What is site?
In OpenRTB, a site is web inventory: an ad opportunity on a page rendered in a browser, described by the BidRequest.site object. It carries the page URL, the domain, content categories, and the publisher. Site is one of three inventory contexts, next to app and dooh, and a request should carry exactly one of them.
Also called: site object, BidRequest.site, web inventory, mobile web.
How it works
The Site object has no strictly required fields, but buyers key most decisions off a few of them. Site.page is the full URL of the page where the ad will show. Site.domain is the bare domain used for ads.txt lookups and brand safety. Site.publisher identifies the seller, and its Publisher.id should match a seller ID in the exchange's sellers.json file. Site.ref carries the referrer, Site.cat, Site.sectioncat, and Site.pagecat describe the content, and Site.content describes a video or article on the page.
Mobile web is still site inventory. Site.mobile = 1 says the page layout is built for small screens; it does not turn the request into an app request. Facts about the device belong on BidRequest.device. Since OpenRTB 2.6-202211, Site.inventorypartnerdomain can name a content owner that shares inventory with the site owner, so authorization crawlers know whose ads.txt entries to check.
The most common integration bug is a request that carries both site and app, which many DSPs reject. The next is URL syntax in Site.domain: a scheme, path, or port there breaks ads.txt matching, and the full address belongs in Site.page. Without a page or domain, buyers cannot verify where the ad will render, and they bid lower or pass.
Read more
Related terms
Every term is in the glossary.