What are Ads.txt and How Do They Impact Ad Space Purchases?

Guide to ads.txt for Purchasing Advertising Space

Aryel
Written by AryelLast update 8 months ago

What are ads.txt? And how can they influence the purchase of advertising space on a website? If you've ever asked yourself these questions, you're in the right place. In this article, we will explore in detail the meaning of ads.txt and their role in the online advertising ecosystem.

Ads.txt, or Authorized Digital Sellers, are a key component of the online advertising space purchasing process. This string enables an account on an SSP (Supply Side Platforms) for reselling advertising space on a website from a particular seller.

Ads.txt is a file placed in the root directory of a website (https//:www.website.com/ads.txt) and consists of a list of strings specifying authorized seller for a given site.

Each string within the ads.txt file is composed of several elements that specify information about authorized seller for a website.

Here's an example of an ads.txt string: 

example.com, 12345, DIRECT, abcdef1234

1) Seller (example.com): This field identifies the SSP used by the seller who has permission to sell advertising inventory for the website. Usually, this is the name of the vendor or advertising network.

2) Vendor ID (12345): This is the unique identifier of the seller’s account on the SSP, which can be a number or an alphanumeric string.

3) Relationship (DIRECT): This field indicates the relationship between the website owner and the vendor. Common relationships include "DIRECT" (indicating a direct partnership between the website and the vendor) or "RESELLER" (indicating that the vendor is an authorized reseller of the website's advertising inventory).

4) Publisher ID (abcdef1234): This is the unique identifier of the publisher, which can be their ID assigned by the vendor or a custom identifier.

So, how does the process work? When a DSP (Demand Side Platform) receives an ad request from an SSP (Supply Side Platform), the DSP verifies that the account of that specific SSP offering the advertising space is authorized in the website's ads.txt. Subsequently, it checks if there are advertising campaigns interested in purchasing this space.

Ads.txt thus play a crucial role in ensuring that only authorized sellers can sell advertising space on a particular website, ensuring transparency and security in the online advertising purchasing process.

We hope this guide has been helpful in better understanding the functionality of ads.txt strings and their impact on the world of online advertising.

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