SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol encrypts information shared between a web browser (visitor) and a web server (website) and guarantees a secure connection. Most publishers and programmatic ad exchanges use SSL environments, which means that the ad server as well as all components in the ad have to be SSL-compliant.
Depending on where you store and serve your third-party banners from, there can be cases where the servers you're using are unrecognized or don't have an SSL protocol. All ad requests have to come through secured SSL channels, so an ad from an SSL non-compliant server is rejected by the publisher or programmatic ad exchange. The components used to create the banner also must follow SSL requirements. If a banner component has a link to an external resource, it must lead to an SSL-compliant page.
Adform recommends hosting all assets and resources on Adform's servers, which both support SSL and ensure load-balanced and geographically distributed delivery of content.
SSL-compliant URLs begin with https:// or // instead of http://.
// is used in protocol-relative URLs that don't have either HTTPS or HTTP at the beginning. Protocol-relative URLs can adapt to the protocol of the page at load time. For protocol-relative URLs to work, the page must support both HTTPS and HTTP serving.
Adform Studio allows you to upload any kind of third-party HTML5 banner and test various features that are supported by Adform Ad Server, including SSL compliance.
To make your third-party banner Adform-ready:
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To update your banner to fit Adform requirements, add a Global clickTAG to it.
When you start banner export, Adform shows a warning if Adform Studio detects any SSL non-compliant URLs. To make your third-party banner SSL-compliant in such a case, in the dialog window, click Fix it.
Adform Studio then automatically fixes all the URLs that can be fixed. However, Adform Studio can't fix URLs for servers that don't support SSL. Therefore, if all URLs can be fixed, Adform Studio completes the export. If there are URLs that can't be fixed, you receive a dialog window that lists all these URLs and you have to fix them manually.
To manually make your banner SSL-compliant:
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Close the dialog window that lists the SSL non-compliant URLs.
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In the left sidebar, click
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Click the file that has the SSL non-compliant URL.
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In the code editor at the bottom of the page, fix the URL.
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In the bottom of the page, click SAVE.
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To fix other SSL non-compliant URLs, repeat steps 3 – 5.
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Export your banner again.
Note
If a banner resource resides on a server that doesn't support SSL, it's not possible to fix its URL. Always test any third-party banner resource in your browser using https:// instead of http:// to ensure that the server really supports SSL.