Thursday, February 11, 2010

AdSense and India

Today's post is directed at prospective publishers from India. I have debated with myself for some time now whether or not to address this issue in my blog, mainly because picking out any one group of people might give the wrong impression. Hopefully, I don't offend anyone with this.

I chose to write this post because we have been seeing some questions in the AdSense Help forums lately that should be addressed.

Please keep in mind, I don't work for AdSense (or Google) and I do not represent them, so these answers are not to be considered "official", but are based on what we've seen, or read in the official AdSense Help Center or the Inside AdSense blog.

The first question of concern is this one:

"Is It True That AdSense is No Longer Accepting Applications from India?"

As far as we can tell, this is not true. AdSense is still accepting applications from publishers in India.

Like any propsective publisher who fills out an application, publishers from India must meet all the qualifications in order for their application to be accepted.

Whoever is telling people that Indian publishers are not being accepted anymore at AdSense because they are from India, is wrong.

The next "most asked" question is this:

"Is it true we can't use a blogspot address and must get a domain name if we are from India?"

The answer again, is no - this is not true.

Any publisher may apply for an AdSense account using a blogspot address. There is no requirement to purchase a domain or webhosting to get started, so don't let anyone talk you into buying a domain name before you are ready, or before you can afford it.

Blogspot addresses are perfectly acceptable to AdSense, providing the blog you use to apply for AdSense with meets all the policy requirements.

The last big question is:

"Why does a publisher from India have to wait 6 months?"

This one is harder to answer. It's one that we can only guess at, based on some of what we've experienced in helping Indian publishers.

The official statement in the AdSense help center says "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." (notation: quoted directly from the AdSense pages linked above.)

This means that the six month stipulation is not just in India and China, but it does include India and China. To my knowledge, there is no "official" list for the countries, so "in some countries" could mean any country AdSense chooses to include. For the most part, we are noticing this seems to be applied to many Asian countries, not just India.

My own observations seem to show that there are enormous numbers of people from India trying to get AdSense accounts, and trying to do so before they understand what is required of them in order to get approval.

I'm not sure why this is, though in some cases it might be differences in language and how well a person understands what they have read when they signed up for AdSense. (This is not, of course, limited to Indian publishers but to a lot of publishers for whom English is not the native tongue.)

Another thing I have noted with publishers from countries outside of the USA (keep in mind that I am not in the USA either) is that many of them do not understand or even are aware of the differences in legal requirements between their own countries and the USA.

In the USA, copyright infringements can cause all sorts of problems, and many non-US publishers don't seem to understand why they can't use copyrighted items, or why they can't give away things like illegal software.

There are many websites I have reviewed for publishers (many from India as well as other areas) that contain illegal software, movies, music and wallpapers, and this will be one of the reasons for not getting your application approved.

And it's one of the reasons you can have your account disabled too - no matter where you live.

If you read the Terms of Service for AdSense, down near the very end it says that AdSense is bound by the Laws of California and the USA and since they must operate under those laws, any publisher must also conform to those laws. This is an important bit of information that a lot of publishers miss seeing.

Webmaster Guidelines

One other thing that many new or applying publishers miss is the Webmaster Guidelines. These go hand-in-hand with the AdSense Program Policies, and all publishers are required to adhere to both of these.

Webmaster Guidelines indicate that a publisher must have "substantial original content". I suppose "substantial" will mean different things since it's a little subjective, but it really means you must have "enough" content to be accepted for AdSense. So what is "enough"? Since they don't actually give us any stiplulations about what "enough" is for AdSense, we have to guess at it. My own opinion is that you should have at least 10 lengthy posts (175 to 200 words or more per post) in your blog before you apply for AdSense. 20 would be better. And they should really be written works of your own, not articles you've copied from someone else, or from somewhere else.


Other Important Considerations

Other things of importance you need to consider when applying for AdSense.

You MUST use your own identity - your own name and address and country, and personal details. Otherwise, when it comes time to get paid, you won't be able to.

Publishers in many countries may not change their payee name, nor their country. AdSense simply does not allow this.

This means you would be required to cancel your approved AdSense account, and then apply for a new one all over again, using the correct information, so make sure your application for AdSense has the correct name and the correct country. This is very important if you want to get your payments, so don't try to get quicker approval by using a different country. You can't change it later.

If you have any questions about your application before you submit it to AdSense, post a question in the AdSense help forum - don't be afraid to ask for help. If it's a question we can answer in the forum, we will do our best to help you.

If you want to ask a question here, please feel free to leave a comment, and we'll address your question as well as we can. We aren't perfect, and we aren't AdSense, but we are certainly willing to help you have a successful AdSense application.

One final note: there seems to be quite a lot of rejection emails (for everyone, from just about anywhere) for "Domain Ownership not Evident" when people apply with a Blogger blog.

That's because blogspot URLs are considered "subdomains". In order to have adsense approve that blogspot URL, you MUST submit an application to Adsense using the "Monetize" link on your blog's dashboard.

That lets adsense crawlers know that your blog is a blogspot blog, and not just a regular subdomain.

49 comments:

  1. my site is http://www.mp3music.co.in is rejected by adsense , but i am not able to understad which content is unacceptable . please help

    ReplyDelete
  2. I already answered your post on the help forum - you have no original content. AdSense requires original content, not content provided by others, including gadgets or videos.

    You need to create original content. Mp3 files and videos are often infringing on copyrights, and adsense doesn't accept sites that contain policy violations such as this.

    Try creating your own content and then reapply.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey brother...plzzz review my site... http://cruelfemales.blogspot.com
    its not an adult one....and plzzz tell me that can it be accepted by adsence,,,or plzzz suggest any changes which i will do to get my site accepted into adsence....plzzzz help me

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  4. Your site contains adult content - perhaps you don't understand what "adult content" means. It is totally unsuitable for AdSense.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My site www.bravisatempletree.com was rejected. Could you please review and give me your suggestion

    ReplyDelete
  6. dsramesh - you'll need to post a question in the adsense forum - please include your website URL in the post, as well as the reason adsense gave you in the rejection letter.

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  7. Thanks for this wonderful post and blog as well, often publishers ignored the TOD of adsense! keep it up Gracey!

    its a very helpful blog for newbies!

    ReplyDelete
  8. hi, may i know why my site www.forexillusionreview.com has been rejected multiple times. the reason google gave was unacceptable site content. pls let me know so that i can fix the problem .. thanx

    ReplyDelete
  9. my blogspot name is:www.creationsoftheworld.blogspot.com.my site was rejected by adsense saying:"under construction";can u please suggest me a method to
    solve this issue?thanks

    ReplyDelete
  10. gopal - your blog only has 3 posts and is only a week old. To adsense that would be under construction. You need a great deal more content than what you've got. Most blogs will need to be six months old before they are acceptable to adsense, so you have a ways to go before you can apply again. Spend the next six months continuing to add your own writing and articles and then re-apply when your blog is six months old.

    ReplyDelete
  11. hello Gracey thanks you are a true grace:), I understood evey thing now why I was rejected as the rest of guys here, but the thing is I am a student and have no idea to write my self articles to be honest with you, if I bought short stories books and write some articles here will it be useful?or photos which I adjust it myself with no articles will be accepted? please need some suggestions from you, thanx, I followed you in your blogspot the one you have photoshop in it

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  12. passenger - you can't copy short stories from a book and use them as if they were your own work. That would be plagiarism.

    If you are a student, you can still write articles yourself. Write stories about your daily life. Or the problems you encounter as a student, or...well you can write about almost anything that you have a little knowledge about. It's much easier to keep writing a blog if you write about things you know and are familiar with.

    Look here - these are two blogs that I really enjoy reading - one is by a man who simply writes about his daily life:

    http://parameswaranseshan.blogspot.com/

    The other is a young woman, a mother and wife, who chronicles her life using photos from her mobile phone:

    http://my-mobile-photography.blogspot.com/

    These are simple but enjoyable blogs to read, and anyone can write a blog like these, even you.

    ReplyDelete
  13. hi Gracey thank you, you are really appreciated for you help, I made up a new blogger if you want take a look please and you can leave me a comment for improvement http://traveler-cam.blogspot.com/
    thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi traveler - your photo blog is very nice, but without any text, it isn't going to work very well for adsense.

    Your images need to have "alt text tags" because otherwise the crawler isn't going to be able to see them, and your blog will look empty. Alt text tags give a textual description in the code so that the crawler can tell what's on the page, but the visitor's can't see that, they'll only see the images.

    As well, with a photo blog like that, you might want to opt for a much simpler background. The background on your blog is competing with the images, and making what text you do have, very difficult to read.

    ReplyDelete
  15. there are many pros and cons when it comes to applying for adsense, here it states that ppl with blogspot address can apply for adsense. I have tried that for many times for the first 6-7 months, then I shifted to buying a domain and BOOM there you go my adsense was approved. So I would suggest is give your try, it might work but safe method would be have your own domain(which wont cost much), then clean all the rubbish you have on your blog (eg. stat counter- yes adsense hates it for some reason). this is my personal experience.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hello. i have a blog http://zoomplaces.blogspot.com/ and i have original content on this. Is it compulsory to purchase the domain and remove the blogspot from the url? and i have also heard that images copied from the net if posted on the blog can also result in getting adsence account rejected? Please help!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. ChelseaFCNews - the reason you got approved was not because you bought a domain name. It's because your blog was finally old enough. And having statcounter on your site will not stop you from getting approved. In fact, Adsense encourages it's publishers to use third-party stats.

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  18. @Travel Destinations - you've got a pretty nice blog going there.

    You don't have to purchase a custom domain to get accepted with blogger.

    However, your blog does have to be six months old, and it appears that you've only been on blogger for about a month.

    Keep writing the way you are and you shouldn't have any problems getting accepted once your blog is six months old.

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  19. hello Gracey hope you are fine, thank you dear for your suggestions, I am going to follow what you said and it might takes time since it needs 6 months I will try to think of something useful before I submit, I tried to send or comment on your blogs but didn't find the option for that, I just bookmarked your page and seeing your blog from time to time.regards

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  20. Thanks for this information.As I am from India,this article really helped me.

    ReplyDelete
  21. nice blog can i apply for adsense for my blog at webs
    i don't think they would allow but then too your guidance would be helpful

    http://bestptc-earning.webs.com/

    also i have another blog
    http://proverbs101.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi,Grecy thanks for your suggestion.My site is
    http://rajesh-helpfull.blogspot.com/ I applied
    many time for Adsense but every time rejected approval.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Rajesh - did you read anything I wrote in this article?

    Your blog has absolutely no content. Not even a single word. This is not ever going to be accepted. Your blog needs original contents - you need to start writing first. You write your own articles and stories, you can't copy from somewhere else.

    Then when you have six months worth of content, try applying again.

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  24. Dear Gracey,

    I have a blog http://electricalquestionsguide.blogspot.com. It is about electrical interview questions and answers. My blog was rejected for page type. Trust me i have not copied from any book or magazine. Earlier ads used to run on this blog (adsense approved from other site now it is no more), but recently i have joined in to govt services so i have to cancel my application because i should not have any source of income other than salary i receive. So I closed my current account and tried to open other account on my mother name. but got rejected.
    I have a doubt whether adsense accepts only cetain niche topics. Because mine is purely technical. Any ways.. I used to see you in forums as well.. You are doing great job.

    Please guide me...

    ReplyDelete
  25. Sorry i posted comment on other page ( both looks similar please discard that). My problem is i have tried 6 times today but same reply (page type).So for getting adsense account i have to discard this blog (http://electricalquestionsguide.blogspot.com) and promote other blog for 6 months or else chance is there to debut the problem. I am not well comfortable with topics other than electrical subject. I can start a new blog and work hard but i fear that the same fate carry over for my new blog. I was bit tensed and worried.. Please guide me
    Sorry for messing up it was not intentional.. please discard the other irrelevant comment on other post.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Can you post a new thread in the Adsense forum? If your blog was suitable for adsense before, it should still be.

    I'll see if we can help you out, but I need you post in the forum for help.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Dear Gracey,

    Thankyou Gracey,
    I was very much happy that you replied to my problem. I already posted in forums the other day for help. But none replied (may be it will take sometime for that i hope)

    http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdSense/thread?tid=434675a6013e4e63&hl=en

    Dear Gracey please go through this and at least tell me the flaws i made. I could not understand how to debug it.
    I will be very happy if you help me to come out of the problem.

    Thankyou Mam.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Nice article and suggestions from you Gracey. Can you please tell me :
    1) My last site was rejected(for unsubstantial content), but now I want to apply for my new 1 year old site: http://www.creditcardpaymentgateways.in will the old rejection have any repercussion?

    2) In my blogs:http://www.blogger.com/profile/02346097534938225864 I've reshuffled all my posts by deleting old posts and moving them in new blogs. That means March-April blogs now have July posting date, so I hope as you said, I'll have to wait again 6 months from this month!

    3) Does applying with blog increases chances of acceptance rather than applying a website?

    ReplyDelete
  29. how i can start my blog. and from where i can get all the relevant adminstrative know how to operate my blog

    ReplyDelete
  30. @dev kalyan

    Starting a blog on blogger is fairly simple. You just sign up and follow the instructions. This article addresses that: http://helpfulinformationfornewbies.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-start-blog-using-blogger.html

    The screenshots in the article are a little out of date because blogger has again changed the dashboard, so it looks a little different, but the steps to getting started and setting up a basic blog are still the same.

    As for administrative knowledge, most of that will come with experience, but you can also use this article to help edit your blog's design:
    http://helpfulinformationfornewbies.blogspot.com/2010/08/build-customize-your-blogger-site-using.html

    After that, the rest is up to you. You'll need to write articles (your own) about things that interest you, or that might interest visitors.

    As you work on your blog, you'll begin to understand how things work (it's pretty easy).

    You can also ask for help with anything "blogger" that you don't understand at the blogger help forum: http://www.google.com/support/blogger/?hl=en

    ReplyDelete
  31. I want to know that the waiting period of six months for Indian publishers is for site holder or for the bloggers. do bloggers have to wait for 6 months to apply for adsense.

    ReplyDelete
  32. It applies to any type of site - whether it's a blog, a website, a forum - it doesn't matter. Unfortunately, it still does have to be six months old with six months worth of content, even if it's a blogger blog.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Gracey, what suggestions would you give me to improve me blog liveforsociety.blogspot.com

    i would be grateful.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi Madam Meenu:

    The first thing I'd suggest is that you use only original content. By that I mean content that you've written yourself, rather than any content from other sources. As long as you are creating your own content and writing the articles yourself, your blog should be fine and would qualify for Adsense when it is six months old.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hi Gracey
    My blog is relatively new like a week . This is my blog address http://realinspirationalstories.blogspot.com/
    I agree that articles with the same name exists in other places. But i have taken care that the content of the article is relatively unique, yes, i did refer few books, but i have not copy pasted. I studied and wrote the majority in my own words. I have also provided the name of the book and the author if I had to copy paste any excerpt. I would like you to take a look at my blog and tell me if i have to make any substantial changes or what must have possibly gone wrong as my adsense was not accepted stating the reason

    Page type: Your website is a type of website that we do not currently
    accept into our programme. Such websites include, but are not limited
    to, chat sites, sites that drive traffic through cybersquatting, and
    sites that use excessive keywords in the content or code of their pages.

    Is the domain name the possible reason?
    or do i have to wait, till i can include more content?
    please do help me out ,,, I would be happy to listen to your suggestions :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. And this 6 month rule applies to article site like 'squidoo' as well if any Indian submits his article there and wants Adsense add on that page ?

    ReplyDelete
  37. http://ee-how.blogspot.com
    I TOO WAITING FOR APPROVAL.. CAN U SUGGEST ME

    ReplyDelete
  38. I have my adsense account approved for my 1st website. Now, if I publish a second site, will I have to wait for six months again ?

    ReplyDelete
  39. @Ganesh - your articles appear to be original content, but your blog will need to be six months old in order to get approved.

    As well - I would caution you that writing about Adsense is not always a good idea when you want to put Adsense on your blog.

    You'll notice, my blog here is not monetized in any way. There is a good reason for that. In discussing Adsense there are times when you'll need to write things that actually do not meet Adsense policy, and if your blog is monetized with Adsense, you could lost your account, or have ad serving disabled to your site.

    It is difficult to keep a blog about adsense within all the rules, which is why I don't monetize my own blog.

    ReplyDelete
  40. @Dr. - if you already have an approved Adsense account you are not required to wait six months before adding Adsense to any new article you create on a revenue sharing site like squidoo or hub pages.

    You are responsible for ensuring the contents of the articles meet Adsense Program Policies, but as long as they do, you can put Adsense on them without waiting six months.

    The six month rule applies to new publisher applications.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Thanks Gracy. And what about my second question ? :)) I had asked -- I have my adsense account approved for my 1st website. Now, if I publish a second site, will I have to wait for six months again ?

    ReplyDelete
  42. I am sorry for posting it here but with your note attached below reading as,"IF YOU NEED SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ANSWERED, FEEL FREE TO ASK DIRECTLY by leaving a comment on one of our posts, or visit the AdSense Help Forum." I feel as it's okay to point your attention towards my threads which are pending anyone reply , can you please look at my threads

    http://www.google.com/support/forum/user?hl=en&userid=02959286681250940935
    {profile, you can see all my threads have no reply at all :(}

    if order matters, go through

    http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdSense/thread?tid=76364e8fde23ef8e&hl=en

    http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdSense/thread?tid=6a4521ebf3daa7cb&hl=en

    http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdSense/thread?tid=4fb49e4655f528b8&hl=en

    Thank you in advance

    ReplyDelete
  43. hi gracey, thanks for your suggestion. but i want to know below things.
    i am having blogger account which is 4 year old,( already signed up adsense too- i forget that too) but i created the new blogger account using new email for the ee-how blog. is that wrong? because i usually login in these two this account normally in my same computer.

    since , i haven't approved by adsense yet, i am thinking this is not wrong for me? iam waiting for you wonderful suggestion

    ReplyDelete
  44. You can have two blogger accounts, but you can only have one Adsense account.

    The only suggestion I can make is that you need a blog that meets Adsense Program Policies and Webmaster Guidelines.

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  45. @Dr - as long as your new website meets AdSense Program Policies, Webmaster Guidelines and Landing Page Quality for original contents, you won't have to wait six months to place ads from your active adsense account on your new site.

    ReplyDelete
  46. @The Inquisitive - your questions were answered in the forum.

    ReplyDelete
  47. hai again gracey ! i have two adsense account too ( my question is below). what i need to do now. once i created before 4 years back and now new one 1 month before.

    but my great question is as follows

    adsense account means = approved account (or) if i signed up (registered just like email) itself an adsense account?


    Till now i havenot approved by adsense.

    now what does it mean. please help me

    ReplyDelete
  48. You can't have two accounts. You are allowed one. Use the one you already have because the new won't get approved. If your old account from 4 years ago was disabled, you still won't get a new one.

    Terms of Service for adsense state that you may not have another account if you had one disabled.

    ReplyDelete

Please DO NOT DROP LINKS HERE using monetized URL shorteners or the comments will be marked as spam. DO NOT post links to affiliate sites or links to promote your website. This is a "NO FOLLOW" blog.

If you want help with an actual blog or website, please just post for help in the Adsense forum, or leave your G+ profile link. I will not publish comments with blog/website or channel links.

Thanks.