closed-captioner

AdMob app-ads.txt Verification

Entry point: AGENTS.md

How to keep Google AdMob app verification working for Closed Captioner. Do not assume “file exists on the marketing site” is enough.

Canonical snippet

Repo copies (same content):

google.com, pub-7546535789763376, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Publisher ID: pub-7546535789763376 (matches AdConfig / GADApplicationIdentifier).

Critical gotcha: domain root, not project path

AdMob crawls:

https://<domain-from-App-Store-Marketing-URL>/app-ads.txt

It does not crawl a subdirectory, even if that subdirectory is the marketing page.

URL Status
https://kbibireddy.github.io/closed-captioner/app-ads.txt Reachable, but ignored by AdMob crawler
https://kbibireddy.github.io/app-ads.txt Required — domain root

Project GitHub Pages (username.github.io/repo/) cannot satisfy AdMob by itself. Publish root file from the user Pages site:

When changing the AdMob publisher line, update both this repo’s app-ads.txt / docs/app-ads.txt and kbibireddy.github.io’s root app-ads.txt.

Critical gotcha: live App Store Marketing URL

AdMob resolves the crawl domain from the Marketing URL on the live App Store listing (not Support URL, not a pending version only).

Field Role for AdMob
Marketing URL Domain AdMob uses for app-ads.txt
Support URL Not used for app-ads.txt (ours is github.com/... — cannot host /app-ads.txt)

Checklist:

  1. In App Store Connect → version → Marketing URL must be set to a URL whose host is kbibireddy.github.io (e.g. https://kbibireddy.github.io/closed-captioner/).
  2. That Marketing URL must be on the Ready for Distribution / live listing. Empty Marketing URL on live 1.0 → AdMob cannot verify even if root app-ads.txt is correct.
  3. Marketing URL cannot be added to a live version without a new version release (Promotional Text alone is editable).
  4. After Marketing URL is live, AdMob → app → Verify → Check for updates. Crawls are often fast; sometimes take longer.

Verify the store side after release:

curl -s "https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=6754772689" | python3 -c \
  'import sys,json; r=json.load(sys.stdin)["results"][0]; print(r.get("sellerUrl"))'
# Expect a URL under kbibireddy.github.io (sellerUrl maps to Marketing URL)

Quick verification commands

# Must be HTTP 200 + the google.com line
curl -sI "https://kbibireddy.github.io/app-ads.txt"
curl -s  "https://kbibireddy.github.io/app-ads.txt"

# Nice to have (project Pages) — not sufficient alone
curl -sI "https://kbibireddy.github.io/closed-captioner/app-ads.txt"

If the binary includes AdMob, App Store Connect Age Ratings → Advertising must be Yes. Mismatch → Guideline 2.3.6 Accurate Metadata rejection. See App Information → Age Ratings after any ads change.

Agent rules of thumb

  1. Never “fix” AdMob verify by only committing app-ads.txt under closed-captioner Pages.
  2. Always confirm root URL https://kbibireddy.github.io/app-ads.txt returns 200.
  3. Always confirm live Marketing URL host is kbibireddy.github.io before declaring verification unblocked.
  4. Do not change AdMob publisher IDs without updating root Pages + both repo copies.