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Ask HN: Server-side ad rendering prevents ad-blocker?

2 points by collegeburner ↗ HN
I run a small page that provides services to customers. The ads are not unreasonable but I notice an increasing fraction of users blocking ads. I do not want to serve users who block my ads because I lose money. Are there any solutions for inserting ads on the server-side instead so they can't be blocked easily? I can find references only for doing this in video. Failing that, recommendations tools to block users who use ad blocking so they do not take up my resources. Thank you.

Edit: Something like this but for page not video: https://admanager.google.com/home/resources/feature-brief-dynamic-ad-insertion/. There is 1 i find called Kevel, has anybody here used and can give opinions? https://www.kevel.com/

14 comments

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slater
good luck, but it's an arms race you're unlikely to win.
collegeburner
I realize it is not "winnable" but I think some server-side template insertion might avoid most of the off-the-shelf ad blockers, the ones that more people are shipping on by default. I don't care so much about the 1% of people who will really avoid even server-side ads, though I rather they don't use my website instead.
slater
what exactly do you mean by server-side template insertion? as long as you're still sending html to my browser, i'll be able to block it.
collegeburner
Most ad blockers are blocking third-party ads sent from a separate domain. If I insert some ad in the page HTML so it looks like the rest of the page it is harder. It can be done but I don't think people will bother as much since my ads are not very intrusive, it's just tools block everything so my site gets hit even though the ads are not bad.
slater
Not sure I agree with that. Check uBlock Origin and how simple its interface is to block already-rendered stuff. It's basically point-and-click, at this point.
collegeburner
Yes it looks easier than I hoped, true. I do still think most people will not bother with this, though, I am not targeting a demographic with substantial skill at such.
mattl
Yeah, you have no way to win.
collegeburner
It's not that I have to "win" just get most of the people using default tools to still see ads. My ads are very not intrusive so I doubt people will go to any special effort for blocking them, it's the default tool that blocks everything is my problem.
mattl
> My ads are very not intrusive so I doubt people will go to any special effort for blocking them

They absolutely will.

collegeburner
A few yes, I do not think most are sufficiently technical or care enough to put in special effort for this website. What is important is most who use basic consumer tools and do not want to deal with complex filters do not bother, that is most of the problem.
netizen-936824
The thing is, is that those technical people will build the tools to make it easy for everyone else to block your ads.

As for me, I won't use your website.

collegeburner
Not likely for this site only. And that is good, I do not want people who do not see ads using my website, they only cost me money consuming my resources for nothing in return.
netizen-936824
Maybe people should figure out a way to monetize their business that doesn't require ads?

Maybe if a business need ads to survive, the business shouldn't exist?

I don't understand why people seem to cling to the same old business models that nobody likes

tomjen3
You can do what facebook does - render your own ads with often changing css ids, which makes them harder to block.

Mind you, that isn't perfect and you can't really do that with third-party ads, but that is about what you can do.

The reason is pretty simple: my browser does what it is told from me. Normally that means render a site as seen, but it doesn't have to be and you can't instruct it otherwise.