Ads.txt Not Found? How to Fix This Critical Error in 5 Minutes

You log into your AdSense account and see a bright red banner at the top. It says, "Earnings at risk - You need to fix some ads.txt file issues to avoid a severe impact on your revenue."

It looks terrifying. It sounds like your account is about to be banned.

Here is the good news. It is not a ban. It is a straightforward verification step that typically takes around five minutes to complete. If you ignore it, your ads may stop showing, but if you fix it today, you will be safe.

Here is exactly how to get that red banner to go away.

What is ads.txt, and why do you need it?

Think of ads.txt it as a fake ID scanner for your website.

In the past, bad actors would spoof high-quality websites to sell fake ad inventory. Advertisers lost money, and publishers lost trust. So, the industry created a system called Authorized Digital Sellers (ads.txt).

It is simply a text file that resides on your server. It tells advertising buyers, "Hey, this AdSense account is actually authorized to sell ads on this website."

If you don't have it, Google stops showing ads because it can't verify you are the real owner of the ad inventory.

Step 1: Get your unique code

1. Log in to your Google AdSense account.
2. Click on Sites in the left menu.
3. Find your site in the list. It will likely say "Not Ready" or have a warning icon.
4. Click the down arrow next to your site URL.
5. You will see a snippet of code that looks like this: google.com, pub-0000000000000000, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0
6. Copy that line or click the "Download" button to get the .txt file.

Step 2: Upload the file to your website

This depends on how you built your site.

If you use WordPress, the easiest way is to use a plugin if you are not comfortable with files.

1. Install a free plugin like "Ads.txt Manager."
2. Go to the plugin settings.
3. Paste your code line into the box.
4. Click Save.

If you use cPanel or Custom Hosting (Laravel/PHP), this is the better approach for developers. It keeps your site cleaner.

1. Log in to your cPanel or open your FTP client (like FileZilla).
2. Go to the public_html folder (or the root directory where you index.php live).
3. Upload the ads.txt file you downloaded from Google.
4. Alternatively, create a new file named ads.txt, paste the code in, and save it.

Step 3: Verify it works

Open a new browser tab and type in your website address, followed by /ads.txt.

Example: https://checkadsense.com/ads.txt

If you see the code displayed in your browser, you did it right. If you see a "404 Not Found" error, you uploaded it to the wrong folder.

How long until the error disappears?

This is the part that frustrates people.

You fixed it, but the red banner is still there. Don't panic.

Google's crawlers need to revisit your site to index the new file. This typically occurs within 24 to 48 hours, but it may take up to a week in some cases.

Just check your link (yourdomain.com/ads.txt). If the file is there, you are safe. Ignore the banner, focus on writing content, and let Google catch up.