brainshitting » Google clickTAG flash

August 10th, 2007 by Luis Alves

Google clickTAG flash

You know that when I find the solution to a problem I always post it in Brainshitting so here goes another one…

Yesterday I made a banner for Gimmestock to include in a website as a Google adsense ad and when we tryed to submit it in Google adsense it was not possible. Google said that flash had to include clickTAG in order to work.

So what specifications do flash banners need in order to be accepted by google adsense?

You need to include a link (button) that has the following action:

on (release) {
if (clickTAG.substr(0,5) == ‘http:’) {
getURL(clickTAG, ‘_blank’);
}
}

Then, export your flash movie as version 4 to 6, I have exported it as flash 5 .

Note that it’s not necessary to specify the destination URL for the ad anywhere in this code; this is taken care of through the usage of clickTAG. Also, depending on the structure of your Flash ad, it may be necessary to prepend “_root.” or “_level0.” to “clickTAG” above, resulting in “_root.clickTAG” or “_level0.clickTAG”. It is strongly recommended to upload the ad into your account and verify that the ad is behaving normally prior to it going live, allowing time for any necessary changes.

This should do it.

10 Responses to “Google clickTAG flash”

Stefan, on January 9th, 2008 at 2:24 pm Said:

Hey,

Cheers for your time and effort on this one, but im still a little unclear on the point of where to insert that actually url address that you want the banner to direct to. Other sites and even the Macromedia are ambiguous on this point. The Macromedia site mentions the following code:

Can I assume this is coding on the actual web page rather then the banner?

Any help would be appreciated.

Oh yeah, love the site name! haha conscience prolapse
Stefan, on January 9th, 2008 at 2:34 pm Said:
Stefan, on January 9th, 2008 at 2:36 pm Said:

oh i see it wont let me copy and paste that code in for some reason…

“”
Paul Gledhill, on February 19th, 2008 at 1:41 am Said:

Hi,

I love your site, always helpful but I am doing my head in trying to work out how to get this Google tracking clickTAG working,
my code is as above:

on (release) {
if (clickTAG.substr(0,5) == “http:”) {
getURL(clickTAG, “_blank”);
}
}

added to an invisible button with actions applied to the first frame, Is there anyway that you can help me on this?

Cheers
Paul
Luis Alves, on February 19th, 2008 at 6:19 pm Said:

Hi Paul,

What is the error message you get when you try to submit the flash into google adsense?

Take care,

Luís
Paul Gledhill, on February 20th, 2008 at 11:22 pm Said:

Hi Luis,
I just get the red text –
Flash must support clickTAG

I am baffled, I am using Flash CS3 Pro (could this be the cause?)
I tried using “_root.”, and “_level0.” but no luck, could I send you the .fla for a look?

Much appreciating your time,
Cheers
Paul
Paul Gledhill, on February 20th, 2008 at 11:27 pm Said:

Also I have tried publishing using 4, 5 and 6 as my player, no change…
Luis Alves, on February 23rd, 2008 at 2:41 am Said:

Ok Paul, send it to my e-mail –> luis.c.alves[at]gmail

Best regards,

Luís
Stephanie, on July 22nd, 2008 at 2:24 pm Said:

I am trying to add a click-tag to a banner also.

I made an invisible button but when I select it in the movie, it says I cannot add action to it.

So I cannot add the click-tag.

I’m also not sure if the button should sit in a single (last) frame of the movie? As a different layer?

Appreciate any help !!!
Tom Buchok, on November 10th, 2008 at 12:09 am Said:

Stephanie,

Are you sure the button is both Visible and Unlocked on its Layer? Are you also trying to manipulate via the parent layer of the Button, rather than within the actual Button symbol?

As a best practice, place the button over the entire timeline of the ad. (Unless you have some interactivity before you’d like viewers to click the ad, then you can place after this interactive element.)

Testing clicktags is pretty simple with this tool:

http://www.bannerflow.com/clicktest/

– Tom