Peeking Through an Ad Keyhole

Are you ever curious about who is “taking care of” the ads on a web site? Do you want to know if the ads are being “delivered” by an ad server or an ad network so you can better determine the site’s sophistication and/or the value in advertising with them?

Ad servers are computers upon which site advertisements reside and which are managed and maintained by extremely sophisticated programs capable of keeping track and reporting Web site usage statistics. The more complex the program, the more targeted the ads towards certain types of individuals can become. Ad servers also provides the ability to rotate banners so a user won’t see the same ad every time they come back to the same page. (NetLingo).

This kind of technology on a web site is oftentimes revealed when a web page is loading up. Take a look at the bottom of your browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer) window and watch the text as the site loads up. In addition to seeing the web site’s url, you might see names of popular ad servers such as “adforce,” “adex3.flycast,” or “doubleclick.” This information can just give you a little bit more of a clue about how a site’s advertising is employed and what you might therefore expect in terms of costs, delivery, and tracking.

In the process of watching the bottom text as the site load, you might also see other urls fly through the screen. These may be indicative of affiliate programs to which the site belongs. That means the site will be earning revenue if you click on that affiliate’s link.

Just a little way to “site spy.”

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