[Aunt Sally]

I’m still getting 5 banner ads on each page.

So good they did it twice 

[Caralou]

Google AI is being a pain... I think we have it resolved now, but will keep a close eye. Effectively I reduced the ad load on the main website so it improved readability and google AI therefore decided to swamp the forums instead. We now have a set ad load and exclusions for the forums, plus removing some fixed ads in the next day or so, which should mean things are better. It's a balancing act as google ad income keeps the forums running, but obviously we don't want it to be intrusive and unreadable either.  Any issues please post in here so I can trouble shoot as they come up. Thanks! Cara

[Yorkie]

Thank you!

(Touch wood, I didn't see any of it ...    )

[Aunt Sally]

You’re doing a great job !

It’s a very tricky job to get enough advertising to keep the forums afloat, while stopping too many that could sink it.

[mrs bouquet]

As to the adverts, they are really bad here.   Drives one mad    Mrs Bouquet

[Aunt Sally]

John is working very hard to get the balance right, so please be patient with him.  It’s not an easy job     

[Caralou]

John is working very hard to get the balance right, so please be patient with him.  It’s not an easy job 

We've spent hours on it so far. Every time I remove from one section they are popping up in another. Google did a big update/change and so many sites have been hit badly. Even large ones such as the Daily Mail, who will have their own dedicated staff to handle it, are unable to sort out the new AI placements and swamping.

For now I've removed all ads from the main chat sections landing page and removed another chunk of sections within topics and posts. Now to see what the new AI ad monsters decide I need to fix tomorrow!

[Aunt Sally]

Thanks for the update, Cara. 

It certainly is a headache for you and John 

[Caralou]

Google are bringing out an update this week which should help on the ad swamping. They don't care about the little guys like us, but when some of the big ones (Daily Mail etc) have complained they've actually started to implemented some changes. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll not be playing daily advert whack-a-mole around the site and they will be less intrusive

[New shoot]

Thank you Cara for doing your daily whack-a-mole.

Sounds like relentless effort has been needed to stop us getting completely swamped.

[Hampshire Hog]

As an ex marketer I think the advertising is somewhat random.
I have been bombarded with numerous offers of good deals on dresses??
Clearly makes sense to promote gardening related items but as an over 70 bloke am I expected to don a frock to dig on the allotment??