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Implementing Dynamic Ads.txt

Updated

Overview

Follow these steps to implement Dynamic Ads.txt for your site or application. The entire ads.txt file must be placed on production at least a week prior to your site launch. 

Ads.txt Crawler Identification

Our automated system regularly fetches your Ads.txt file to ensure it remains up to date. If your website is protected by a firewall, security plugin, or other traffic-filtering rules, your ads.txt allowlist needs to be updated. Follow the documentation included here to make the necessary updates. 

Installation

Site

Install a redirect to the Freestar-hosted ads.txt file at the root domain.
You can locate the Ads.txt file by logging into publisher.freestar.io and navigating to Site Configuration > Ads.txt

App

Install a redirect to the Freestar-hosted App-ads.txt file at the root level of your app developer domain.
The App-ads.txt file can be found by logging into publisher.freestar.io and navigating to Site Configuration > App Ads.txt.

Additional Instructions

Jump to more detailed instructions based on your site or app configuration:

Apache Http Server

  1. You can set up the site by selecting the "Apache .htaccess" option in the "Copy Redirect" menu.
  2. If your site does not have an .htaccess file:
    1. Create a text file and paste the copied text in the first line.
    2. Name the text file .htaccess
    3. Login to your server via FTP/SFTP or whatever method you use to upload files to your server.
    4. Upload the file to the root directory.
  3. If your site already has an .htaccess file:
    1. Using your preferred method of editing files on your server open the existing .htaccess file
    2. Insert the copied text into the first line of the .htaccess file. The text should be on its own line.
    3. Save the file.
  4. To verify that it was uploaded to the correct spot, you should be able to navigate to https://yourdomain.com/ads.txt> and verify that the URL redirects to a.pub.network.

NginX Http Server

  1. You can set up a site by selecting the "NginX .conf" option in the "Copy Redirect" menu.
  2. Open the existing .conf file (usually found in /etc/nginx/) using your preferred method of editing files on your server.
  3. Insert the copied text into the server block of your domain configuration and save the file.
  4. To verify that it was uploaded to the correct spot, you should be able to navigate to https://yourdomain.com/ads.txt> and verify that the URL redirects to a.pub.network.

Cloudflare

  1. Log into your Cloudflare account.
  2. Click the appropriate Cloudflare account for the domain where you want to add URL forwarding.
  3. Click the Page Rules app.
  4. Under Page Rules, click Create Page Rule. The Create Page Rule for dialog opens.
  5. Under If the URL matches, enter /ads.txt
  6. Next, click Add a Setting.
  7. Choose Forwarding URL from the drop-down menu.
  8. Click Select Status Code and choose 301 (Permanent Redirect)
  9. In the destination URL field, enter the URL for the FS Ads.txt page corresponding to your domain.
  10. To finish, click Save and Deploy.
  11. To verify that it was uploaded to the correct spot, you should be able to navigate to https://yourdomain.com/ads.txt> and verify that the URL redirects to a.pub.network.

Please review the Cloudflare documentation for more information on configuring a redirect using Cloudflare Page Rules.

WP Engine

While WP Engine sites may have a .htaccess file, there is an easier solution built in the WP Engine admin that you can use.

  1. Login to my.wpengine.com.
  2. Navigate to the "Sites" section.
  3. Click on the site you want to apply the redirect rule to.
  4. Under the Production environment on the left rail, select "Redirect Rules".
  5. At the top, right-click on "New Redirect Rule".
  6. You will see a dialogue pop up for more information.
  7. Open a new tab/window and open up the Freestar Dashboard and then navigate to the Site Configuration tab.
  8. Click on the Contextual Menu ("...") to the right of the domain you are working on, and select the "Copy Apache redirect" option.
  9. Head back to the WP Engine page and now you will fill in the details.
    1. Redirect Name: Provide something here like "ads.txt" that indicates where it's redirecting to
    2. Domain: Be sure to select the domain you are on to avoid redirecting all domains to the same file
    3. Source: This will be /ads.txt
    4. Destination: This will be where you are redirecting to the Freestar ads.txt file, i.e., https://a.pub.network/yourdomain-com/ads.txt
    5. There isn't anything required under the advanced settings, you can save this after you've filled out the above fields
  10. That's it. Now, you should see a redirect if you visit yourdomain.com/ads.txt.

Firebase

Update your Firebase config accordingly:

"hosting": {
  "redirects": [{
    "source": "/ads.txt",
    "destination": "https://a.pub.network/yourdomain-com/ads.txt",
    "type": 301
  }]
}

See Firebase Redirects Docs for further info.

Manual Installation

This product works by setting a redirect header with a status code of 301 to any inbound traffic that requests your ads.txt file. Depending on your installation, you can do one of the following:

  1. Create an ads.txt file that includes the redirect logic directly, such as the following for PHP'
<?php
header("Location: https://a.pub.network/yoursite-com/ads.txt", true, 301);
exit();
?>
  1. Create a server-side variable either from your cache, CDN or web server that will intercept and forward all requests for your ads.txt file
  2. To verify it uploaded to the correct spot, you should be able to navigate to https://yourdomain.com/ads.txt and verify that the URL redirected to a.pub.network

📘

Ensure that both secure and non-secure requests as well as the canonical and non-canonical URLs such as www and non-www are included in your redirect rules.

Questions?

Please speak with your Freestar Point of Contact, or submit an inquiry if you require further assistance.

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