Adsense: ‘We’ve detected an error on your IAB TC string’

Posted on 13/10/2020 by PeteLong

KB ID 0001709

Problem

A couple of weeks ago I logged into Adsense and saw this;

‘We’ve detected an error on your IAB TC string on one or more of your sites or apps. These errors may affect your ability to serve ads to European users. A detailed report is available for you on the EU user consent page’.

Solution

Well all of that made no sense to me, so I downloaded the report, which is a spreadsheet and it looked like this;

Erm OK, so what’s error 2.1a? well it’s this;

Everything I read didn’t make much sense, and a search of Google revealed a ton of things that made little or no sense to me.

Why Am I Seeing European IAM TC String Errors?

In short: People in Europe are protected by the GDPR. This says, (very basically) that website visitors should be ‘asked’ what their Ad preference, and tracking cookie preferences are, BEFORE the website can show them any ads, or attempt to embed tracking cookies, (like the ones Google uses), on their machines.

This is why you will notice most sites you go to now ask you about cookies and ads the fist time you visit, you generally then tick a box that says ‘accept preferences‘, or ‘that’s fine‘, and you are bothered no more.

So that’s basically the root cause of the problem. Well I run my website on WordPress so “There will be a plugin for that right?” I tried a few and settled on UniConsent CMP. I installed it, and enabled cover for GDPR, (and CCPA compliance).

Note: Sign up for a free licence, then you can manage everything directly at UniConsent.

Extra Tip: Go To Consent Manager Version 2 > Manage > Fill everything in > Enable GDPR (For European Countries) > Enable IAB TCF > Select Pop-up Box > Save and Exit (Top right).

Do You Cache Your Website? If so, don’t forget to ‘flush the caches’ at this point.

So That Fixed It Yes?

Sadly no, but because I now manage my CMP online they have a support/chat feature, and I was asked to do the following;

1. A third party Ad agency I use has their own CMP I asked them to disable that, which they did, (don’t forget flush the caches again!)
2. I had some embedded code with my Adsense ads that was calling this script;

[box]

script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js

[/box]

I had to remove each instance of that, and put the following code in my websites < HEAD > section; Download Code

Update (28 Oct 2020)

Well my errors came back, The good folks at UniConsent investigated and found out that I was caching, information (Javascript,) that was being called, and so breaking the TCF rules again. I logged a call to the people who provide my WordPress Caching Plugin (WP-Rocket.) Who remoted onto the server, and added the following onto their ‘File optimisation’ Settings;

The Adsense TCF Error Wont Go Away!

That’s because the errors stay on Google Adsense for 7 DAYS, even if you have fixed the errors, you need to wait 7 days for the errors to stop showing!

Which Ad Network Should You Replace Adsense With?

For everyone asking “What ad network did you move to”, then you can message me (link above) and I will let you know. There are some caveats, most of your traffic needs to be EN-US / EN-GB traffic, and you need to have a decent amount of traffic to be considered. If you fall into that category, message me and I will pass on you details to them. (Disclaimer: I get a financial kick back for doing so).

Tracking Affiliate Advertising Clicks in Google Analytics

Posted on 17/11/2015 by Migrated

KB ID 0000632

Problem

Google Analytics is great at telling you what’s coming into your site, but it’s not designed to tell you what’s going out. For the most part that’s OK, but what if you have affiliate adverts, and you want to track if your visitors are clicking on them, or you want to find out which ones are NOT getting clicked on so you can drop them.

Solution

1. First you need to delay the result of the ‘click’ by a tiny amount, your visitor will not notice but it gives time for the javascript tracking code to load, before the visitor has clicked and is off on their merry way. On the page in question locate your Analytics tracking code.

Note: This is just for the new ‘asynchronous’ version of the code, for the old version see this post.

2. Paste in the code AFTER your Analytics code. Change the Analytics tracking code account number (shown below as UA-123456-1), to your own!

[box]

<script type="text/javascript">
function recordOutboundLink(link, category, action) {
  try {
    var pageTracker=_gat._getTracker("UA-123456-1");
    pageTracker._trackEvent(category, action);
    setTimeout('document.location = "' + link.href + '"', 100)
  }catch(err){}
}
</script>

[/box]

Like so;

3. Then add the following to your advert/link.

[box]

<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.affiliate.com" onclick="recordOutboundLink(this, 'Affiliate Ad', 'Advert1');return false;"></a>

[/box]

Like so;

4. Log into Google Analytics > Content > Events > Overview.

Google Analytics – Redundant Hostnames

Posted on 17/11/2015 by Migrated

(Redirecting non www URL’s to www URL’s)

KB ID 0001016

Problem

I noticed this a while back, apparently Google Analytics started flagging this for many users on October 14th 2014. But I’ve only just got round to sorting it out.

If you are seeing this error its because your site is ‘addressable’ in more than one way, in my case you could get to me via http://petenetlive and http://www.petenetlive.com. I could have registered both in ‘Google Webmaster Tools’, and set one as a preferred site, but I didn’t want to update my Analytics code (I’ve got custom stuff in there I don’t want to re-write). So my next option is to do a ‘301 redirect’.

Solution

1. I use Apache web server, and I have my own VPS, so I can pretty much do what I want, If you side is hosted you may need to ask them to ensure that the rewrite_module is loaded on your web server. If you have your own you will need to take a look at your httpd.conf file.

2. Make sure that (like below), there is a line that is not commented out, that reads;

[box]LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite,so[/box]

3. Now in the root of your website edit (or create) the .htaccess file. And pate the following onto the end of it, (change accordingly);

[box]RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^petenetlive.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.petenetlive.com/$1 [R=301,L][/box]

4. Save and upload the file (If using Notepad, make sure it does not put a .txt extension on the end of the filename – it should have NO extension).

5. Now go to http://your-website.com, (It will probably still work because your browser will attempt to load the page from its cache, so press CTRL+F5 to force refresh). If should redirect to http://www/your-website.com

6. To make doubly sure you can go here and type in http://your-website.com it should say something like;

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Date => Thu, 04 Dec 2014 19:41:48 GMT
Server => Apache/2.2.15 (CentOS)
Location => http://www.petenetlive.com/
Vary => Accept-Encoding
Content-Type => text/html; charset=iso-8859-1

7. Back in Google Analytics, select ‘Check again’.

5. It should say this.

6. Then it will say this ‘for ages!’.

Migrate your Facebook friends to Google+

Posted on 17/11/2015 by Migrated

KB ID 0000483

Problem

I like Google+ it’s clean and free of junk. There are no annoying applications, and unlike Facebook (which gets thousands of pieces of Malware a day posted to it), It’s gaining new users at an alarming rate.

However migrating your friends is not a simple task, most posts on the web involve creating a Yahoo mail account and using that to drag the people across, this method is much easier and works a treat.

Solution

This process relies on using the Google Chrome Browser to perform the operation. You can uninstall it later if you wish, but it’s by far my favorite browser so run with it afterwards.

1. Once you have the Google Chrome browser running, install this chrome plugin.

2. Log into your Facebook account and you will see a new “Export Friends” Button.

3. Click “Redirect Now”.

4. Tick the box > Click “Let’s Get Started”.

5. After a few seconds the windows will populate with your Facebook friends and their profile picture. If you wish you can un-tick anyone you DONT want. When you are satisfied click “Let’s start!”

6. Now would be a good time to go for a coffee this can take a while!

7. If you have a Gmail account you can import your friends as “contacts” which will get added into Google+ anyway. I do have a Gmail account but, let’s do this manually. Click the option that says “CSV This will export your contacts as a CSV file”.

8. Click inside the text > Press CTRL+A (to select all the text) >And copy the text to your clipboard.

9. Open Notepad, and paste in the text.

10. Save the file > Change the “Save as Type” section to “All Files” > Change the encoding to Unicode > Call the file “Exported-Friends.csv” > Save it somewhere you can find it.

11. Log into Google+ >Go to your “Circles” > Select “Find and Invite” > Select “Upload address book” > Browse to, and select the file you saved earlier.

12. Log into Google+ >Go to your “Circles” > Select “Find and Invite” > Select “Upload address book” > Browse to, and select the file you saved earlier.

13. There’s all your friends! You can now invite them into your “Circles”.

Google Chrome – Cannot play embedded .wmw or .mpg/.mpeg

Posted on 17/11/2015 by Migrated

KB ID 0000184

Problem

I’m a big fan of Google Chrome, i’ts fast, and clean, and it does exactly what it says on the tin! I had noticed, I had a problem playing embedded video though.

As I use this format on PeteNetLive it was my only gripe, (well that and syncing bookmarks, but I cured that with Xmarks). Took me a bit of searching but I got it fixed in the end.

Solution

1. Download THIS (Yes I know it says Firefox – trust me!).

2. Close all your browser windows.

3. Run the file you downloaded above.

4. Now you can play embedded video.

How Do I Remove / Uninstall Google Chrome Plugins / Extensions?

Posted on 17/11/2015 by Migrated

KB ID 0000195

Problem

Some extensions are a pain to get rid of.

Solution

1. Open Chrome and Navigate to chrome://extensions

2. Click Disable or Uninstall as required.

Google Chrome – Page Icon has Disappeared

Posted on 17/11/2015 by Migrated

KB ID 0000322

Problem

You’re used to having a “Page” icon, and a “Spanner” icon in Google Chrome. But now it’s disappeared?

Solution

Don’t panic, the new version of Google Chrome has amalgamated both icons into one, all the tools from the old “Page” icon are now on the “Spanner”Icon.

Google Chrome – AutoFill stopped working

Posted on 17/11/2015 by Migrated

Enabling auto fill for web forms

KB ID 0000326

Problem

A recent update of Chrome (in my case to 6.0.472.59), turned off AutoFill, I use autofill to remember information for web forms a lot, so because I’m lazy I wanted it turned back on again.

Solution

1. From with Chrome, Click the “Spanner” / “Customise and Control Google Chrome” Icon > Options.

2. Select the “Personal Stuff” tab > Form autofill section > AutoFill options.

3. Tick “Enable AutoFill to fill in web forms with a single click” > Close > Close.

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Tag Archives: google

Google Analytics – Redundant Hostnames

Problem

Solution

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Migrate your Facebook friends to Google+

Problem

Solution

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Google Chrome – Cannot play embedded .wmw or .mpg/.mpeg

Problem

Solution

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

How Do I Remove / Uninstall Google Chrome Plugins / Extensions?

Problem

Solution

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Google Chrome – Page Icon has Disappeared

Problem

Solution

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links