Fix for Adsense Flicker problem

In some float layout based websites (like Digital Inspiration), Google Ads are seen to flicker (blink) when you hover the mouse over another website navigation link (non-adsense link). Adsense Flickering is normally noticed in non-IE browsers like Firefox (Gecko based) and Opera. The recently released Adsense Referral buttons are also seen to flicker.

The ad panel flicker occurs for a split second, it is enough to drive new visitors away from your website because they think your website has a bad design. First impression is indeed the last impression.

Sometimes, the problem in Firefox can be traced to the use of floated elements (elements inside the div tag). Obviously, the most easy solution to fix adsense flicker is to us absolutely positioning instead of floats. There are some other possible solutions for fixing the flickering google ads:

1. Make sure that all your images contain the height and width attribute inside the img tag.

2. Google displays the ad code inside a IFRAME. Try to increase the height of the div tag that surrounds the Adsense IFRAME window to avoid Google ad scrolling and flickering issue in Firefox. The iframe element should be inside a absolute position div.

3. Double check your Google Ad code to ensure that you are using the right ad size format. Firefox adsense flicker problem can happen if you try to display a 468x60 ad in a 160x600 div container.

4. Check your CSS, sometimes the culprit is float:left - Google ads may blink on the right hand columns that are floated right. Try changing to float:right. Never use link:hover with float:left

5. Try adding overflow: auto; to the right floated sidebar.

6. If you use borders on Hovered links (a:hover), try disabling them.

In a majority of the cases, the flickr problem can be fixed by focussing on the CSS hover property. The Adsense IFRAME panel flickr problem is reported by users of Firefox 1.0.6 and 1.0.7.