Authority Boost FAQ

Hey, we're glad you're interested in using Authority Boost.  Please refer to this FAQ for the most commonly asked questions.  If you don't find the answer to the question you want to ask here, you can contact us - but please carefully check this FAQ first since we're really busy and can't promise a quick response.

"Will Authority Boost work even if I'm using a third party affiliate system to track my clicks from affiliates?"

Yes.

"I'm pretty sure I set everything up right but I'm getting weird formatting when the authority block displays, like stuff overlapping or the drop-shadow not working."

This could be as simple as needing to declare a "DOCTYPE" at the top of your HTML page.  For example, instead of just "<html>" at the beginning of your HTML page, put this instead:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

"I tried adding a DOCTYPE but that didn't fix my formatting issue."

Please contact us, we may be able to offer HTML formatting advice or better be able to determine the cause by looking at your web page.

"The authority block isn't displaying."

  • Have you followed all the setup steps carefully?
  • Have you verified that you're clicking from an site that has the XML properly uploaded?  You can verify by going to http://theirdomain.com/authbl_yourdomain.com.xml.  If get get a "page not found" or other error, then that is the problem.  If they have set up the XML file properly, are you actually trying to click from a link on their domain that leads to your marketing page?
  • If you see errors in the XML file when loaded in a web browser, the most common cause is that certain characters inside tags need to be converted into their equivalent HTML/XML entities.
  • Is your affiliate using a meta-refresh method to link to you rather than a direct link or server-side redirect?  If you're not sure, you can contact us to check for you.
  • Have you updated our server with a "ping" pointing to your updated whitelist XML file?

"I don't want the Authority Boost block to appear any more when I get clicks from a certain affiliate."

Remove their domain from your whitelist XML file & ping our site with the updated file.

"I don't want the Authority Boost block to appear on my site/page anymore."

Just remove the Authority Boost JavaScript from your pages.

"I don't want anyone to see my whitelist file."

You can use any file name you want when uploading it to your site, our system doesn't need it to be in a consistent location, it just needs to be available at the time a ping is requested to initiate an update.  You can also remove it from your site until the next time you want to update your whitelist (our system will remember your settings in-between pings).

"Will Authority Boost slow my page down?"

No, it's asynchronous and will not slow your page down.  It uses the same loading mechanism as Google's fastest method of delivering their Analytics tracking and your visitors will see no slow-down at all.

"What if Authority Boost doesn't load?"

Nothing happens, same as if you didn't have it there.  So if for any reason it fails to load on your page, it will not affect anything and your page will look exactly the same as it would without it.

"What if a visitor of mine person JavaScript turned off?"

Nothing happens, your page will look exactly the way it would with JavaScript turned off.

"Do my affiliates need to sign up or register with Authority Boost?"

No, they just need to put up the XML files you give them.  They don't even have to know about Authority Boost or how it works unless you want to tell them.

Anythign else they do is optional, like editing the XML you give them, adding a validation page that further enhances the authority of their referral, etc.

"Do I have to register the www. version of my domains?"

No, we'll handle that automatically for you, we always check the non-www. first, then www.  You can always register it separately just in case but it won't really have an influence.

"What can I use as a tracking code for my campaigns or pages that use Authority Boost?"

Anything you want, so long as the tracking code is made with characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, - and _.  Just be sure that each campaign or unique page you use it on has it's own unique code, so that the referral message from the affiliate side correlates to the right page.  You don't want an affiliate to say they recommend your "Nut's & Bolts Widget" when the page is advertising your "Make Money Now CD".

"What if I have multiple landing pages on the same domain and affiliates that link to two or more of them - what will the XML file to that affiliate look like?"

Simply add an extra <item> block inside the <data> block, and make sure the <itemcode> tag in each block correlates to your appropriate landing page tracking code.

"I have JavaScript turned on in my web browser and followed all the steps but still don't see the authority block appear when I click from an affiliate link to my marketing page."

Are you sure you have JavaScript enabled?  Do you have a plug-in running like "NoScript" or AdBlock?  Some web browser plug-ins will cause certain JavaScript to not load.

"Does Authority Boost depend on cookies?"

No, Authority Boost works completely without cookies, it's been designed to be as fault-tolerant as possible.  It may use cookies in the future to enhance authority boosting of return visits but currently does not use cookies.

"I don't want the affiliate's links in the authority block to be active, how do I disabled them but still keep the benefit of having the authoritative referral display?"

If you look at the JavaScript code, you'll see 3 variables you can edit, which can be set to either '1' or '' (nothing).  These variables allow you to override some of the visuals such as whether a drop-shadow appears, whether any of the affiliate's text is clickable and whether the block is "fixed" at the top of the page or disappears when your visitor starts scrolling down the page.

"I don't like the way an affiliate worded or designed their authority block (colors, text, watermark, etc)."

Talk to them to change their settings via the XML file on their site or remove them from your white list & re-submit your whitelist to us so that affiliate's clicks no longer trigger an authority block to appear.

"I gave an affiliate an xml, they uploaded it, it validates, etc, but things still don't seem to be working.

Did you update your whitelist file with the domain/site of the newly added affiliate and ping us about the new list?

"I don't want the authority block stuck to the top of my pages.

If you look at the JavaScript code, you'll see 3 variables you can edit, which can be set to either '1' or '' (nothing).  These variables allow you to override some of the visuals such as whether a drop-shadow appears, whether any of the affiliate's text is clickable and whether the block is "fixed" at the top of the page or disappears when your visitor starts scrolling down the page.

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Authority Boost