Community Q&A:

My sidebar is appearing differently on different pages

Asked by:
HubFans / n/a Points Time:
2015-08-20 1:29 am EST Category:
Wordpress Hits:
90
Hi there, I am hoping someone can help me with my problem.

So the background is that I have ads that run in two columns in my blog sidebar. I post them using the Appearance/widgets function. Each month the ads change. I take the same code and just swap out the old image names and destination URLs for the new ones each month. (FWIW, I actually do that on my dev site, then paste all the code onto the widget of the live site when I'm ready to make them active).

So the problem is that today I found out some people are not seeing the most recent version of the ads on certain pages of the blog. I am seeing them all the same on every page, regardless of which browser I use. But other people are seeing last month's ads on certain pages. To be specific, on my home page (http://joyfullyjay.com), I see the Heavy Hitters ad in the top left sidebar column and one rotating ad for Cardeno C in the right (with 7 ads total in the left column). But some people are telling me on this page: http://joyfullyjay.com/reviews/about-reviews/ they are seeing a different set of ads (Strange Bedfellows on the left, King Perry/King Mai on the right).

I have no idea how this could happen from a technical standpoint. These ads are all sidebar widgets, which I thought would be the same on every page.

Does anyone know what is going on? And more importantly, can anyone help me figure out how to fix it? I have folks who are paying for these ads, so obviously it is an issue if they are not displaying as they should.

Thank you so much in advance for your help! JJ

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ANSWERS

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arnelc
Staff
17,314 Points
2015-08-20 2:14 am EST
Hello JJ,

We're sorry to hear that you're having problems with your ads. It's always possible that someone has your page "cached" and may need to have their browser cache cleared. Ads are typically something run by third party. If you require further support, you may need to consult with the developers of the ad. However, it's more common that people simply have your page cached with the old ads and need clear their cache in order to see the new ads.

I hope this helps to answer your question, please let us know if you require any further assistance.

Regards,
Arnel C.

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Thank you so much for your feedback. My initial thought was caching as well, but the more I look into it, I don't think that is the case at this point. I have asked 7 people and half are seeing the ads correctly and half are not. One of them seeing it wrong was the WHH Tech Support person and he would have had no reason to ever have been to this page before. Unless I really don't understand caching, it seems highly unlikely that four different people would all not have their cache cleared on that same exact page. I also just found a new page that some folks are not seeing correctly (she saw the first pages right, and this one wrong).

Just to provide some additional info: 1) I am finding people using the same browser getting different results. So some folks in Chrome see it fine and some don't. 2) I don't think that is related to the fact that these are ads. They are literally just linked images. They are not running analytics or tracking or on a special server. They are no different than any other images on my page other than the fact that someone is paying me to have it posted. So there is no ad developer or special coding/formatting related to these ads at all. Given that, I have to think the fact that they are technically used as ads is incidental and not a factor in why they are not working. 3) I have just learned that they are actually seeing the whole sidebar wrong. So the problem is not just the ad boxes, but everything on the sidebar is at least a week out of date b/c I deleted another widget last week and the people seeing the wrong ads are still seeing that old widget too. So it is my entire sidebar, not just ads.

Again, I really appreciate any help you can give. JJ
JayhJay432
3 Points

2015-08-20 2:53 am EST
Hello JayhJay432,

Unless we're getting some type of error message, or problem on the server then we can troubleshoot the issue. The main site is showing for any type of browser, but only your ads are not showing on some. This points to as difference in how the browsers are seeing the ads. This is controlled by the coding of the advertising area. They do appear to be sliders or changing. If you can provide us with an error message or a specific problem, then can look into the issue further. I looked at those pages in both Chrome and in Firefox, and I'm not seeing a difference. Both show up with no problems ( I see Heavy Hitters, etc. in both browsers). I'm under the impression that these are correct. If your website is using caching, then it should also be reset. Unfortunately, if it's a coding issue then you will need a programmer or developer to look at your code in order determine the problem. We do not provide this kind of service, but if you can provide us something that points to a problem on the server, then we would be happy to pursue the issue further.

Kindest regards,
Arnel C.
arnelc
17,314 Points
Staff
2015-08-20 3:25 am EST
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