Managing ads.txt in WordPress can be a topic that is quite confusing the the lesser technical person, it doesn’t have to be.
If you are a DIY blogger or other website owner, but are not the most technical person, you may well rely WordPress. You may be trying to monetize your content, you then need to manage a file called “ads.txt”. This article will hopefully make managing ads.txt in WordPress much less confusing.
After spending years in the Google AdSense support forum as a Product Expert, I have seen many newbies or otherwise less technical people get confused by this. It requires knowledge of file editing, moving the file into your web root and maintaining it. Not all feel comfortable doing this, or the host doesn’t even allow it. But, there is an easier way to do it.
Ads.txt is a file that stands for Authorized Digital Sellers. It is an initiative by IAB Tech Lab. The end game is to help ensure that your ad space is only filled through ad sellers that you have authorized. It gives you, the property owner, more control over the ads that display. It’s main goal is to prevent unauthorized (perhaps hijacked) ads from showing.
How to Set It Up
- To start go to the Ads.txt Manager website and set up a free account.
- Make note of your Account ID, which is found in settings.
- Go to your WordPress site and install the Ads.txt Manager plugin.
- In WordPress go to setting > ads.txt manager settings and enter your account ID in the field that requests it and save the setting.
- Return to the Ads.txt Manager website and go thru the “Getting Started” menu. When there, go to the “Intergrate” tab, and revalidate the integration.
- From there, go to the “Manual Entries” page to enter each row that is requested to be added to your ads.txt file.
After all that is done, you then manage all the ads.txt content from the Ads.txt Manager website. You do not have to mess around uploading files to your web site or anything like that. It actually makes it quite easy. Also, you can have multiple website in your account and manage all your websites there.
Combine this along with what I had stated in Manage Your Traffic. Between the two, you have a decent ad publishing platform to start with.