If you’re a publisher for ValueClick Media advertising network or 24/7 Real Media ads management software in your ads campaigns, you may notice the keyword “Cache Busting” when you’re presented with your ad codes in code generator. Fro ValueClick Media, the cache busting ad code is offered when you select 160/120 SkyScraper or 728/468 Banner creative ads format.
In the code generator, the ad codes are named as 468×60 Banner Rich Media Code with built-in Cache-Busting (v1.4) and 120×600 SkyScraper Rich Media Code with built-in Cache-Busting (v1.4). Cache busting or cache bursting as some misspelled is a technology process that also known as defeating cache. Cache is the memory that is used temporarily to store the most frequently requested content, data, files or pages in order to speed up the web delivery to the user on next view, where it can be stored on local disk by web browser or on a network.
In this sense, cache buster prevents or minimizes the browsers or proxies from serving the contents and pages from their cache for the particular website or server that implements cache busting technology. This forces the user browser or network proxy to fetch a fresh copy of data for each request, and provide a more accurate count of the number of requests from users. In Internet advertising industry, the technique is used to cause a separate banner request to be sent to the server, thus insuring the banner is not cached and banner advertisement impressions are not undercounted.
Cache busting is done and accomplished by adding a random number string (some used time date stamp which is less effective as some users may get the same time stamp as their unique string) to the banner HTML tag each time the page is reloaded and viewed.
LK is a technology writer for Tech Journey with background of system and network administrator. He has be documenting his experiences in digital and technology world for over 15 years.Connect with LK through Tech Journey on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
