Why a sellers.json company domain may differ from your publication

The seller’s company domain may differ from your site

Do not treat a different business domain in sellers.json as an error until you identify the seller company. One company can own several publications, and its company website can be different from every publication it operates.

Sellers.json is a file an advertising system publishes to identify sellers in its marketplace. It complements ads.txt, the file on your own site that lists authorized seller accounts. Google’s seller information includes identity and business-domain fields, so the comparison is between an account and the company behind it, not simply two website addresses. (Google sellers.json guidance ↗)

Example: one company, three publications

A fictional company, Northstar Media, operates garden.example, cooking.example and travel.example. Its advertising account is seller 123. Each publication authorizes that account in ads.txt; the advertising system’s sellers.json identifies seller 123 with northstar.example as the business domain.

Those four different domains can describe one consistent relationship. Replacing the business domain with garden.example would make two strings match while making the company-level record less representative.

A second legitimate case is an authorized intermediary selling through its own account. Its seller record can identify the intermediary’s company and domain, even though it does not own your publication. The question is whether this is the account your partner is authorized to use, not whether every seller owns the website.

Audit identity in the right order

Ask the partner that supplied the entry to identify the advertising system, exact account, seller company and direct or reseller relationship. Compare that explanation with ads.txt and the corresponding seller record. Keep confidential or unavailable fields marked unknown; do not fill them with an assumed owner.

A useful audit result states why this company sells this publication’s inventory. “The domains differ” is an observation, not that explanation. Escalate a contradictory account or relationship with the exact records attached.

Resolve the account before changing the file

If two exchanges show the same account number, keep separate audit entries. The system and account number together determine which record to investigate. Ask the partner who supplied each entry to confirm its role and whether the relationship is still active. If the first record is authorized, the second still needs its own evidence.

When an intermediary changes its name, preserve the date and the old mapping. This gives the next operator an explanation for why older records and current partner paperwork differ. If the actual account changed, ask for the effective date and verify which accounts need to remain authorized while the old arrangement winds down.

Three outcomes for a single seller record

Suppose your advertising partner confirms account 42 on Exchange A. The first lookup shows account 42 with the reseller you expected. Save that result. The second lookup shows account 42 on Exchange B, where you have no confirmed agreement. That is a different record even though the number matches. The third shows the right account but a company you do not recognize. Ask the partner to identify the payment entity and whether it is representing another seller.

Those outcomes should produce different actions. The first needs a record of the check. The second needs reconciliation against the public file and the partner’s authorized accounts. The third needs an explanation of the relationship. A rule that deletes every unfamiliar name handles all three alike and can remove an account the site still depends on.