Adsense and AJAX: A Solution

Tired of fight with Adsense when using AJAX?  That's exactly how I've been the last couple days.  For such a widely spread service, it's terrible how bad flexibility for Web applications can be!

Anyways, most reputable programmers wont be relying much on iFrame, so here's an easy solution - just run this function every time you want to update the ads on your page.

I must warn you, DO NOT abuse this, Google can and will ban your account if impressions are being forced.  I can't vouch that Google will even approve of this method, but from reading the ToS it should be acceptable giver the [end] user sent a request to change page content.

var redirects = 0;
function updateAdsense() {
	redirects++;
	var ads = document.getElementsByTagName('iframe');
	var src;
	if(ads && ads.length){
		for (var i = 0; i < ads.length; i++){
			src = ads[i].src.split('&');
			if(redirects > 1)
				src.pop();
			src = src.join('&');
			src = src + '&'+new Date().getTime();
			ads[i].contentWindow.location.replace(src);
		}
	}
}

You can see I use "location.replace", this solves issues with Adsense updates effecting browser navigation. In basic, it makes the back button work correctly.

As you can see this code is rather lazy, I will be providing an update soon.

Update

var redirects = 0;
function updateAdsense() {
	redirects++;
	var ads = document.getElementsByTagName('iframe');
	var src;
	if(ads && ads.length){
		for (var i = 0; i < ads.length && ads[i].id.substr(0,16)=='google_ads_frame'; i++){
			src = ads[i].src;
			if(redirects > 1) {
				src = src.split('&');
				src.pop();
				src = src.join('&');
			}
			src = src + '&'+new Date().getTime();
			ads[i].contentWindow.location.replace(src);
		}
	}
}

About Shawn Khameneh

I'm a "Web Guy" with a sense of reality. I enjoy trying new things and meeting new people! You could call me an entrepreneur, I enjoy both business and the effort behind it.