How do you ensure that you get accepted to adsense the first time you apply? What do you need to know about the approval process and what to do if you are not accepted to the program?
Google adsense is one of the most popular ways to make money online because it’s very easy to use, it’s owned and managed directly by Google and above all it works.
Before you can take advantage of all the benefits adsense has to offer, you first need to have an Adsense account and what you will read below is how to get one.
Things to know before applying for an Adsense account
Before even applying for an adsense account there are a few things you should know:
- Understand how adsense works and also read adsense policies.
- Make sure that you have a content rich website that adheres to adsense policies. The website should have not been used previously for an adsense approval.
- Make sure that your domain is at least a couple of months old. If you are applying for an adsense account from the middle East, China, India or Pakistan you may need a domain that is at least 6 months old.
- Apply for adsense after your website receives at least 100 unique visitors per day. Rules have become more strict and it may be difficult to get accepted if you don’t have a decent amount of traffic.
- You need to have a Google account (such as gmail) to use with Adsense. No need to create a new account if you already have one.
- You are allowed to have only one personal adsense account. If your account is suspended for any reason you cannot create a new one.(in this case you should look for adsense alternatives).
- You cannot apply if you are not at least 18 years old.
The Adsense application process
The application is straightforward and it split up into two phases. The first one is automatic and the second one may involve manual intervention.
Once you are certain that you meet ALL the above criteria go to www.google.com/adsense and apply for an adsense account.
The first thing that you need to decide is whether you want to use an existing Google account or create a new one.
Some people prefer to have a different Google account for adsense which is ok but note that the same Google account should also have administrator access to your Google webmaster tools and Analytics (in order to connect these 3 tools together and share useful statistics and adsense metrics).
Next you will be asked to enter the URL of the first website you will add Adsense ads on.
As mentioned above, it has to be a website that is not using adsense, content rich (unique and interesting content), at least 6 months old (for some regions) and with some traffic.
Once you get approved to adsense, you can add ads on any website that satisfies the program criteria without having to go through the approval process again.
The final step in the first phase is to fill out your country, timezone, name, account type and address. A few things you should know:
- The country you enter has to be your country of residence. Adsense will verify your address by sending you a confirmation code by mail.
- Once you enter a country you cannot change it. In case you have to change it because you changed country of residence, you will have to close your existing account and create a new one.
- If you have a business that is officially registered and has a valid registration number, you can open a business account. There is no difference in functionality between the two other that the payments are paid to a company and not personal (as is the case with the personal account).
- Once your account is created you cannot change the account type (i.e. from personal to business and vice versa).
When you are ready, you can submit the application and you will get a reply back (usually within 1 business day) with the status of your application.
What they check at this stage, among other things, is that you don’t already have an adsense account and the validity of the information provided.
In case you are approved, you continue to the second phase which basically includes adding adsense code on your website.
What you should know to increase your chances of being accepted to adsense the first time you apply are:
- Add the code above the fold and to all your website pages. Once you add the code the adsense crawler will access the website and start taking statistics. If you place the ads above the fold in as many pages as you can, they will receive more hits.
- Until you are fully approved, the ads will show blank so don’t worry you did not do anything wrong.
- This process may take up-to 1 week, during this time adsense specialists will also review the website to make sure that is in accordance with adsense guidelines.
If everything goes well, you should see live ads on your website and receive a welcome email from Adsense.
In case your application was not approved, you will also receive an email explaining why you were not approved.
How to increase your chances of getting approved to Adsense
I already explained this above but to make it more clear, these 4 things are the most important for getting approved by Adsense.
- A website that is at least 6 months old
- A great website with unique and original content.
- A website with decent traffic.
- When you add the adsense ads the first time, make sure that you place the ads above the fold.
What to do if you are not approved
If you are not approved you should study carefully the email they have send you explaining the reasons of not accepting you into the program.
You can then go to the adsense forums and see what others have done that faced the same problems.
Read the adsense guidelines again and create a list of the things you need to correct, wait for a couple of weeks at least and apply again.
While there is no maximum number of attempts you can make to get accepted, don’t apply if you have not first taken corrective actions.
Have also mind that there is no way to contact the Adsense team directly and ask why your application was accepted other than the official adsense forums.
Is adsense the same as adwords?
I saw in the forums that some people get confused and they apply for adsense although what they really wanted was an adwords account.
Adsense is not the same as Adwords. Adsense is for web owners who want to show ads on their websites and adwords is for those who want to advertise their products on Google.
See also Adwords VS Adsense for more details.
Final thoughts and conclusion
Getting approved for an adsense account is not difficult provided that you meet the criteria explained above.
Adsense is a great way to make money but always remember NOT to violate any of their guidelines for any reason.
Once you break the rules you are out of the program once and for all.
Play by the rules, try to get more organic traffic (converts better when it comes to adsense) and soon enough you will start seeing the benefits adsense has to offer to publishers.
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