Yandex Advertising Network displays ads from Yandex Direct advertisers and more than 80 partners (other DSP networks). This means that more advertisers compete for the right to serve ads on your site. Ads are also selected for users from different countries and regions. As a result, your income from monetization grows.
The DSP networks that use ads.txt and app-ads.txt files do that to verify which advertising networks are authorized. That is, they can sell a site’s or application’s inventory, but don’t purchase ad impressions on the site if there is no such file.
How ads.txt and app-ads.txt work
The ads.txt protocol is one of the standards for the online advertising industry. The abbreviation ADS stands for Authorized Digital Sellers, which translates into “authorized sellers of digital content”.
Website owners and app developers publish ads.txt and app-ads.txt files themselves. These files contain a list of advertising networks and partners who can sell advertising space on the platform.
When DSP networks receive a request to select ads, they’re able to verify that this request relates to the site, thereby adding the advertising network to the list of authorized sellers.
Here’s how a DSP does it:
- It opens the app.txt or app-ads.txt file (by adding /ads.txt to the browser address bar or attaching /app-ads.txt to the app developer’s site address — for instance, example.com/app-ads.txt).
- It finds the developer ID in the file.
- It compares this identifier with the one in the advertising request.
If the identifiers match, it means that the advertising request is real, and the ad can be displayed.
How and where should you place a file if you’re monetizing a website or app?
To maximize monetization opportunities, we recommend placing the ads.txt/app-ads.txt file in the root domain of the site.
Step 1. Specify the URL of the developer’s site.
Make sure that the current website is listed in various app stores. Advertising platforms will use it to search for and verify the app-ads.txt file.
If you don’t have your own website, we recommend creating one. Even sites using free web hosting services are acceptable.
Step 2. Get lines of code for your file from all advertising networks
Each advertising network will provide a piece of code that needs to be added. Contact the advertising network and ask them to send the lines for your app-ads.txt file.
In Yandex Advertising Network, you can find an individual code fragment in the interface. Go to settings, and under Basic click on app-ads.txt to download the file with the necessary lines of code.
The string for your app-ads.txt file looks like this: advertising platform domain → partner ID → type of relationship with the seller (direct or intermediary).
For instance: example.com, 1234, DIRECT
The advertising networks that you work with directly will be listed as DIRECT. If they use third-party intermediaries to sell inventory, these partners will be marked as RESELLER. Don’t add information about companies you don’t work with to the code.
Step 3. Publish the app-ads.txt file.
Create app-ads.txt in your notepad, record the lines of code from all advertising networks and save them.
Step 4. Upload the file.
Add the file to the root directory of the developer’s site. The root directory is the folder following the top-level domain (for instance, example.com/app-ads.txt).
If the file is published correctly, you can see its contents if you add /app-ads.txt to the site address.
Step 5. Update the file regularly.
Advertising network partners may change. For example, Yandex Advertising Network has connected more than 50 new partners in 2022 alone. Therefore, it’s important to update the app-ads.txt file on a regular basis. We recommend doing this every month.
Step 1. Get lines of code for your file from all advertising networks
Each advertising network will provide a piece of code that needs to be added. Contact the advertising network and ask them to send the lines for your ads.txt file.
In Yandex Advertising Network, you can find an individual code fragment in the interface. Go to settings, and under Basic click on ads.txt to download the file with the necessary lines of code.
The string for your ads.txt file looks like this: advertising platform domain → partner ID → type of relationship with the seller (direct or intermediary) → advertising source ID.
For instance: example.com, 1234, DIRECT
The advertising networks that you work with directly will be listed as DIRECT. If they use third-party intermediaries to sell inventory, these partners will be marked as RESELLER. Don’t add information about companies that you don’t work with to the code.
Step 2. Publish the ads.txt file.
Create ads.txt in your notepad, record the lines of code from all advertising networks, and save them.
Step 3. Upload the file.
Add the file to the root directory of the site. The root directory is the folder following the top-level domain (for instance, example.com/ads.txt).
If the file is published correctly, you can see its contents if you add /ads.txt to the site address.
Step 4. Update the file regularly.
Advertising network partners may change. For example, Yandex Advertising Network has connected more than 50 new partners in 2022 alone. Therefore, it’s important to update the ads.txt file on a regular basis. We recommend doing this every month.
