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How to fix the AdSense “Earnings at risk” ads.txt alert
By the ads-txt.in team · Published November 8, 2026
Many publishers see a red banner in AdSense warning that earnings are at risk and that some ads.txt issues need fixing. It sounds alarming, but the cause is almost always simple and fixable.
What the alert means
AdSense has tried to read the ads.txt file on one or more of your sites and either could not find it, or found it without a valid line for your publisher ID. Because buyers check ads.txt, AdSense warns that some advertisers may not bid on your ads until it is fixed.
Step 1: See which sites are affected
In AdSense, open Sites. The ads.txt status column shows which domains have a problem. Fix each one separately; every root domain needs its own file.
Step 2: Open the file yourself
Visit https://yourdomain.com/ads.txt in a browser. One of three things will happen:
- A 404 or “page not found”. The file is missing or in the wrong folder. Upload it to the root.
- Your home page or a styled page appears. The site is redirecting all unknown addresses to a page. The file is still missing.
- Plain text appears. The file exists. Now check its contents.
Step 3: Check the line
Paste the contents into our ads.txt validator and enter your publisher ID. It confirms whether there is a valid google.com line with exactly your ID. Typical problems are a missing digit, “ca-pub” instead of “pub”, an ID from a different account or a missing comma.
Step 4: Check how it is served
Run our ads.txt checker. It shows the HTTP status code, any redirects and the content type. The file should return status 200 and be served as text/plain. Redirect chains to other domains, firewall blocks or login pages can stop crawlers even when the file looks fine in your own browser.
Step 5: Check both versions of the domain
Ad systems request the file on the root domain. If your site lives on www, make sure example.com/ads.txt redirects to www.example.com/ads.txt or serves the file directly, rather than failing.
Step 6: Give it time
After fixing, AdSense needs to crawl the file again. Google notes that this can take a few days, and longer for low-traffic sites. You do not need to request anything; the alert clears on its own when the crawler sees a valid file.
Is my account in trouble?
No. This alert is not a policy violation and does not suspend your account. It is a warning that you may be missing out on some advertiser demand until the file is correct.