One of the mistakes newbie bloggers make while they try to monetize their blogs – they apply to Google adsense and get rejected. This happened with me 3 times before I realized what mistakes I was making and there was not a single resource on the web which could guide me step by step and point out to me the mistakes I was making while applying to Google adsense program.
This was 2009 when the program was still new and getting accepted into Google adsense was easier compared to today. I thought about writing this one now so that people who are just getting ready to monetize their blogs do not face the same things and do not do the same mistakes that I did.
If you have already applied to the Google Adsense program and have been rejected, do not lose heart. You can still get accepted, provided you do the right things and tweak your site to make itself compliant with Google Adsense program policies, Google webmaster quality guidelines and other finer details.
Applying to Google Adsense for the First Time
So here are a few things you should know before applying for the Adsense program for the first time.
1. You must be 18 years old: Do not fake your age and if you are not 18 years old, wait until you become one. If you fake the age and get accepted into the program it might come to you later, so better be safe than sorry.
2. You must have a website or blog: If you do not have a website or blog, you cannot be accepted into the Adsense program. I have seen many people enter fake website addresses in the application form which is a sure fire way to get rejected. You will need a website which you own and cannot use someone else’s website for your Adsense application.
3. Your site should be active for at least 6 months: If you just registered a domain name, put a couple of posts on the site and apply to Google Adsense, it will be rejected straight away. Domain age is a factor and while it is not the only one, it is considered as a signal on how long this site has been available on the web. I would suggest you to at least wait for a year before you apply to Google Adsense. Anything more and you are still in that risk zone of getting the application turned down.
4. Your site should not encourage visitors to click advertisements: One of my friends did this mistake with his Adsense application. He made a website in Googlepages, copy pasted content from Wikipedia and submitted the application. He got selected and then he put ads on the website. On top of the ads, he wrote – “Please click these links”. Guess what happened? His account was suspended within a month.
The lesson is – do not encourage your site visitors to click on ads. If visitors click these ads, it will be counted as invalid clicks and your application will be either turned down or it will be suspended. Here is an excerpt from Google Adsense Program Policies page
Clicks on Google ads must result from genuine user interest. Any method that artificially generates clicks or impressions on your Google ads is strictly prohibited. These prohibited methods include, but are not limited to, repeated manual clicks or impressions, automated click and impression generating tools and the use of robots or deceptive software. Please note that clicking your own ads for any reason is prohibited.
Publishers may not ask others to click their ads or use deceptive implementation methods to obtain clicks. This includes, but is not limited to, offering compensation to users for viewing ads or performing searches, promising to raise money for third parties for such behavior or placing images next to individual ads.
5. Your site must adhere to Google Adsense Content Guidelines: Google adsense ads are allowed on sites which adhere to Google’s content guidelines and should not be placed on sites which has
- Adult content
- Content that enables dishonest behavior
- Hacking and cracking content
- Recreational drugs and drug-related content
- Copyrighted material
- Content that advocates against an individual, group, or organization
- Excessive profanity
- Sales of beer or hard alcohol, Sales of tobacco or tobacco-related products, prescription drugs, Sales or distribution of coursework or student essays
- Content regarding programs which compensate users for clicking ads or offers, performing searches, surfing websites or reading emails
- Software or other content that violates the Unwanted Software Policy
Malware or adware
Please read this help center article to understand in detail Google’s content guidelines.
6. Your site must not host copyrighted content – AdSense publishers may not display Google ads on pages with content protected by copyright law unless they have the necessary legal rights to display that content. Even if you have legal rights, I would suggest you to take the copyrighted content down and do not display ads on a site which has content that is not written by you but by someone else.
7. Your site should not get traffic from certain sources – If your website has earlier participated in pay to click programs, black hat seo, or you get traffic through mass emails or illegitimate clicks from a desktop software, browser plugin or spam messages sent erroneously across the internet, you should not apply to Google Adsense. This is because if your pages get traffic from these sources, then placing ads on these pages is a strict violation of Google Adsense program policies. If your site already uses advertisements to drive traffic, it must also comply with Google’s landing page quality guidelines.
8. Site usability – The site which you use for your Adsense application should be easy to use, friendly and readable. Your site should not have unnecessary redirects, open pop up ads, initiate downloads or interfere with site navigation.
9. An About page, a contact us page and a Privacy policy page – The site which you use for Adsense application should have an about page, a contact us page and a privacy policy page which clearly discloses that third parties may be placing and reading cookies on your users’ browsers, or using web beacons to collect information as a result of ad serving on your website. You must disclose clearly any data collection, sharing and usage that takes place on any site, app or other property as a consequence of your use of any Google advertising service. To comply with this disclosure obligation with respect to Google’s use of data, you have the option to display a prominent link to How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.
10. High quality content – The site which you are using to apply to Google Adsense must have high quality content that is original and useful and not plagiarized from other sources on the web. Don’t expect to get into Google Adsense program by writing shallow content, short posts or posts which contains only images or videos.
In the best interest of your Google Adsense account, I would suggest do not use a partner site or another content site which you do not own to get the account. You may get lucky but I would certainly not recommend it.
Applied to Google Adsense and Got rejected?
So you had applied to Google Adsense and got your application rejected? If that’s the case, you will need to re-work on your application, make some corrections and re-apply once again. Hit me up through the contact us page and I will see how I can help you with your application.
To summarize, you will need to be careful enough before you send in your application