party ad tags does not include restrictions on ad delivery that would prevent it from showing, such as geotargeting, rate limiting, campaign pacing, or other targeting critera.
These are items that the provider of the ad tag will need to verify.
A common issue with Google AdSense and network ads is that they do not always immediately begin delivering ads upon creation, or may simply deliver “blanks” in some cases. This is normal and expected behavior but should be verified with the ad tag provider.
Campaign Settings: Check that the campaign you have created is active
Make sure that the campaign that you have created is not paused, and has a start and end date that does not restrict it from running (meaning that today is between the start and end date).
Campaign Settings: Consider whether the campaign is temporarily “paced out”
If a campaign has an impression cap and is set for “EVEN” delivery, Broadstreet may simply be restricting its delivery to keep it on pace. In this case, the campaign will typically begin appearing again over the next hour until it paces out again.
Campaign Settings: Check that the keywords are correct and being sent
If a campaign is being targeted with keywords or key/values verify that the correct keywords are being sent to the adserver (via broadstreet requests in the browser’s network console) and that they match the keywords being entered on the campaign side.
Campaign Settings: Display Type
If a campaign has multiple ads or placements, you may need to make sure that the campaigns “Display Type” is set to “allow repeating.” This will allow a campaign to be displayed more than once on a given page.
A common mistake is to use “force” repeating (who doesn’t love to use something that sounds so powerful?) without fully understanding it. There’s more on that here.
Campaign Settings: Check the Weighting
Verify that the “Weight” on the campaign is appropriate and that there are not other campaigns which may override the campaign you are looking for.
One common “gotcha” is that another campaign is weighted as a “sponsorship” and is therefore overriding another campaign.
Another overlooked item is that sometimes the campaign in question is weighted as a “remant” and is being overridden.
You can read more about campaign weights here.
Still no luck?
If you’ve made it this far and suspect there’s a technical issue or bug preventing your campaign from running, let us know at frontdesk@broadstreetads.com — the large majority of the time, it’s an issue in the list above, but we can double-check if you’d like a second set of eyes on the problem.