Google AdSense Entry at risk warning

  • Resolved edicolablack

    (@edicolablack)


    5 years ago

    Hello,
    from about a week, on the Google AdSense dashboard appeared the warning about “Entry at risk: you need to fix a problem with your ads.txt”.
    I immediatly checked my /ads.txt page and checked if it was properly showing up and if the code showed was correct: the code was correctly showed and it was the right one, the same showed in the ads.txt file I downloaded from Google AdSense.

    Then, starting today, the Advanced Ads dashboard started to warn me about some problems with Google Adsense, about a missing AdSense Editor ID in my ads.txt. I clicked the button to fix the problem and followed the instructions, but when I save, it show the following error: The file has not been created(this is a direct translation, to me it appear in Italian). A third-party file exists: https://edicolablack.altervista.org/ads.txt
    I tried to click the Import & substitute, but then another error appear about being unable to find the existing ads.txt.

    Thinking it could be a problem with Advanced Ads, I tried to deactivate it and install another plugin to manage the ads.txt, but strangely, whenever I tried to substitute the old one, nothing seemed to happen. The old ads.txt, with the right AdSense code at the top and other codes at the bottom(not sure where they came from; personaly I use only AdSense, but I was not the one who made the ads.txt. It was automaticaly made from the host or a plugin), remained unchanged.
    I then reactivated the Advanced Ads to see if something changed, but everything was the same.

    All in all, I kept earning through AdSense in the last week(at least till yesteday, when I earned 0,13€…a bit lower then usual, but still something, which should confirm that the ads are properly working…I hope), so I’m not sure if there really is a problem and the warnings are just triggered wrongly and will fix by themselves or not and if I should start to worry and how should I act to fix it.

    P.S: I’ve been using the Google Adsense account for almost 2 years with no problem with the used ads.txt, till a week ago when it started to warn me about the problem. Is not a recent integration on the site. Just recently I received the latest deposit from Google, after reaching the minimum quota, and it was my 3rd time doing so.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Plugin Author Thomas Maier

    (@webzunft)

    Hi edicolablack,

    thanks for reaching out.

    Advanced Ads does import the warning about a missing ads.txt file directly from your AdSense account, so if AdSense is wrong about the missing file then the warning in Advanced Ads is still there.

    According to the ads.txt standards, the ads.txt should also not be put on subdomains, which is where this issue and also the warning in Advanced Ads to not being able to create the file might come from. This means that the file should be placed under “https://altervista.org/ads.txt”, noch “https://edicolablack.altervista.org/ads.txt”. I understand that this is not possible for you, just want to explain the possible reason for the warning.

    You could reach out to the owner of https://altervista.org/ and ask them if they encountered this before. You can forward them to https://wpadvancedads.com/ads-txt-for-wordpress/, where I documented the status of ads.txt and possible limitations, but also solutions for subdomains. It is outside of the scope of Advanced Ads though.

    You should also check in your AdSense account if the warning about the ads.txt is indeed for this URL and not another, if you have multiple sites. Unfortunately, there is no technical way to know on our end to which URL this is referring.

    Good luck!

    Thomas

    Thread Starter edicolablack

    (@edicolablack)

    Hi Thomas Maier,
    thank you for your kind and complete answer.

    Seeing as you are more experienced then me, I would like to ask your opinion about the problem: keeping in mind that I had that account active for almost 2 years, with the same ads.txt settings(it has been probably set automaticaly by Altervista, the host, from the start, cause to show the ads on my site, I had to link my Altervista and Google Adsense accounts and then Altervista did automaticaly all the work on the backend), and didn’t change from then, did Adsense change their requisite recently and decided to “punish” whoever use a different method or is simply a mistaken warning that should disappear soon?
    Should I worry to not earn anything anymore and so should I try to fix it in some way(not sure how, seeing how it is set by the host and not me) or should I don’t worry, ignore the warning and keep going on as usual(now it has been almost 2 weeks from when it started to show up that warning and I kept earning daily as usual; for example yesterday it was 0,25€)?

    Yes, I can confirm using AdSense only on that site and no other site. On the AdSense dashboard, clicking on the Fix the error button, will take me to my site list, where again AdSense ask me to make an ads.txt for one of my site, reporting the url for my one and only site: edicolablack.altervista.org
    Funnily enough, at the bottom of that page there is the full list of my sites(still only one) and on the right it report the site as Ready(in green), that should confirm that the site is working properly for them.

    Again, thank you for your support and collaboration.

    Plugin Author Thomas Maier

    (@webzunft)

    Hi edicolablack,

    > did Adsense change their requisite recently and decided to “punish” whoever use a different method or is simply a mistaken warning that should disappear soon?

    They did add the warnings about missing ads.txt features during this year, so it is possible that they only started showing warnings for cases like you recently.

    Only AdSense could say if this was a mistake. According to my information, the ads.txt is not supposed to be on a subdomain.

    > Should I worry to not earn anything anymore

    As to my knowledge, the warning is too scary at the moment. It is up to the advertisers to decide whether the sites need to have an ads.txt. I believe that you could see reduced earnings in the long run and not a sudden stop in earnings soon.

    AdSense asked me to refer users with account-specific questions to https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/2581949. If you are eligible for direct support then you should see a Contact link at the top right of that page.

    Good luck!
    Thomas

    Thread Starter edicolablack

    (@edicolablack)

    Thanks again for your kind answer.

    Checking the Altervista forum, it seems that I’m not the only one coming upon this problem: https://forum.it.altervista.org/le-pubblicit-di-altervista/283757-avviso-importante-da-google-adsense.html
    I’ll try to add my experience to the existing topic and see how the situation will evolve.

    Thank you again for your support and helpfulness.

    Plugin Author Thomas Maier

    (@webzunft)

    Thanks for letting me know. I hope that you can find a solution there.

    > Thank you again for your support and helpfulness.

    Would you find a minute to say it here?

    Best regards,
    Thomas

    Thread Starter edicolablack

    (@edicolablack)

    Me too, I hope it’ll be solved soon.

    I took a moment to leave a positive review there.

    Thank you again for your support.

    Plugin Author Thomas Maier

    (@webzunft)

    Thank you very much!

    All the best to you.

    Thomas

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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