Most of the bloggers of today depend primarily on a single source of income for publishing their content online. That income source we’re talking about is none other than online advertising. And Google Ad Network is by far the largest advertising network on the Internet. The model works in a simple way. Advertisers invest money for displaying ads (AdWords), and you get paid for displaying them on your website (AdSense).
In order to get a working AdSense account, you need to verify that your website is good enough to attract potential customers. Google has completely revamped its AdSense account verification process. And many upcoming bloggers have already begun to complain how the new approval process is difficult to get through (especially in certain locations like India). We know a lot of bloggers who try really hard to get their AdSense approval but have been rejected over and over again. However, we have been able to get our AdSense account approved, and we have been successful in our first attempt.
Now, we are not here to boast about it. But we feel that getting an AdSense approval is not that difficult, if you follow certain conditions and stick to them. In this article we will try to give you some idea on how Google AdSense works and what you can do to get your AdSense account approved.
Adsense Two Step Verification
Earlier, Google AdSense verification was easy to get through. As a result, every Tom , Dick and Harry could easily earn money without paying attention to the quality of content. This topsy-turvy had to be stopped. Google had to build a bulletproof advertising network where advertisers could get the maximum returns from targeted audiences. Hence, to encourage genuine bloggers to contribute useful and high quality content (so as to draw potential customers), Google enhanced their AdSense verification process. This limits advertisements featured on irrelevant or spam webpages.
How is it beneficial?
The two-step AdSense account verification process is beneficial for both genuine bloggers and advertisers.
First, it filters only the people who are really serious about blogging. This means that the money invested by the advertisers gets channeled only to those genuine bloggers; hence, bloggers can earn considerably more.
Advertisements featured on user friendly and information-rich webpages tend to attract more prospective customers. Knowing that Google verifies its AdSense publishers efficiently, advertisers gain more confidence to invest more money in AdWords; hence, more cash flow in AdSense.
Are you Eligible For AdSense?
In order to apply for an AdSense account, you must first fulfill the following criteria.
Top Level Domains (TLD): This is the most important factor defining your eligibility. In order to get a functional AdSense account, you must be the owner of a complete website on a TLD (.com, .org, .info, etc.). Subdomains (mywebsite.example.com) or sub-directory based websites (example.com/mywebsite) are not eligible for AdSense accounts anymore.
Note: If you are planning to use a host partner site like Blogger, Hubpages to get an AdSense account for your self hosted site, that won’t help you either. Google’s official “Inside AdSense” blog clearly mentions in one of the articles:
>>Updates to the application process for host partner sites
Age Verification: Google AdSense Policy doesn’t allow users less than 18 to have an AdSense account.
Domain Age: You must have owned the website for a minimum of 6 months before applying for your AdSense account (in some countries).
In some locations, including China and India, we require publishers to have owned their sites for 6 months. We’ve taken this step to ensure the quality of our advertising network and protect the interests of our advertisers and existing publishers. ~ Google
Content Type: AdSense only accepts some specific content types for approval. Websites having editorial content is the most likely candidate. But there are some content types that are strictly prohibited. See the page below for a full list of content types prohibited for AdSense approval.
Terms & Policies: You should comply with Google AdSense policies and follow their terms. These terms are subject to change anytime and it’s your responsibility to keep yourself updated with the changes. It’s very important that you don’t skip reading these policies.
Note: You might have read elsewhere that you don’t need to follow every condition put forth by Google, but we insist you to adhere to these guidelines completely and be on the safe side. We want our readers to get their AdSense account approved in a smooth and hassle free manner, rather than taking risks and getting rejected.
Once you successfully comply with all the aforementioned conditions, you can go ahead and take the first steps towards approval of your AdSense account.
AdSense Verification Step One
In this step, Google verifies whether you are the original owner of the website for which you are registering the AdSense account. You need to enter your name, address and other credentials along with the domain name of the website you’re applying for. Here, try to use the same contact and address information that you have previously used when applying for your domain. This makes it easier for Google to verify your identity.
AdSense Verification Step Two
Once your identity has been verified, you receive an email from Google acknowledging it. You will now be able to log in to your AdSense account and create ad units. However, your account is not fully verified at this stage. You can place ad codes inside your webpages, but no ads will be shown. At this stage, Google scans your website contents and checks whether your site complies with AdSense policies as well as Google Webmaster Guidelines. If you violate any of the policies/guidelines, your application will be rejected. So make sure that you read the guidelines very carefully, understand them clearly and implement them correctly on your website, before you apply for AdSense.
This verification is entirely processed by Google bots, so it is up to you to help the bots understand that your contents are truly genuine. Here are some concerns that might help you to justify your authentic nature to these bots.
The Design: Visitors generally like a website which is properly designed and easy to navigate. Page design and content placing is an important part of building your website. Readers should easily be able to locate the information provided on individual pages.
Quality Content: Your website will be visited by people from all over the world. If visitors find useful information, they are more likely to return again. Good quality content pursues visitors to stay on a website for a longer period; and hence more the possibility to click on advertisements. To ensure this, try to publish original, information-rich content that is helpful to the readers.
Content size: No specific content size mentioned, but to be on the safe side, the articles published in your website should have a decent size (at least 300 to 500 words). It should clearly explain the subject matter of the topic and contain genuine information. Stuffing your content forcefully with a lot of keywords won’t be helpful.
Number of articles: Google does not mention any minimum number of published articles as a requirement to get your AdSense account approved. However, a greater number of quality articles certainly increases your chances of getting your account approved. Keep in mind though, that including low quality articles might well have a reverse effect. It is better to have only ten high-quality articles published on your website rather than having a hundred published articles out of which, say only twenty or thirty can be considered as “high quality”. Publishing twenty to thirty good quality articles should be good enough for AdSense approval.
Number of visitors: Doesn’t matter. If your content is good, it will automatically draw organic visitors. But to be on the safe side, drawing about 50 organic visitors per day is a decent number.
Other things to take care
Google does not officially disclose anything about how the approval process works. This is primarily done to prevent webmasters from using Google’s own information against them by fooling their verification algorithms. As a webmaster, you will have to find out innovative ways to prove the Google bots that your content is genuine. Having said that, it should be mentioned here that the Google bots are a product of years of research and experimentation and has grown quite intelligent over the years. It can distinguish well between a well-designed and a well navigated website from a less user-friendly one. To make Google understand you and your content better, here are some other things you can do.
Google Authorship: To show that you are truly capable of publishing genuine content, complete your Google+ profile with your educational qualification and employment details. Use a photograph with a clear visual of your face and set it as your profile picture. Link your profile to your website. This will also feature your profile photo along with your site contents on the search results page.
Create Some Pages: A proper website not only contains quality articles, but also pages talking about the site. Your visitors should know who is providing them information so that they can judge whether the information they read is valid or not. They should also be aware whether you intend to store any user information; and if so, how you intend to use it. To be on the safe side, you may add the following pages on your website.
An “About Us” Page: Introduce yourselves to your readers – who are you, where are you from, what do you do, and so on. Try to provide your basic educational details if possible.
A “Privacy Policy” Page: Do you respect your visitors’ privacy? Let them know you do. Mention clearly about what type of user data you store on your servers (cookies, for example) and how the information is used.
A “Terms of Service” Page: If your website is service oriented, and you offer services to your users, dedicate a page to explain on what terms and conditions you offer your services.
A “Contact Us” Page: In case of any discrepancies or clarifications, users should know where to reach you. For this, have a Contact Us page with your contact details.
If everything goes fine, you’ll receive an email confirming that your AdSense application has been fully approved. At this stage, the blank ad units will now be replaced by live ads and you can begin earning right away. However, make sure your website still complies with AdSense policies and Webmaster Guidelines. Failure to comply with these terms at any point of time may result in your AdSense account being disabled.
Everything already set up? Go ahead and Apply for AdSense.