RewriteRule ^(.*).html index.php?task=$1

What does all that mean? This is a rewrite rule which allows you to make your URLs looking as "static". In this example categories.html will be "translated" to index.php?task=categories. So you no longer need dynamic URL to list ther categories, but can write categories.html

But what do all these strange characters mean? - ^ character marks beginning. I.e. you tell server that it should not expect anything before it. - (.*) - This combination is most often used and it means literally "everything". So everything you type before ".html" (i.e. your fake file name) will be passed as: - $1 - This is a parametter, saying where first mask should be put. If you have more than one masks (masks are everything which you use to represent dynamich text or file names) you can use $2, $3 etc. You'll seemor ein following examples.

So, if you have categories.html it will be translated info index.php?task=categories, services.html into index.php?task=services etc...

What if you have more than one parametter? First, you should use some characters as delimiter:

RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*).html index.php?task=$1&language=$2

Here how you can also pass task and language. For example: categories-englist.html will be translated into index.php?task=categories&language=english.

IMPORTANT: If you first write RewriteRule ^(.*).html index.php?task=$1 The second one may not work. You need to always start from most complicated rule to simplest one.

Make it Better: The rule (.*) is too general and often may prevent you of making more complicated rewriting rules. So it is recommended that you "limit" rules into something more concrete. Here are a couple of advices:

- Use "OR" operator. In our e-shop example we have only few possible "tasks" passed to index.php. Lets say: index.php?task=categories index.php?task=category index.php?task=product index.php?task=services

What will happen if you want to use your static file about.html? It will be rewritten into index.php?task=about and won't work. So you can use OR operator and limit rewriting only to cases you need:

RewriteRule ^(categories|category|product|services).html index.php?task=$1

This tells server to rewrite only if file name is categories.html OR category.html OR product.html OR services.html

- Using "numbers". You can easy limit rewriter to rewrite if it meets only numbers at a certain place:

RewriteRule ^category-([0-9]*).html index.php?task=category&id=$1

With ([0-9]*) mask you tell rewrite engine that on mask place it should expect onlly numbers. So if it see category-english.html it won't rewrite to index.php?task=category&id=english, but to index.php?task=category&language=english (because of rule we have shown above - RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*).html index.php?task=$1&language=$2.).

Complete example: Here is how will look final .htaccess file for our imaginary e-shop:

-------- Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine on

RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*).html index.php?task=$1&language=$2. RewriteRule ^(categories|category|product|services).html index.php?task=$1 RewriteRule ^category-([0-9]*).html index.php?task=category&id=$1

3- Try refreshing your page again and again until you see relevant ads displayed. You can refresh page by clicking on refresh button, or pressing F5 key on your keyboard.

4- If any of above tricks do not work, you can send an email to Google Adsense Support telling them about problem. Don't hesitate. Their support team will reply to your email shortly.

I've experienced this problem with several sites of mine, and it was solved 2-3 days after contacting Google Adsense team.