{"id":2538,"date":"2007-09-04T22:26:24","date_gmt":"2007-09-04T16:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T15:00:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T09:30:35","slug":"display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/","title":{"rendered":"AdSense Allowed Sites: How Site Authorization Works in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What happens when a banned site copies your content, along with your AdSense code, and shows your ads? Back in 2007 Google added <strong>AdSense allowed sites<\/strong>, a whitelist of the sites that may show ads for your account. This guide explains how that feature worked and how site authorization works in AdSense in 2026.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-67371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/adsense-allowed-sites-2026-1024x538.webp\" alt=\"AdSense allowed sites and site authorization explained\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/adsense-allowed-sites-2026-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/adsense-allowed-sites-2026-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/adsense-allowed-sites-2026-150x79.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/adsense-allowed-sites-2026-768x403.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/adsense-allowed-sites-2026.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> The old Allowed Sites setting let you list the domains allowed to earn with your publisher ID. In today&#8217;s AdSense, you add each site on the Sites page, and ads show once the site is Ready and its ads.txt file is Authorized. An ads.txt file with your publisher ID also helps stop others from selling ads in your name.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af2c4225c942\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af2c4225c942\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#How_AdSense_allowed_sites_worked_in_2007\" >How AdSense allowed sites worked in 2007<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#The_case_against_a_whitelist\" >The case against a whitelist<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#AdSense_allowed_sites_today_the_Sites_page\" >AdSense allowed sites today: the Sites page<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#Use_adstxt_to_protect_your_publisher_ID\" >Use ads.txt to protect your publisher ID<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#Other_ways_to_guard_your_account\" >Other ways to guard your account<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#Does_AdSense_still_have_an_Allowed_Sites_setting\" >Does AdSense still have an Allowed Sites setting?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#Can_someone_else_use_my_AdSense_code\" >Can someone else use my AdSense code?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#Is_adstxt_required_for_AdSense\" >Is ads.txt required for AdSense?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2007\/09\/display-google-adsense-on-allowed-sites-only\/#How_long_does_a_new_site_take_to_get_Ready\" >How long does a new site take to get Ready?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_AdSense_allowed_sites_worked_in_2007\"><\/span>How AdSense allowed sites worked in 2007<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In the 2007 AdSense interface, you went to AdSense Setup, then Allowed Sites, and chose to either <strong>allow all sites or list specific sites<\/strong>. Once you listed your sites, ads could still appear on other sites using your code, but impressions and clicks there weren&#8217;t recorded, and you didn&#8217;t earn from them.<\/p>\n<p>Google explained that it added the feature because some publishers were worried about others stealing their ad code and placing it on inappropriate sites. Allowed Sites gave publishers more control over which sites could use their AdSense code.<\/p>\n<p>Changes took a few hours to apply. If you didn&#8217;t change anything, any site could show ads for your account by default, so the advice was to list every domain where you run AdSense and <strong>keep the list up to date<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_case_against_a_whitelist\"><\/span>The case against a whitelist<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Not everyone turned it on. Amit Agarwal of Labnol explained at the time that part of his traffic arrived through Google and Yahoo caches, online translation services and proxy servers, and some sites showed content inside frames. With a whitelist, that indirect traffic couldn&#8217;t earn. Of course, if someone was misusing your publisher ID, enabling the feature made sense.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"AdSense_allowed_sites_today_the_Sites_page\"><\/span>AdSense allowed sites today: the Sites page<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Current <a href=\"https:\/\/adsense.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google AdSense<\/a> manages this through the <strong>Sites<\/strong> page:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Add each site you own on the Sites page.<\/li>\n<li>Wait for the site status to show <strong>Ready<\/strong>. If it says Needs attention, fix the listed issues and request a review.<\/li>\n<li>Check the <strong>ads.txt status<\/strong>. According to Google&#8217;s help pages, ads start to show when the ads.txt status is Authorized, the site status is Ready, and ads are set up on the site.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Use_adstxt_to_protect_your_publisher_ID\"><\/span>Use ads.txt to protect your publisher ID<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ads.txt is an IAB Tech Lab standard that lists who is allowed to sell ads on your site. It&#8217;s not mandatory, but Google highly recommends it. To set it up:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Copy your ads.txt snippet from AdSense (Sites, then the ads.txt snippet). It looks like <code>google.com, pub-0000000000000000, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0<\/code> with your own publisher ID.<\/li>\n<li>Save it in a file named ads.txt in your site&#8217;s root, so it opens at yoursite.com\/ads.txt.<\/li>\n<li>Add lines for any other ad networks you use.<\/li>\n<li>Use &#8220;Check for updates&#8221; in AdSense. Google says changes can take days, or up to a month for low-traffic sites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If ads.txt is missing your publisher ID, ad requests from that site can be rejected. Our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/01\/google-adsense-bug-showing-no-ads\/\">AdSense ads not showing<\/a> covers this and other causes.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Other_ways_to_guard_your_account\"><\/span>Other ways to guard your account<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Check AdSense reports for unfamiliar domains earning with your ads.<\/li>\n<li>Stop scrapers that copy your pages with ad code using these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/03\/stop-rss-feed-scraping-content-theft\/\">steps to stop RSS feed scraping<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid the policy slip-ups in our list of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/05\/15-common-mistakes-by-google-adsense-publishers\/\">common AdSense mistakes<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Does_AdSense_still_have_an_Allowed_Sites_setting\"><\/span>Does AdSense still have an Allowed Sites setting?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The old Allowed Sites screen is from the 2007 interface. Today you manage your sites on the Sites page and use ads.txt.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_someone_else_use_my_AdSense_code\"><\/span>Can someone else use my AdSense code?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>They can copy it, but ads.txt and the Sites page give you control, and you should report misuse to AdSense.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_adstxt_required_for_AdSense\"><\/span>Is ads.txt required for AdSense?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s not mandatory, but Google highly recommends it, and a missing publisher ID can cause ad requests to be rejected.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_long_does_a_new_site_take_to_get_Ready\"><\/span>How long does a new site take to get Ready?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>It varies. AdSense shows a Getting ready status and notifies you when the site can show ads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What happens when a banned site copies your content, along with your AdSense code, and shows your ads? Back in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":67371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,43],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-2538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogging","category-money","tag-adsense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67373,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions\/67373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}