Disclaimer
Should you do something against people visiting your site with an ad blocker on? That’s the question many site owners are asking themselves since a few years.
Since the web exists, advertising has been a way for webmasters and site owners to make money. As ads brought lots of money, many people abused the model, displaying video ads, ads blocking contents, popups, etc. Even today, visiting a download site or just watching YouTube videos without an ad blocker is a complete pain. Approximately ten years ago, some people bothered by advertising abuse started to fight back. Ad blockers were born.
Some websites decide to do nothing against ad blockers. People who are using ad blockers aren’t likely to click on ads anyways, so it kinda makes sense. Other websites choose a diplomatic approach, asking their readers to whitelist their site, or make a small donation. And finally, some site owners choose to fight back against what they consider a threat to their revenue, by disabling features to readers who are using an ad blocker.
This article aims to demonstrate a few techniques which can be used to detect ad blockers or hide content from visitors with an ad blocker on. The way you use it on your website is up to you.
Basic JavaScript Adblock detection
The first thing to do is to create a file named adframe.js. This file is using the blacklisted name “adframe” so we’re gonna fool Adblock and make it block the file, mistaking it for a genuine ad. In the file, simply put the following line:
adblock = false;
Now, put the following withing the <head> and </head> tags of your HTML document.
On a WordPress Theme, the head section is displayed in header.php.
<script type="text/javascript">
var adblock = true;
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="adframe.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
if(adblock) {
//adblock is installed
}
</script>
Hiding content from users with ad blockers on
Hiding content from users with an adblocker is definitely easy. The only thing you have to do is to pick up one class blocked by Adblock, and add it to the container of your choice.
In the example below I’ve used the class .bsarocks which is added by BuySellAds around their ad banners:
<div class="bsarocks">This won't be seen by Adblock users.</div>
WordPress plugin
While the code snippets shown above can definitely be useful, if you’re using WordPress, I definitely recommend using a plugin if you’re looking to detect/block Adblock. The main reason for favoring a plugin over a code snippet is that a plugin can be updated by its author as soon as there’s a change in the way Adblock works.
There’s a few plugins out here that specialize in Adblock (and other ad blockers) detection. The most interesting in my opinion is Ad Blocking Detector. Check out the demo on the plugin website. It detects ad blockers pretty well.
Ad Blocking Detector gives you the availability to create shortcodes to display alternative content if an ad is blocked by an ad blocker. This is especially interesting if you want to encourage your readers to disable their adblocker on your website in order to support it.
The plugin should be installed through the basic plugin installation procedure, ie. “Plugins” → “Add New” in your WordPress dashboard.
Detecting visitors with JavaScript off
Some users also choose to disable JavaScript by default, to prevent many things such as popups being open, etc. Just in case you don’t know, there’s a HTML tag call noscript which allows you to display a message to users with JavaScript off:
<noscript> For full functionality of this site please enable JavaScript. </noscript>
Which approach should you adopt?
Well, it’s up to you. I personally think that things aren’t all black or all white. Sure thing, ads are an important source of income for web publishers and many websites wouldn’t exist without them. On the other hand, some ads are so annoying that people who use an ad blocker can definitely be understood.
The only sure thing is that, as a website owner, you shouldn’t display “aggressive” ads to your visitors. Pop unders, video or flash ads, etc, in my opinion those should be totally banished from a serious and professional website. On the other hand, I have no problem with related banners ads, as such as the ones you can purchase on BuySellAds.com.