How to upload a text file to the root of a Squarespace domain - Google Ads

Hi, I did follow the instructions from https://www.graesen.com/blog/resolve-google-adsense-your-earnings-may-be-at-risk-error-for-squarespace  but the ads.txt gets downloaded when accessed ? How to make it read only, as my ad networks are not accepting it.

Folks this may or may not work for you but it has in some cases. It is worth a shot and only takes a few minutes to set up. Also note SS changed how the UI for file uploads so you will need to adapt the instructions on the fly.

Try the following.

In Pages > Not Lined click on the plus.

Select the Link page.

Click on the gear.

Click on File.

Click on UPLOAD FILE.

Select your ads.txt file from your file system.

Click the checkbox for the ads.txt file.

Click Save.

Set the LINK TITLE to ads.txt and click SAVE.

The ads.txt Link page will be listed in Pages > Not LInked. You can move it around within the Not Linked area.

Go to Settings > Developer Tools > URL Mappings and add the following and click on SAVE.

/ads.txt -> /s/ads.txt 301

Wait for Google to find the file and remove the warning. This doesn't happen instantaneously. I have no clue what Google's usual turnaround time for finding the file and removing the warning are. I make no guarantees that this will work for you.

Let us know how it goes.

Ok, unfortunately I am not seeing the option to download adtxt

Waste of time, nothing works, either uploading .txt file (as the file gets downloaded instead of displayed, and there is no way to fix that) or redirecting to a different webserver that only hosts your .txt file (because the initial landing before the redirect still happens on SS site, it is "text/html" instead of "text/plain, and this breaks some of the ad networks crawlers, not all but some, enough to make you sad)...

I am transfering to wordpress.org managed by dreamhost (allow edit of root domain), avoid wordpress.com as it is similar service to these, that is limited on customisation

Hi,

How do I add an ads.txt to my SS sites?

How do I add an ads text file to my website? I tried by including a the text file with my Google publication ID and still it is saying it is not recognizing the file to be on my website.

Has anybody been able to successful add this ad text file to their website to complete the ad sense process? 

RE: Accessing Adsense: I'm trying to put an ads.txt and an app-ads.txt link on my Squarespace site with no automatic download of the file.I've placed the ad.txt link successfully'but it downloads automatically when tested. And when trying to place the app-ads.txt link, it won't save. Any suggestions? Thank you! 

So the reality is that Squarespace has no way to simply upload a file (merely .txt at that) as an asset and host it on our own domain?  In the year 2023?  I could do this with 3 clicks in Microsoft Frontpage in 2002.

That is at best incredibly lazy.  At worst, intentionally malicious against its own customers.

On 7/16/2023 at 10:01 PM, creedon said:

Try the following.

In Pages > Not Lined click on the plus.

Select the Link page.

Click on the gear.

Click on File.

Click on UPLOAD FILE.

Select your ads.txt file from your file system.

Click the checkbox for the ads.txt file.

Click Save.

Set the LINK TITLE to ads.txt and click SAVE.

The ads.txt Link page will be listed in Pages > Not LInked. You can move it around within the Not Linked area.

Go to Settings > Developer Tools > URL Mappings and add the following and click on SAVE.

/ads.txt -> /s/ads.txt 301

 

Wait for Google to find the file and remove the warning. This doesn't happen instantaneously. I have no clue what Google's usual turnaround time for finding the file and removing the warning are. I make no guarantees that this will work for you.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks very much for this with the helpful images. As far as I can tell this is doing what Google is looking for, so we'll see.  The URL directs appropriately to the file.

On 7/17/2023 at 3:01 AM, creedon said:

Try the following.

In Pages > Not Lined click on the plus.

Select the Link page.

Click on the gear.

Click on File.

Click on UPLOAD FILE.

Select your ads.txt file from your file system.

Click the checkbox for the ads.txt file.

Click Save.

Set the LINK TITLE to ads.txt and click SAVE.

The ads.txt Link page will be listed in Pages > Not LInked. You can move it around within the Not Linked area.

Go to Settings > Developer Tools > URL Mappings and add the following and click on SAVE.

/ads.txt -> /s/ads.txt 301

 

Wait for Google to find the file and remove the warning. This doesn't happen instantaneously. I have no clue what Google's usual turnaround time for finding the file and removing the warning are. I make no guarantees that this will work for you.

Let us know how it goes.

I can confirm this does work! 

1 hour ago, melody495 said:

I can confirm this does work! 

It shouldn't work because although you can add a redirect, the txt file will be downloaded from Squarespace, whereas it needs to be displayed within the browser.

Did you test it with a service like https://adstxt.guru/validator/?

On 1/11/2024 at 4:03 PM, paul2009 said:

It shouldn't work because although you can add a redirect, the txt file will be downloaded from Squarespace, whereas it needs to be displayed within the browser.

Did you test it with a service like https://adstxt.guru/validator/?

Hi @paul2009, thank you for sharing this. I've not used this validator before, the results seem to check out, can you confirm if the below looks ok to you?

I need small help related to ads.txt file. I added AdSense code snippet, Snippet and Meta tag. But still it is showing File is Not Found.
I also checked with other websites. There is a lot of data in your ads.txt file.

If you can help me fix this, I would be very grateful.

I am furious and feel let down by SQ SP- I have had my site for year and 4 others and I am finally ready to blog and use AD sense - and after all these years "SORRY" YOU CAN'T USE SQ SP for this. I have money that should be coming to me from my traffic and yet none of the options are possible because of this. 

I am left to go to word press - and this is SUCKY ! I feel super let down there is not way to possibly do a few steps but have them WORK. 

SQUARE SPACE - FIX THIS AND GIVE US AN OPTION THAT WILL WORK. 

On 1/11/2024 at 11:03 AM, paul2009 said:

It shouldn't work because although you can add a redirect, the txt file will be downloaded from Squarespace, whereas it needs to be displayed within the browser.

Did you test it with a service like https://adstxt.guru/validator/?

@paul2009 @melody495 Can either of you confirm that the steps will work and I will be able to collect and connect the Ads.txt? IT IS 2024 - if  Square Space can't build this to help their customer then I will leave and does anyone have a GOOGLE friend. I am so frustrated and in shock about SQ SP. 

14 hours ago, kpaquette1999 said:

@paul2009 @melody495 Can either of you confirm that the steps will work and I will be able to collect and connect the Ads.txt? IT IS 2024 - if  Square Space can't build this to help their customer then I will leave and does anyone have a GOOGLE friend. I am so frustrated and in shock about SQ SP. 

Hi @kpaquette1999 did you try out Creedon's steps above?

I can confirm that I did them and it worked for me. I have also seen other Squarespace websites that have AdSense running. 

I cannot confirm if this is THE solution, as there may the other reasons, but I found this method worked for me. Let me know how it goes. 

I gave this a try today and will report back in a few days. Thanks all. We are excited to have grown as a publication (on SS since 2017!), we'd hate to leave SS at this critical moment in our journey. 

Update 3 April 2024: Google Adsense has recognized the txt file as valid, utilizing the approach articulated by @creedon. 

Hello! 
I thought I'd come in here as @creedon your instructions have worked (THANK YOU) however there is a slight variation to how this appeared on my site. Hopefully this can save some others from having to figure out what I had to. Please also note that my file name is apps.ad-txt as I am monetising an app, not a webpage.  

Adding a LINK:
- Mine didn't appear as the instructions did (little clog, link editor), it went straight to upload Link and Link title. Don't stress, just do. 

Link URL: 
- After uploading the link and adding the title, I was generated a link URL. COPY THIS URL

Redirect URL:
- Edit the provided text using your unique URL copied: 

/apps-ads.txt -> /s/Apps-ads-wj3p.txt 301

*Again, you might want google directing to ads.txt, so input that instead of /apps-ads.txt

You can test by going to your site and typing your domain/app-ads.txt which should result in your file download. However, keep in mind that multiple requests to a 301 redirect may result in a 404 error, so if it doesn't work immediately give it a few minutes and try again before making any changes. 

Good luck, and thank you again for all that have tried and tested a solution for the community 😃

On 5/15/2024 at 8:51 AM, ClaireAtPinch said:

Hello! 
I thought I'd come in here as @creedon your instructions have worked (THANK YOU) however there is a slight variation to how this appeared on my site. Hopefully this can save some others from having to figure out what I had to. Please also note that my file name is apps.ad-txt as I am monetising an app, not a webpage.  

Adding a LINK:
- Mine didn't appear as the instructions did (little clog, link editor), it went straight to upload Link and Link title. Don't stress, just do. 

Link URL: 
- After uploading the link and adding the title, I was generated a link URL. COPY THIS URL

Redirect URL:
- Edit the provided text using your unique URL copied: 

/apps-ads.txt -> /s/Apps-ads-wj3p.txt 301

*Again, you might want google directing to ads.txt, so input that instead of /apps-ads.txt

You can test by going to your site and typing your domain/app-ads.txt which should result in your file download. However, keep in mind that multiple requests to a 301 redirect may result in a 404 error, so if it doesn't work immediately give it a few minutes and try again before making any changes. 

Good luck, and thank you again for all that have tried and tested a solution for the community 😃

 

Your file has the suffix wj3p because there are 2 files with the same name are uploaded, and SQS will append a random text to the file name

On 4/3/2024 at 8:30 AM, theinteriorreview said:

I gave this a try today and will report back in a few days. Thanks all. We are excited to have grown as a publication (on SS since 2017!), we'd hate to leave SS at this critical moment in our journey. 

Update 3 April 2024: Google Adsense has recognized the txt file as valid, utilizing the approach articulated by @creedon. 

Confirmed the redirections also work with IndexNow verification method, step-by-step tutorials can be seen on How to verify Squarespace ownership with IndexNow