A full-page interstitial ad took over my browser a few weeks ago when I was visiting my blog, which was weird because I don’t have any advertising on my blog, and if I did I would never use a full-page interstitial ad because they are more annoying than my upstairs neighbor who moved out this week, thank the Lord! I thought it might be a fluke, perhaps something that was triggered by leaving a web page, not by entering my site. Then it happened a week later, and again two days after that, so I decided to put on my Nancy Drew hat to figure out what the hell was going on. Then I took it off and decided to put on my Veronica Mars hat instead because she’s way cooler than Nancy Drew and more in touch with modern fashion.
In case the ad was being triggered by malware on my computer, I ran a virus scan and also downloaded MalwareBytes to run a malware scan. A few cookies were deleted, but otherwise my computer was clean. Then the ad appeared a day after my scans, so it was fairly safe to assume the ad was not being caused by something on my own computer.
Next I asked my Facebook followers if any of them had seen the ad, and three people had. They were all using different browsers, so I figured it wasn’t anything browser-specific, but it was definitely something happening on my site.
Next I tried Googling sponsor.adverstitial.com which was the address of the page the ad forwarded me to. This is when I realized I’ve become spoiled by expecting Google to answer any question I have within the first 3 or 4 listings on the first page of results. When I Googled sponsor.adverstitial.com nothing helpful came up. A lot of people were complaining about the ad, but no one had figured out what was causing it. I had to wade at least 10 or 15 pages deep into the results before I found anything remotely helpful. Eventually I found a support thread on the WordPress.org forums in which someone had posted about the same problem 6 hours earlier. Over the course of the next day or two we finally figured out what the culprit was.
What was causing the ad to appear? For the solution to The Case of the Mysterious Interstitial Ad, turn to page 105… (or, um, just keep scrolling)
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The culprit was SITEMETER!!
Any youngins out there might not remember Sitemeter, but it’s a free web stats service that was pretty popular before Google Analytics ate up most of the market share. If you’re wondering why I was still using it, I like that it’s simple. When I log into Google Analytics I feel like I’m operating the control panel of a space shuttle. There are a bazillion options and a bazillion ways to track goals and campaigns and other things that I do not understand. I feel like you would need to earn a degree in Google Analytics to fully understand every feature. The nice thing about Sitemeter was that you could log in and easily see how many pageviews you’d had. There were easy-to-understand bar graphs. It was easy to see your most recent page referrals. They’d also email a stats summary to you once a week that was handy and quick to read. Simplicity, it’s underrated.
Unfortunately, Sitemeter is now EVIL too and inserts ads on web sites without permission. And they might have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you darn kids and Google! I’ve removed the Sitemeter code from my site and I haven’t seen the mysterious interstitial ad since. If anyone else runs into it after today, let me know. If you’re using Sitemeter on your site, I recommend you remove the code because it might be inserting ads on your page without your knowledge.
Thus ends The Case of the Mysterious Interstitial Ad. I think I’ll knock off work early, have a soda pop with Encyclopedia Brown and Sally Kimball, and find out what Bugs Meany’s been up to lately.
“And they might have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you darn kids and Google!”
What a fun and interesting post. I very much enjoyed the Scooby Doo like reference above. I see those ad pop-ups things occasionally and I always assume it’s the person posting that has control over them. But, sounds like that is not always the case. Good detective work!
Good Detective work, Veronica.
Sorry, but you’re more like Nancy Drew or maybe it’s my age since I don’t know who Veronica Mars is. In any case what a fun read for a nerd like me.
@Curvy_Jones – Actually the other day I was getting weird ads and links to things… after several scans of my computer and subsequent freaking out that i’d somehow downloaded a virus, it happened to have come from a Google extension for Goodreads. Cray.
First, I can’t believe that techy brain of yours doesn’t know every single little thing about Analytics. Ha! How crazy that Sitemeter was responsible for the ad. Crazy! I’m impressed you were able to figure it out.
Did you write the sitemeter customer service? I am so upset about this. I used to love sitemeter. I switched to google analytics and i hate it. I can’t understand it and it makes me feel dumb and so i hate it.
@Corinna – In one of the many threads I read while researching this, someone said that Sitemeter had ignored any emails they sent them, so I haven’t even bothered trying. If you want to have a go at it, let me know if you hear back from them.
Wow…I am so glad you posted about this. I have been practically tearing my hair out trying to figure out why people kept getting those same ads when coming to my and my cat’s blogs (yes, my cat has a blog. He’s more popular than I am, too.) I can live without Sitemeter, I suppose… Thanks for tracking down the issue, because it was driving me nuts.
I’ll be removing the code tomorrow. Thanks for sleuthing out the culprit. I’ll miss sitemeter, but I’ve gotten used to Feedly after Google Reader went away, proving I can adapt. Evolve, even!
I had a weight loss blog and hadn’t been there for a month or two. When I went to post again, there was a before and after weight loss picture of some stranger, with one of those “do nothing and STILL lose weight” claims on it. Darn their eyes.
I’m a huge fan, by the way. 🙂
Saw it two times in the last two days on eBay. I doubt eBay has SITEMETER. Called eBay and they said they had some security problems some time ago but they are all fixed. Yeah. Hubris is very dangerous.
Enjoyed your article…too bad I had to respond to a malware fright to find you and read it.
It’s been so long since I’ve set up my site. I don’t remember WHERE the sitemeter code is. Are you using WordPress? Where is the code so that I can remove it?
@Tabitha @ Saving Toward a Better Life – It depends on how your theme is set up. It looks like your Sitemeter code is at the bottom of your site code and you’re running Thesis. Look in the Thesis settings to see if there’s a footer code section or something. If not, try looking in your widgets area. Hope that helps!
@Sandy – I too found my way to JenFul via Google after finding an Interstitial ad on eBay. Weird.
Found a convo on eBay regarding this. I don’t have Sitemeter anywhere, so I figure it must be coming from eBay in some way. I suppose Sitemeter could be on an eBay listing? I reject the notion that it’s installed on my computer because I have malware detectors, antivirus, adware detection, etc.
http://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/quot-A-Message-From-Our-Sponsors-quot/m-p/23627775
Rut ro Raggy.