how to test links are still active

Hi Karen,

Thanks for reaching out.

I fear that you won’t like my answer: I would recommend checking these ads manually and clicking through them yourself.

The problem is that the target URLs don’t always produce a 404 error, which you could detect with a plugin like Broken Link Checker. Instead, the targeted websites remove some pages and have set up an automatic redirect to another subpage, e.g., Booking.com.

Thatswhy, I go through these links on my websites at regular intervals. With heavily clicked affiliate links, I sometimes become aware that something may be wrong due to a lack of sales and check them earlier.

I have not yet found a good and, above all, more reliable solution than checking the ads manually regularly.

If I do this, I use the filters on the ad overview page to view only active ads that are neither expired nor drafts and then click through them one by one. This process is also quite helpful from time to time, especially to check older ads to see if, for example, the correct link attributes are set.

Best regards,
Joachim

Hi Joachim

Yes, I do check them manually with my current ad plugin, you simply click on the image and it takes you to the link.

But I don’t know where to click in Advanced Ads.

How do you “click through them?”

Thanks
Karen

Hi Karen,

Thanks for your reply.

When I “click through them”, I open the ad units in Advanced Ads and copy the link from the target URL field into a new browser tab. This works with all image ads and the text links I use, e.g., to sell products from Amazon or Booking.com. This won’t work with JS-based ads or HTML5 ads.

What would make this workflow easier for you? If you know our Tracking add-on, you may have seen the direct link to the statistics of single ads on the ad overview page. Could a counterpart that displays the target link from the URL field of the respective ad on the ad overview page make this workflow easier for you?

Best regards,
Joachim