ads.txt warnings

[super70s]

Included in my portfolio of sites is a site I've had up for a long time that uses some free server space provided by my ISP. I also have a subdirectory for another site branching off from that one that uses the same ISP root domain and probably gets even more traffic.

My Adsense account always gives me a warning about the absence of an ads.txt file, which I do have for the two sites I own but of course there's no way I can put an ads.txt file on my ISP's root domain.

Shouldn't Adsense recognize this and quit throwing up those ads.txt warnings for the ISP's root domain?

I know they know about the subdomain because in the list of my sites on the "create ads.txt file" page it lists the ISP's domain and then "1 subdomain" right next to it.

[IanCP]

Shouldn't Adsense recognize this and quit throwing up those ads.txt warnings for the ISP's root domain?

Don't count on it.

I get the same for all the international sites that translate my work. I just ignore the ads.txt stuff.

Before anyone comments on translation sites - please remember I set out to teach the world back in 1998 - there was no AdSense back then, and no Google. No real way to monetise a site until I found it necessary to join Amazon simply to help pay for vastly increasing site costs.

[tangor]

@super70s ... that does seem a bit odd ... then again, all you have to do is change hosts, rack up more expense to have your own domain, kowtow to g and all will be fine.

Otherwise, just ignore this nonsense... after all, it of their making, not yours!

[lammert]

@tangor, seems to be a little bit odd advice. By moving the site from an ISP domain to its own domain, it will lose all its backlinks and probably the largest part of organic traffic. In that case, AdSense on the site will be worthless until the site on the new domain gets traction again.

On their support site, Google has a section specific about ads.txt [support.google.com] where also the issue of subdomains is mentioned. According to that site:

To reference a subdomain in your root domain ads.txt file, you add a subdomain= declaration. For example, let's say your ads.txt file for example.com needs to reference the subdomain subdomain.example.com. You'd add this line to your root domain ads.txt file: subdomain=subdomain.example.com. See the IAB ads.txt specification for additional details on subdomain referral.

This will still need communication with the ISP though to create an ads.txt file in their root with this subdomain reference.

[topr8]

i don't have any ads.txt files - i've just been ignoring the warnings. maybe i'm missing something ... but i'm certainly not going to list my advertisers (other than adsense) in a file for google to look at.

[tangor]

I guess the satire was not as obvious as intended. :)

Will make sure to mark it as such next time around.

[Etcetra]

My site is hosted on Blogger and uses a custom Google domain. Adsense keeps displaying the same warning. If you check Google's own docmentation it says that if you Adsense with Blogger the ads and robot files are automatically created. I checked each anyway and found both are 100% correct, yet Google keeps showing the same warning. Google's help system also says the ads file is not required. On the other hand its help system also say you can still offer backup ads from Adsense, which was removed.

[tangor]

@Etcetra ... Welcome to Webmasterworld!

Have you modified ads.txt in any way?

[Etcetra]

I did not modify my Blogger ads.txt file for many months at it still showed an error.

I recently signed up for an account with Infolinks to try them out. Their ads.txt help file for new members wants you install the following. You need to be signed in to see that page.

https://publishers.infolinks.com/members/new

Infolinks.com, 1112222 , DIRECT
appnexus.com, 1234, RESELLER
google.com, pub-1112223334445556, RESELLER, 1234567890
google.com, pub-1111222233334444, RESELLER, 1234567890
rubiconproject.com, 22222, RESELLER, 5678901234
Pubmatic.com, 33333,RESELLER,7890123456
Adtech.com, 44444, RESELLER
Advertising.com, 5555, reseller
Advertising.com, 55556, reseller
spotxchange.com,77777,RESELLER,0123456789
spotx.tv,77777,RESELLER,0123456789
indexexchange.com, 888888, RESELLER 
rhythmone.com, 9990001112,DIRECT,8901234567
sovrn.com, 121212, DIRECT, 6789012345
lijit.com, 121212, DIRECT, 6789012345 
lijit.com, 121212-eb, DIRECT, 6789012345
sonobi.com, abcd11111, DIRECT, 4567890123
lkqd.net, 123, RESELLER, 2345678901
lkqd.com, 123, RESELLER, 2345678901
Pubmatic.com, 123456, RESELLER,7890123456
Freewheel.tv, 234567, RESELLER
Freewheel.tv, 345678, RESELLER
appnexus.com, 4444, RESELLER, 3456789012
rubiconproject.com, 123123, RESELLER, 5678901234
pubmatic.com, 223311, RESELLER, 7890123456
Rubiconproject.com, 313131, RESELLER, 5678901234
indexexchange.com, 101010, RESELLER
33across.com, 1010a01010bcdefghi, RESELLER, 1234567890b
rubiconproject.com, 222333, RESELLER, 5678901234
pubmatic.com, 333222, RESELLER, 7890123456
rhythmone.com, 9990009990, RESELLER, 8901234567
adtech.com,55566,RESELLER 
appnexus.com, 67676, RESELLER, 3456789012
openx.com,888888888,RESELLER,2222333344445555 
google.com,pub-9999999999999999,RESELLER,1234567890
EMXDGT.com, 68, RESELLER, 1234567890c
google.com, pub-4444444444444444, RESELLER, 1234567890
vindicosuite.com, 9999, RESELLER
google.com, pub-5555555555555555, RESELLER, 1234567890
rubiconproject.com, 55555, RESELLER, 5678901234

Blogger's ads.txt editor would not accept the above code because its missing information and improperly formatted according to a validator. It contains dozens of errors.

https://adstxt.guru/validator/paste/

The above needs to be formatted as below to accepted by Blogger's ad.txt editor.

infolinks.com, 1112222, DIRECT
appnexus.com, 3251, RESELLER, 3456789012
google.com, pub-1112223334445556, RESELLER, 1234567890
google.com, pub-1111222233334444, RESELLER, 1234567890
rubiconproject.com, 22222, RESELLER, 5678901234
pubmatic.com, 33333, RESELLER, 7890123456
adtech.com, 44444, RESELLER
advertising.com, 5555, RESELLER
advertising.com, 55556, RESELLER
spotxchange.com, 77777, RESELLER, 0123456789
spotx.tv, 77777, RESELLER, 0123456789
indexexchange.com, 888888, RESELLER, 9012345678
rhythmone.com, 9990001112, DIRECT, 8901234567
sovrn.com, 121212, DIRECT, 6789012345
lijit.com, 121212, DIRECT, 6789012345
lijit.com, 121212-eb, DIRECT, 6789012345
sonobi.com, abcd11111, DIRECT, 4567890123
lkqd.net, 123, RESELLER, 2345678901
lkqd.com, 123, RESELLER, 2345678901
pubmatic.com, 123456, RESELLER, 7890123456
freewheel.tv, 234567, RESELLER
freewheel.tv, 345678, RESELLER
appnexus.com, 4444, RESELLER, 3456789012
rubiconproject.com, 123123, RESELLER, 5678901234
pubmatic.com, 223311, RESELLER, 7890123456
rubiconproject.com, 313131, RESELLER, 5678901234
indexexchange.com, 101010, RESELLER, 9012345678
33across.com, 1010a01010bcdefghi, RESELLER, 1234567890b
rubiconproject.com, 222333, RESELLER, 5678901234
pubmatic.com, 333222, RESELLER, 7890123456
rhythmone.com, 9990009990, RESELLER, 8901234567
adtech.com, 55566, RESELLER
appnexus.com, 67676, RESELLER, 3456789012
openx.com, 888888888, RESELLER, 2222333344445555
google.com, pub-9999999999999999, RESELLER, 1234567890
emxdgt.com, 68, RESELLER, 1234567890c
google.com, pub-4444444444444444, RESELLER, 1234567890

Infolinks also tells you to add the following tag where you want a InArticle ad to appear:

<input type="hidden" name="IL_IN_ARTICLE">

To work in Blogger's XHTML editor it needs a closing backslash:

<input type="hidden" name="IL_IN_ARTICLE"/>

I will likely be dropping Infolinks as after informing them about their incorrect information they didnt bother to answer back or even fix their website.

If I remove the above Infolinks text from Blogger's ad.txt file it will still show the same error that existed before it was added.

Earnings at risk - You need to fix some ads.txt file issues to avoid severe impact to your revenue.

I think its just another case of Google's utter incompotence and utter lack of care about its users.

A transition form "Do No Evil" to "Do Whatever You Can Get Away With".

[edited by: not2easy at 4:28 pm (utc) on Feb 15, 2020]
[edit reason] See Charter [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[not2easy]

I want to share a warm welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com] for Etcetra and thought I should explain the above edits.

For your privacy and security I have edited the post. The Charter asks that if you must share code that includes account information that you obfuscate/anonymize that information. ;)