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How do I install my ads.txt or app-ads.txt file?

To install your ads.txt file, you create a plain text file containing your authorized seller lines and upload it to the root of your domain so it's reachable at yourdomain.com/ads.txt. For app-ads.txt, the same file (named app-ads.txt) goes at the root of the developer domain listed in your app store listing. Your account-specific Sovrn lines are in the Sovrn Platform at Advertising > Ads.txt.

Installing ads.txt on a website

If your site runs on WordPress, the Ads.txt Manager plugin is the fastest route — paste your lines into the plugin and it serves the file for you. For all other sites, follow these steps:

  1. Create the file. Using any text editor (Notepad, TextEdit, etc.), create a plain text file named ads.txt and paste in the lines from your Sovrn account, found here. The file extension must be .txt.

  2. Connect to your web server. Open an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client such as FileZilla and log in with the credentials provided by your hosting service (GoDaddy, HostGator, etc.).

  3. Upload to the root directory. Place the file in your domain's root (home) directory so the resulting path is yourdomain.com/ads.txt. The file must have Read permissions set to World.

  4. Verify. Open a browser and navigate to yourdomain.com/ads.txt. If the lines display, the installation is complete.

Installing app-ads.txt for mobile and CTV apps

App-ads.txt is not hosted inside your app. Instead:

  1. Confirm your developer domain. Buyers locate your app-ads.txt file through the developer website URL in your app store listing (Google Play, Apple App Store, Roku, etc.). That listing must contain a valid developer domain.

  2. Create the file. Create a plain text file named app-ads.txt containing your authorized seller lines, including your Sovrn lines.

  3. Upload to the root of the developer domain. The file must be reachable at yourdeveloperdomain.com/app-ads.txt.

  4. Verify. Navigate to yourdeveloperdomain.com/app-ads.txt in a browser and confirm the lines display. Sovrn monitors app-ads.txt compliance daily, and updates are typically reflected within two business days.

Formatting rules for ads.txt and app-ads.txt files

Each line represents one authorized seller and uses comma-separated fields in this order:

  1. Advertising system domain — the operational domain of the selling partner (for example, lijit.com).

  2. Seller account ID — your account ID with that partner.

  3. Relationship type — DIRECT if you have a direct business relationship with the partner, or RESELLER if you've authorized the partner to sell through another party.

  4. Certification authority ID (optional) — an ID uniquely identifying the advertising system within a certification authority, such as the TAG ID.

Do not include www. in domain entries — mywebsite.com is valid, www.mywebsite.com is not, and using www. will invalidate the entry. No field should contain embedded separators such as tabs or extra whitespace. You can add comments or labels to organize the file by starting a line with #.

Formatting errors can render your file unreadable to DSP (demand-side platform) crawlers, which invalidates your authorizations and costs you bids — double-check your file against the lines in your Sovrn account after any change.

Questions? Concerns? Our team would be more than happy to help. Reach out to our Support Team here.