Is it possible to add an ads.txt file for Adsense to root of domain

@JONNO @Tenniscraft @softsoldier 

I think I've found a solution! You have to go through several steps, including URL remapping. 

Here's what I did:

1. Download the ads.txt file from Google AdSense.

2. On Squarespace, go to your Pages, and create a blank page under the "Not Linked" section. 

3. On that page, create a text block and write anything you like. I wrote "test". 

4. Highlight the text and click on the hyperlink icon. Once the small window pops up, click on the settings icon. 

5. Go to the "File" section and upload the ads.txt file. Once uploaded, click on it to select it (a tick mark will appear next to it). Click apply then save the page. 

8. Return to your page's dashboard and go to Settings --> Advanced --> URL Mappings.

9. In the box, type "/ads.txt -> /s/ads.txt 301". Save. 

Et voila! You should be good to go. You can even delete the page you've created earlier - the file will still be saved on Squarespace. 

I used the same method as Mariana.  It SEEMS to have worked, but I'm still getting the error on my adsense account.  

On 2/6/2020 at 6:03 PM, Marinaoftheworld said:

@JONNO @Tenniscraft @softsoldier 

I think I've found a solution! You have to go through several steps, including URL remapping. 

Here's what I did:

1. Download the ads.txt file from Google AdSense.

2. On Squarespace, go to your Pages, and create a blank page under the "Not Linked" section. 

3. On that page, create a text block and write anything you like. I wrote "test". 

4. Highlight the text and click on the hyperlink icon. Once the small window pops up, click on the settings icon. 

5. Go to the "File" section and upload the ads.txt file. Once uploaded, click on it to select it (a tick mark will appear next to it). Click apply then save the page. 

8. Return to your page's dashboard and go to Settings --> Advanced --> URL Mappings.

9. In the box, type "/ads.txt -> /s/ads.txt 301". Save. 

Et voila! You should be good to go. You can even delete the page you've created earlier - the file will still be saved on Squarespace. 

 

This method worked for me last year, but no longer seems to be working. Even when I had it working, it would intermittently stop working. 

I'm trying now with the full URL redirect, e.g. "/ads.txt -> https://domain.squarespace.com/s/ads.txt 301" If this still doesn't work, I'm going to have to find an alternative to Adsense.

@Tenniscraft @AlexFa @Marinaoftheworld 

Thanks to everyone who replied to my question and for your suggestions.  I contacted Squarespace support and requested assistance, but unfortunately the person who replied to me could only say that they will refer the matter to development, but couldn't guarantee that it will be resolved any time soon.  I guess he didn't have the authority to promise anything, but there's always hope that the message got through to the right people.  I can't see why it can't be implemented as other platforms have done so, and it's a major requirement for anyone looking for a simple way to monetize their blog so really in Squarespace's best interest to solve.

Below is the reply I received:

Happy to help you with this!
We don't currently offer that feature, but I'd be happy to suggest it to our development team. While we can't guarantee implementation of every suggestion, customer feedback is an important part of how we continue to improve our platform, so we appreciate your input.
You can keep up-to-date on developments at Squarespace by following our blog here:
http://blog.squarespace.com
In addition to the major product features we already post, we’ll also be adding product update summaries that roll up smaller releases, updates, and fixes.
If you need any further assistance, or have a question or comment, we'll be happy to help you!
Juan U.

http://support.squarespace.com

I hope others reading this will follow up with support as well so that they can see that more clients are requesting this feature.

@PDChappelle has your full URL redirect worked since you tried it, or have you moved on to an alternative?  

On 2/27/2020 at 1:45 PM, JONNO said:

@Tenniscraft @AlexFa @Marinaoftheworld 

Thanks to everyone who replied to my question and for your suggestions.  I contacted Squarespace support and requested assistance, but unfortunately the person who replied to me could only say that they will refer the matter to development, but couldn't guarantee that it will be resolved any time soon.  I guess he didn't have the authority to promise anything, but there's always hope that the message got through to the right people.  I can't see why it can't be implemented as other platforms have done so, and it's a major requirement for anyone looking for a simple way to monetize their blog so really in Squarespace's best interest to solve.

Below is the reply I received:

Happy to help you with this!
We don't currently offer that feature, but I'd be happy to suggest it to our development team. While we can't guarantee implementation of every suggestion, customer feedback is an important part of how we continue to improve our platform, so we appreciate your input.
You can keep up-to-date on developments at Squarespace by following our blog here:
http://blog.squarespace.com
In addition to the major product features we already post, we’ll also be adding product update summaries that roll up smaller releases, updates, and fixes.
If you need any further assistance, or have a question or comment, we'll be happy to help you!
Juan U.

http://support.squarespace.com

I hope others reading this will follow up with support as well so that they can see that more clients are requesting this feature.

@PDChappelle has your full URL redirect worked since you tried it, or have you moved on to an alternative?  

Nope. I've had to ditch Adsense for Skimlinks. I didn't want to do it, but Squarespace leaves me with no choice. 

There's a guy who runs a Squarespace site, who had been helping us immensely with this issue. His instructions were useful, but something with the SQSP platform kept screwing it up. He is now leaving Squarespace for Wix. 

For anyone who has been trying to unsuccessfully install Google Adsense on their Squarespace site, here are the instructions

This is a permanent solution, similar to the other method, but with changes.

Please give it anywhere from 24 hours to a week to take effect. https://www.graesen.com/blog/resolve-google-adsense-your-earnings-may-be-at-risk-error-for-squarespace 

Awesome Fix. For those that haven't done this: It sounds complicated at first but just go step by step. Clean fix.

On 3/16/2020 at 2:20 PM, PDChappelle said:

For anyone who has been trying to unsuccessfully install Google Adsense on their Squarespace site, here are the instructions

This is a permanent solution, similar to the other method, but with changes.

Please give it anywhere from 24 hours to a week to take effect. https://www.graesen.com/blog/resolve-google-adsense-your-earnings-may-be-at-risk-error-for-squarespace 

I officially joined this forum just to tell you THANK YOU! hahaha 

On 3/26/2020 at 12:45 PM, ATXFYI said:

I officially joined this forum just to tell you THANK YOU! hahaha 

LOL You're welcome!

thank you, very helpful!

I found this thread very helpful!

I have a question to piggyback off of this. In the instructions, it says that we can delete the physical text after we are done with the URL Mapping. What would you do in a situation where you needed to update the ads.txt file again (maybe due to adding more partners)? Would you just have to repeat the entire process again?

On 3/16/2020 at 7:20 PM, PDChappelle said:

For anyone who has been trying to unsuccessfully install Google Adsense on their Squarespace site, here are the instructions

This is a permanent solution, similar to the other method, but with changes.

Please give it anywhere from 24 hours to a week to take effect. https://www.graesen.com/blog/resolve-google-adsense-your-earnings-may-be-at-risk-error-for-squarespace 

Hi guys, need a bit of assistance, in these instructions (from the link) it states to upload the file into link editor, but what type of link is it? These are the options according to the squarespace help page. 

• Text links
• Navigation links
• Image clickthrough URLs
• Button Blocks
• Cover Page action

Thanks!

On 10/3/2020 at 9:58 PM, cizz said:

Hi guys, need a bit of assistance, in these instructions (from the link) it states to upload the file into link editor, but what type of link is it? These are the options according to the squarespace help page. 

• Text links
• Navigation links
• Image clickthrough URLs
• Button Blocks
• Cover Page action

Thanks!

Text link. The instructions tell you that. Sorry for the late response. 

On 3/16/2020 at 9:20 AM, PDChappelle said:

For anyone who has been trying to unsuccessfully install Google Adsense on their Squarespace site, here are the instructions

This is a permanent solution, similar to the other method, but with changes.

Please give it anywhere from 24 hours to a week to take effect. https://www.graesen.com/blog/resolve-google-adsense-your-earnings-may-be-at-risk-error-for-squarespace 

I've tried Graesen's approach several times but have run into two issues. The first is that when I visit the redirect checker, it gives me this error: "You use a 302 redirect. This means that the content is temporarily not reachable and will come back soon. Using a 302 redirect is a bad idea because the search engine bot might not follow it or handle it as temporary. It's also a bad idea for SEO because no 'link juice' will be transferred to the linked page."*

The second error I get is when I go to input the URL mapping. Squarespace tells me, "An unexpected error happened when saving your data. We don't allow unlimited rules. If you have more than 5000 rules, that is most likely the cause."*

Has anyone else run into the same issues? As much as I'd like to run AdSense as a form of passive income, I'm not sure it's worth the headache.

*I edited the language for grammar but the error was littered with grammar mistakes which makes me question the legitimacy of the error. See screenshots.

On 12/18/2020 at 12:50 AM, jessikalyngarcia said:

I've tried Graesen's approach several times but have run into two issues. The first is that when I visit the redirect checker, it gives me this error: "You use a 302 redirect. This means that the content is temporarily not reachable and will come back soon. Using a 302 redirect is a bad idea because the search engine bot might not follow it or handle it as temporary. It's also a bad idea for SEO because no 'link juice' will be transferred to the linked page."*

The second error I get is when I go to input the URL mapping. Squarespace tells me, "An unexpected error happened when saving your data. We don't allow unlimited rules. If you have more than 5000 rules, that is most likely the cause."*

Has anyone else run into the same issues? As much as I'd like to run AdSense as a form of passive income, I'm not sure it's worth the headache.

*I edited the language for grammar but the error was littered with grammar mistakes which makes me question the legitimacy of the error. See screenshots.

This happened to me when I first tried it. In my case, it there was a space in the url that I hadn't noticed. Try looking to make sure you have no spaces in yours.