No Such Link???

Brian M · #1 08-09-2006

MSN displays the message, "No Such Link" when I click on some PPC ads.

Here is the only code on the page:

<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>No Such Link</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY><H1>No Such Link</H1></BODY>
</HTML>

Does anybody know why this is happening? Has the advertiser's account been shut off temporarily?

Brian M

evilgreenmonkey · #2 08-09-2006

I think it's because they generate session strings in the tracking URL which expire to prevent the recording of multiple clicks and to ensure that their timestamp data is reasonably accurate. I've seen something similar on Google, where by they don't want to record the click.

Rob

Brian M · #3 08-09-2006

It's been this way for more than 24 hours on one ad (which moves up and down among other ads in the same "Sponsored Sites" window) and IMHO, that's a perfect way to:

1. Teach users to avoid clicking on PPC ads.
2. Convince users to switch to another search engine.
3. Chase advertisers away (along with the money they spend).

And I'm sure that MSN wonders why their market share in search keeps dropping. I know, I know - there are lots of other additional reasons, but one would think that they could just turn the ad off if they can also detect that it has expired...

Brian M · #4 08-11-2006

"No Such Link" still appears for the same ad that I am following, which I first noticed 2 days ago... Does anybody at MSN every read this forum and reply?

Brian M · #5 08-14-2006

MSN still shows the same problem after 5 days, with no sign of attention or acknowledgement...

The only change is that the bogus ad is now closer to the top of the PPC SERPs.

rustybrick · #6 08-15-2006

Any chance you can be more specific? Which search brings this up?

Brian M · #7 08-15-2006

The ad appears when searching for a brand name (it appears for several brands), and it is just a made-for-adsense site with PPC links to the brand name sites.

I sent you a PM with more info so you can see for yourself, but if you click on the link in MSN, you see either the "No Such Link" message or a "Page Not Found" message, but if you go directly to the site, you can see that it is an MFA site.

I do not work for any of the sites (and noticed the problem when researching a different issue) but I see no reason to "out" anyone because the real problem is with MSN...

Brian M

rustybrick · #8 08-16-2006

Honestly, I don't think it is outing, seems like it is a bug of some sort on MSN? I am not really sure. And you said it is happening on other sites.

So I personally think it is helpful to show the example here.

Guys please don't click on the ad...

Search http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=masterspas
The ad for "Relaxing Hot Tubs - www.besthottubs.com" when clicked takes you to a page that consists of:::

<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>No Such Link</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY><H1>No Such Link</H1></BODY>
</HTML>

But the URL is still on the MSN side of things:
http://0.r.msn.com/?ld=2vwZU2MrVfPoO...0SvKcZdVPlCw==

What can this mean? That there is no landing page?

I couldn't find anything on this....

adCenter411 · #9 08-17-2006

Hi everyone,
Sorry for the delay, I just noticed this thread. I checked with adCenter support about the example you quote, and in that case, there was no ad associated to the keyword because there was no keyword destination URL for param1. We'll contact the customer and get this resolved - thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Thanks,
adCenter411

Brian M · #10 08-17-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by adCenter411

...there was no ad associated to the keyword because there was no keyword destination URL for param1. We'll contact the customer...

You make it sound like the customer is at fault, but I'm having a really hard time following that logic...

For example: One of my clients spends $40,000 a month on PPC advertising. If I set up an ad for them and forget to enter a "keyword destination URL for param1" but you accept that ad and display a blank link for more than a week, then that is my fault?

It seems to me that it is a bug in adCenter (as Barry noted above). After all, how can you possibly let ANY customer set up an ad that is blank?

No offense, but I sincerely hope that you have a better response the next time any customer fails to correctly enter a "keyword destination URL for param1."

Please re-read the three points in my post above... carefully...

rustybrick · #11 08-18-2006

Hi adCenter Rep...

Does the advertiser get charged for clicks on those ads?

Clicks on ads that "there was no ad associated to the keyword because there was no keyword destination URL for param1."

Thanks.

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