ads.txt files doesn't contain your AdSense publisher ID

1. 84

   Rock_njposted 6 years ago

   I just saw a message on Google AdSense this morning, and am wondering if HubPages is aware of this situation and if they are correcting it?
   
   ads.txt files doesn't contain your AdSense publisher ID
   
   Publisher ID missing from ads.txt files
   Sites with ads.txt issues
   
   hubpages.com/ads.txt
   owlcation.com/ads.txt
   
   You need to add your publisher ID to the following ads.txt files:
   
   This will prevent a potentially severe impact on your earnings. Copy and paste the following code snippet into each ads.txt file:  (unique info provided).
   
   Is this being addressed?

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   1. 76

      sabrebIadeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah I just saw that too and came here to see if anything was actually wrong or if it was another Google SNAFU.

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   2. 99

      chef-de-jourposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      https://hubpages.com/community/forum/14 … ost2923861
      
      Will this help?

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   3. 83

      liesl5858posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I saw the same message on my adsense account today.

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   4. 85

      NateB11posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      This issue was answered by staff (Matt Wells) over here https://hubpages.com/community/forum/33 … n-hubpages

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      1. 84

         Rock_njposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for letting me know that it has been answered.

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         1. 82

            Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I don't believe that it was answered fully there. Matt has since provided a response on the thread below, saying that he believes it to be a false-positive by Adsense and that the warning should disappear eventually.
            
            https://hubpages.com/community/forum/33 … oughnickel

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   5. 77

      CatherineGiordanoposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I also got the message. I haven't a clue what to do. I assume that it is something that HP needs to fix.

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2. 88

   mistyhorizon2003posted 6 years ago

   I received something similar to this too, and it gave me a longer version of my existing ID code that I was supposed to add to my Hubpages.com/ads.txt file. I can’t find a way to do this on HubPages so have forwarded the email on to the team to ask them if I need to do anything with it.

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3. 82

   Marketing Meritposted 6 years ago

   I had the same message also, but when I checked on Paired Life and HubPages, my ID was present in the ads.txt file.
   Suggest others check as well.

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   1. 78

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      How did you check this?  I remember adding my publisher's ID to all of my sites when I set this up, all are verified, etc...but can't figure out how to even see if the pub ID is there.  I see no way of adding anything.
      
      However, I do think this is somehow related to the long email we all got the other day which we thought we could basically ignore.
      
      I, too have written the team for guidance.  When things like this come up, it would be extremely helpful if they would not just leave us alone to struggle with these issues.  My adsense income has dropped significantly this month, and i fear this may be the reason.
      
      Either way, we must have guidance on this one.  It could be very important to our earnings!

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      1. 88

         theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         The email was about Google Analytics, not Adsense.

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4. 75

   Barbara Kayposted 6 years ago

   I received the same message. It is an issue staff will need to check into. Since it is Sunday, I hope they don't lose an entire day of revenue.

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   1. 76

      sabrebIadeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Well my Hubs are still making money today.
      So I am wondering if its not just a Google glitch.

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      1. 88

         mistyhorizon2003posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         That’s probably because the majority of your income from HubPages comes from the HP Ad programme, not from Adsense. You probably wouldn’t even notice it if your Adsense stopped paying out as you most likely only earn a few pence from it per day. I am only concerned because that few pence adds up over a few years to a payout from Adsense, even though I get a good 3 figure sum every month from the HP Ad programme regardless.

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         1. 76

            sabrebIadeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I am straight AdSense, not HP Ads.

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            1. 88

               mistyhorizon2003posted 6 years agoin reply to this

               Ah, I see. Well in that case hopefully the Team will address the issue because so many people are raising it. Just a thought on a separate note, but have you ever tried swapping to the HP Ad programme at all? My earnings have been so much higher since I changed to it when it first came out and I wouldn’t go back to relying on Adsense now.

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               1. 65

                  Sabre1000posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  Yeah I did for a while last year when AdSense was screwing up a lot here. I really didn't notice a difference, but I may try it again in the future.

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      2. 78

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Mine are, too...but much, much less than at the beginning of the month and all of last month.  For some using Adsense in conjunction with HP only earns them pennies, but for me, it's considerably more.  Until this month, I was earning more than payout, so yes, I am concerned.

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5. 78

   Shil1978posted 6 years ago

   I've gotten the message in my AdSense dashboard and now an e-mail with the subject line:
   
   [Final reminder] Your AdSense earnings are at risk: Fix your ads.txt file
   
   I'm a bit worried about this. Can the HubPages staff looking into this urgently. The e-mail goes on to state the following:
   
   Dear Publisher,
   
   We’ve noticed that the ads.txt file on one or more of your sites that you monetize through this AdSense account (pub-XXXXXXXXXXXX) is missing the correct publisher code.
   Since November 2017, Google stopped buying ads on sites with ads.txt files which don’t include the correct publisher IDs. To prevent impact to your earnings, please update your ads.txt files immediately.
   You can view the list of your impacted sites by visiting My Sites. Make sure the ads.txt file for each site you want to earn money through this account contains the snippet below:
   
   It gives the sites impacted as hubpages.com and pairedlife.com. Hope someone looks into this quick.

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   1. 82

      Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Have you checked the ads.txt files to see if your publisher code is actually missing though?

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      1. 78

         Shil1978posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         We don't have access to root domain on HubPages/Pairedlife, do we?

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         1. 82

            Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            You don't need it. The file can be viewed by entering website/ads.txt
            
            eg: hubpages.com/ads.txt or pairedlife.com/ads.txt
            
            All you have to do is search for your publisher ID which can be found on your Adsense account.
            
            Hope this helps.

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            1. 88

               mistyhorizon2003posted 6 years agoin reply to this

               Mine is there, but not the new second part titled ‘Direct’.

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            2. 78

               Shil1978posted 6 years agoin reply to this

               I did check for both Hubpages and Pairedlife and yes I can find my publisher ID along with other publisher IDs. So could the problem be the rotation of different publisher IDs that is causing this issue? Thank you

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               1. 87

                  Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  I got it too, there's another thread going about it. My publisher numbers are on the sites, but I can't see them all. There's a big square that's blue and yellow blocking my vision so I can't get past it to see more. It has 5 sites I no longer write on, but also five that are hubpages. niche sites. I don't understand what to do and need help from the staff.

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                  1. 78

                     Shil1978posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                     Did you check the impressions you got on AdSense from Hubpages for April?

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                     1. 87

                        Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                        I don't use Adsense, I use the HP payment ads. And if I try to look up what's on the Adsense page, it's blocked by the Ad that's blue and yellow, and says, "Hi, welcome to your new page." The Ad which obscures the figures.

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               2. 82

                  Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                  I think the problem lies with the robots.txt file. When I checked this on Pethelpful, it includes the following:
                  
                  User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
                  Disallow: /
                  
                  I'm no expert, but believe this should be removed.
                  
                  See here:
                  
                  https://support.google.com/adsense/answ … 2?hl=en-GB

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                  1. 88

                     theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                     Hey, Cheryll
                     
                     Could you either contact HP about this, or maybe post in the tech forum? Staff might not be aware.

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                     1. 78

                        TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                        I couldn't even find the robots file...where is it?

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                        1. 82

                           Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                           Same method as for ads.txt file TT2.
                           So website/robots.txt e.g. pairedlife.com/robots.txt
                           Hope this helps.

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                     2. 82

                        Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                        Already done Bev. As I said earlier, I don't know if this is the problem, but it does seem odd that Adsense is disallowed in the robots.txt file.

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                  2. 78

                     Shil1978posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                     I'm no expert myself, but hopefully, they'd look into this soon. It's a bit disconcerting to see that red note up on my AdSense dashboard. Just want it to go away soon.

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6. 81

   gmmurgirlposted 6 years ago

   I got the same message too. I hope the HubPages will look into it.

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7. 88

   theraggededgeposted 6 years ago

   Strangely I haven't seen it, or had an email. You'd think what's missing for some would be the same for all.

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8. 45

   bkgroupposted 6 years ago

   I have also received same email

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9. 82

   Marketing Meritposted 6 years ago

   This is the reply I received from Matt:
   
   "The ads.txt warning should be removed within the next 24 hours. It could be that AdSense updated their ads.txt records.
   
   For information on robots.txt, please visit the HubPages FAQ: https://hubpages.com/faq/#adsenserobots"
   
   The above link states the following:
   
   "Why are my articles being blocked by AdSense because of the Robots.txt file?
   When you navigate to the Site Diagnostics section of your Google AdSense account, you might see some links to your articles embedded in links that are blocked due to the Robots.txt file. Please be aware that most of the time, these are not direct article links, but cached versions of your articles on sites like googleusercontent.com which intentionally block the AdSense crawler from spidering their cached versions of your pages. Since virtually none of your traffic comes from these pages, and since we have no control over other sites, there's nothing we can do, but, more importantly, there's nothing to worry about either, since this doesn't affect your traffic."
   
   I'm not convinced this addresses the issue I raised. However, as I am with the HP ad program, it is difficult for me to distinguish if my Adsense income is affected, as it only represents a minuscule portion of my overall earnings. Unsure if anyone else can throw some light on this?

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      Bedbugabscondposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I got the message, but when i checked my sites the only one affected by this is level skip. All the other niche sites are just fine for me.

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   2. 65

      Sabre1000posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Well its been almost 2 days and I still see the warning.
      My ID is on the list that they linked to.
      As of yesterday, Hubs were still making money though.

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      1. 78

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Same here.  Matt says not to worry that Google will eventually catch up...but I am wondering how long it will take and how this will affect income.

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      2. 82

         Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Totally agree and I was notified of the error on Sunday, so over 24 hours here also.

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10. 88

    ThePracticalMommyposted 6 years ago

    Any new info on this from HP? My Pub ID is there but I too still have the warning.

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    1. 82

       Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       My Adsense warning message has now disappeared and I have a tick against the message to say that the matter is resolved.

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       1. 78

          Shil1978posted 6 years agoin reply to this

          That is good to hear I still have that warning message though. Hopefully, it'd disappear soon.

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       2. 88

          ThePracticalMommyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks for the update! I'm going to go check mine.

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       3. 78

          TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Mine is still there.  I just checked. Seems to me that if one warning disappears, all should disappear.  Still worried about this

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          1. 84

             Rock_njposted 6 years agoin reply to this

             I haven't noticed an impact to my Adsense earnings, but I don't earn much via Adsense.  Also, any earnings are very sporadic.  87 cents one day, 2 cents the next day is typical.  I might have a big day and make $2, then earn a few cents for a week.  So, it's hard for me to tell the impact of this warning message..

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             1. 78

                TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                My warning is still there but the list has dropped from 8 sites to 4, so hopefully this issue is about to be resolved.  My losses are very big because I was making payout every month and then some until this started.  In April I missed it by several dollars, and this month it isn't looking good at all...waaaaayyyy down!

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                1. 78

                   Shil1978posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                   My warning has disappeared. I'm not sure whether the drop in AdSense earnings is related to this though. I primarily use AdSense on my own websites and HubPages accounts for a very small proportion of that and April was my worst month in terms of earnings for the past 2/3 years. Maybe it had to do with AdSense experimenting with the look and feel of ads that visitors didn't find clickable and engaging, but it's not just a HubPages thing that caused the earnings drop for sure.

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                   1. 78

                      Shil1978posted 6 years agoin reply to this

                      Well, the warning is back up again. It now lists wehavekids.com as being the site that follows this "You need to add your publisher ID to the following ads.txt files." I checked and my pub id and snippet is already in the ads.txt file for wehavekids.com, so why did this happen again?

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11. 92

    Kenna McHughposted 6 years ago

    Yes. I have the same warnings for reeldown and spinditty. Big concern on my end. HP and you let us know what is happening?

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12. 83

    HoneyBBposted 6 years ago

    AdSense originally had about 4 of my niche sites listed to add pub ID to and now it's down to only one so I'm hoping this is a sign that they are working on fixing this issue.

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13. 92

    Kenna McHughposted 6 years ago

    I emailed HP about this situation. I will let you know what they say.

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    1. 78

       TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Been there.  Done that.  Three times.  Answer is the same...it's a problem on the Adsense side that will correct itself "at some point".
       
       I started with 6 sites listed, then it went to 8, then it went to 4 and this morning it's down to 1.  So they're working on it, but as raggededge said, this is disconcerting and as I've said, it's costing us money.

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          theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Also, it's only happening to HubPages. I've Googled but no-one else is complaining about it happening to them. So this has to be Hubpages' problem.
          
          It would nice to know if the team have actually asked GA what is going on?

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14. 88

    theraggededgeposted 6 years ago

    I haven't had the warning... until now. So if this is being fixed as Matt says, how come new warnings are still being issued?
    
    I only have one article on all of the five network sites they list, so right now, it's not such a big deal. More disconcerting than anything.

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    1. 83

       HoneyBBposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       All but one of my niche sites have been taken off my list from adsense and I haven't had any views on the article on that site {holidappy} so I wonder if they fix them as they get views. I did have views on the ones that they took off the list.

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15. 92

    Kenna McHughposted 6 years ago

    This morning Google Adsense has expanded its instructions. I wish I had time to figure this out. Shouldn't HP staff figure this out for us?

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    1. 78

       TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, but they are telling us this is a problem in the Adsense arena so we just have to wait until Adsense makes corrections.  It appears that they're at least working on it now, but far too many of us are still seeing those warnings.  I have to wonder if Google is becoming overloaded!

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          Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Given that this has affected so many of us, and potentially has a financial impact,  an official announcement at the top of the forum wouldn't go amiss. No disrespect to Matt, but I do feel we have all been left to our own devices on this this one.

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             TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

             Matt did post a comment about this on one of the posts, and he has been good about answering emails.  I think the problem is that he has no control over this because it is a problem with Adsense.  However, it seems they are now working to correct the issue, but it has taken far too long.

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16. 83

    HoneyBBposted 6 years ago

    All my warnings finally gone...Yay!

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