Geo ad checker
Check ads from another country, device and browser
Bad ads are often aimed at a few countries or one kind of device. GoAdScanner scans your ads through real IP addresses in the countries you choose, with the device and browser profiles you choose, so you see what visitors there are served.
Why you can't see the bad ad yourself
Malicious ads cloak. A landing page shows its real content only to the country, device and browser it targets, and a clean page to everyone else, including you when you check it from your office. A visitor on a phone in another country reports a fake virus warning; you open the same page on your laptop and see nothing.
A clean report is only as good as its context. That is why every GoAdScanner scan runs under conditions you choose, and every report states them.
Location proxies
With Location Proxy on, scans run through real IP addresses in the countries you pick, so you see what visitors there are served. Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and All are quick picks; choose the countries you actually get traffic from, because bad ads are often aimed at only a few.
Without a proxy, scans leave from the scanner’s own connection in the Netherlands. If a country’s proxy can’t be reached, the scan still runs from there and the report carries a Proxy Unavailable note, so you know to read its country as unknown. The Bandwidth column shows the data each scan used through the proxy, and the Overview shows the top countries your scans ran from.
Device and browser profiles
Pick the Device Types to scan with: desktop, tablet, mobile, console, wearable and TV. The browser profiles cover desktop Chrome, Firefox, Edge and others on Windows and Linux, a range of Android phones and tablets, game consoles, watches and smart TVs.
- Random browser per scan on (the default): each run uses one profile picked at random, so repeated runs cover the spread.
- Off: each run scans every item with every profile, which multiplies the number of scans.
Add the Referrer your visitors really arrive from, too: many ads only misbehave on the site they were bought for. When a cookie or age (18+) overlay hides the ads, the scanner closes it so they can load.
Read the context, then act
Every report states its Country, Device, Browser, Referrer and time. Filter Reports by country and by device or browser to see the pattern, for example a forced redirect that only shows on mobile from one country.
Then send the report link to the network that served the ad, with that context: a network can only find an ad aimed at one country if it knows the country. Keep the task running until a few clean runs from the same countries and devices confirm the fix. See every finding GoAdScanner flags.
More in the manual: Reading scan reports · Acting on findings.
How to set it up
- Open Ad Scanner → Tasks and create a task for the ads, links or smart zones you want to check.
- Switch on Location Proxy and pick the Proxy Countries.
- Tick the Device Types and, if you need specific ones, the Browsers.
- Choose the Interval. Use Every Minute only for short investigations: it scans a lot and uses proxy bandwidth.
- Switch on Notify me about this task.
What the scan then follows is explained on the landing page scanner and malvertising scanner pages, and in how GoAdScanner works.
More in the manual: Setting up scan tasks.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the same ad scan clean in one country and bad in another?
Because it is targeted. Harmful ads and landing pages often show only to a few countries, devices or browsers, and a clean version to everyone else.
Where do scans run from without a proxy?
From the scanner’s own connection in the Netherlands. If a chosen country’s proxy can’t be reached, the scan runs from there too and the report says Proxy Unavailable.
Can I scan as a phone or a smart TV?
Yes. Tasks can scan with desktop, tablet, mobile, console, wearable and TV profiles, including a range of Android phones and tablets and smart TVs.
How much does it cost?
GoAdScanner is a module of the GoAdserver platform, not a separate subscription. Scans and proxy bandwidth count as usage on your platform. See how to get GoAdScanner.
Keep bad ads off your traffic
GoAdScanner is part of GoAdserver. Tell us what you want to scan and we switch it on for your platform, or read the full manual first.