Sunday, October 21, 2012

Approvals and Adsense - What's Not Happening

All publisher's (or would-be publishers) want to know why they aren't getting approved for Adsense, or why their websites or blogs aren't acceptable. And many times, that's not an easy question to answer, because the answers may not be based on a policy or standards.

While this isn't "official" information, here's what some of the TCs in the AdSense forum have been noticing much more of over the last six months to a year.  Blogs and websites containing some subjects are not being approved, even though they might contain originally written articles.

And to give a truthful answer, I'd have to say there isn't anything in the policies we can really point to and say "this is the problem" because the problem seems to be the subject matter the blog/website owner chose to write about. So, some of the most rejected blog contents we've noticed over the last year (in no particular order):


  • technology - software reviews, gadgets, mobile technology, and any similar subject
  • blogging - blogging tips, blog how-tos, blog coding etc.
  • online marketing - make money online, how to earn money on line, sites built around affiliate contents
  • jobs, resumes - sites listing job openings, job searches, resumes etc.
  • education - sites containing educational papers, exam results, sample exams and questions etc.
  • coding and programming - sites giving instructions on programming and programming languages, possibly because basic coding and programming languages aren't considered original contents.
  • health - sites with widely general health information (much of it not sanctioned by health professionals) If you aren't a doctor or certified health professional, it's best not to write about it.
  • hollywood/bollywood gossip - too many of those already, and most of them contain nothing new or different than the others, and also often contain a great deal of copyright infringing materials.
  • newspapers/aggregate sites - almost none of these appear to contain original contents because they get their news from other news feeds, or pay to use contents from other news sites. Paying for it means it doesn't violate copyrights, but it's still not original and it still is duplicate contents.
  • wallpaper sites - enough said; everyone knows what these are and nobody needs anymore of them. Almost none of these contain original contents of any kind.
  • facebook knock-offs - sites that look like facebook; sites that use aggregated contents from facebook (statuses, likes, etc.). None of this is original contents; some it may violate not only copyrights, but the privacy of some individuals.


As for why these seem to be rejected nearly all the time now, we can only guess. In the case of tech sites most of us are thinking that there are already results in the trillions for tech sites, many of which are already monetized. Most sites that review technology review the same things - even though they might actually write their own articles. You have to ask yourself, just how many reviews of the same mobile phone or tablet does the web really need? Search results for "tech reviews" return 1,010,000,000 results from Google search;  somewhat less from Bing, and 962,000,000 from Yahoo.

If your site isn't on the first page of search results for your content keywords, you'll be down near the bottom of the pile providing similar contents to the big review sites, so this is a difficult area to break into, and one which Adsense doesn't appear to want any more of at the current time.

Of course, things change because nothing ever stands-still but if you plan on applying for Adsense with a tech-related site, you may be disappointed. Unless your site is spectacular by Adsense standards, it would probably not be accepted. So, what is "spectacular" - that's one I honestly can't answer but unless your site is better than one of the top 10 or so in the world of techmology sites, it probably isn't going to be "spectacular" enough for Adsense right now.

These sort of circumstances would cover sites with blogging contents - unless you can provide something unique and different than found on all the other "blogging tips" sites, you probably will have issues getting approved.

Some of those subjects in the list actually do violate the program policies (ie: educational materials) and job sites usually end up containing duplicated contents because, let's face it, how many jobs are out there and where are all these sites getting their job listings? From the same newspapers, the same job boards, and the same human resources sites, making the contents unoriginal and really not that helpful or suitable for Adsense. Now, on the other hand, if you do own your own company that finds jobs for applicants, and finds applicants for jobs (ie: often known as "head-hunters") and you have jobs that nobody else has, you might have something original enough to get approved. However, that being the case one would expect you also own a proper website, and not just a free blog, right?

So in the end, while none of us in the forum can actually say with 100% certainty you "won't" get approved with one of those subjects, we're fairly sure that unless your site is "out of this world" in terms of quality and originality, the chances are greater for disapproval than for approval.

One other thing to note which I think a lot of publishers overlook. IF your site is one of the above and DOES NOT get approved when you submit it to Adsense what that means is that it isn't suitable for Adsense. And if it isn't suitable for AdSense, then you DON'T put ads on it later if you get approved with another website. That's just asking to get your account disabled.


by J. Gracey Stinson

25 comments:

  1. beautifully explained i just got all of my answers

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello ma'am very nice post for newbies like me :]

    I have a question ma'am . First visit my blog " http://nannu4u.blogspot.in/ "

    My question is should i apply for adsense ?

    Well from the name and the description you must be thinking that's a tech blog well i don't know what it is . i never posted any review about any software or widget .

    I always post tutorials for my users to make their life easy and to guide in right direction .

    I need your advice and is there any content on my blog which violates google adsense policy then please let me know .

    Thanks .

    Eagerly waiting for your reply .

    Regards

    Abhishek Soni

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your site contains a lot of tutorials for bloggers - that sort of falls under one of the categories I wrote about. Things like "mobile tricks, windows & computer tricks, etc." - all those are considered "technology related". I'm sorry but your contents do fit a couple of the categories they don't seem to be accepting right now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your reply ma'am your comment help me alot to understand my site issue . well i worked so hard but in wrong direction :[ but no worries .

      I have a question . I have a tumblr blog . take a look " http://sumnanquotes.com/ " . So im thinking to start a blog on love stories ?

      Is it ok with adsense ?

      and one more question my tumblr url is sumnanquotes.com . can i use a subdomain like blog.sumnanquotes.com for my love story blog ? Is it ok with adsense ?

      Yes these are my questions for now :]

      Sorry for writing so much but im really confused i hope you dont mind .

      Have a pleasent day ma'am .

      waiting for reply

      thanks.

      Delete
  4. Tumblr sites with nothing but pics are generally not accepted by Adsense anymore.

    Don't know about the love stories - they'd have be suitable stories for family viewing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah, here's my question. I have 7 domains (related in name, long story why I have them at all) which used to be parked with Google and monetized until that program got canned. Now I have them parked on my own hosting with a holding page just saying the domain is for sale, it's suitable for a certain type of site and listing (with nofollowed links) the other 6 domains.
    I'm wondering if I could use an Adsense block on that sort of holding page? I don't want to turn my domains over to any specialized service while I wait to see if anybody wants to buy them. I don't want to get rich on that but don't want to just cancel registrations. In the past I used to get a tiny bit of income from them as parked with Google, now obviously zip.
    I don't want to screw up my Adsense account with those parked domains if that's not allowed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @webado

      Adsense cannot be used on non-content pages, and a page saying it's for sale is basically a non-content page. Domains that were suitable for parking won't be suitable at all without a complete website or blog on them for AdSense. That would most definitely get your adsense account lost for good.

      AdSense requires a fair amount of content to place ads on a page - the way they see it, your content needs to be sufficient to support ads.

      AdSense doesn't really have a replacement for their Parked Domains program, but there are other cash-parking places (sedo is one we appear to see in use pretty often).

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Gracey, that's kind of what I thought. I don't want to bother with Sedo and such, so next renewal it's going to be simply bye-bye for my useless domains :)

      Delete
  6. Superb and awesome Information That I was Seeking and Got it. Thank a lot Buddy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello Gracey this is AliBhai from the forum. Nice info gracey, but I want to ask that what is left.

    ReplyDelete
  8. There are lots of things left than can be written about if you want to use Adsense. But whatever you write about should be based on your own experience and knowledge, and not just written about because you might earn money with it.

    That seems to be the problem with a lot of the subjects noted in this post - people can get tons of that kind of content by searching the web and picking posts they can alter quickly so they can get ads.

    It just doesn't work for Adsense anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ads showing normally for all fof my blogs except for a blog. The ads only appear when using country extension such us blosgspot.de, blogspot.ca, etc. What does it mean? My earning is almost $100.00 and I didnt submit my PIN cause I am still waiting for it. Is it the problem which makes the blog cant show the ads normally? if yes, why the ads still appears normally in another blog? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks a lot for having share with me this very useful article.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Desia - you'll need to ask for help with that in the AdSense forum please.

    https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/adsense

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dear All...
    what should we do if we banned websites adsense ads.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Gracey,
    Ive read your posts and by far its obvious that you are the most reponsive and indeed helpful TC and I really need your help. My account was recently disabled and to date I have not received an email indicating why this happened. Ive been a publisher for several years.

    Most of the TC have not replied to my post or even cited that they might even request a resend. Here is the link to my post in another category on this forum
    http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/adsense/JamaicanPro/adsense/DwLno2agw4o/NXTh1RnJV7QJ

    I am humbly asking if someone can touch base with the Adsense team to let me know what the problem was/is.

    I have not filed an appeal as I cannot identify where the problem was. Its impossible to do so until then.

    Thabks in advance Gracey.

    ReplyDelete
  14. uninque content http://www.copyscape.com/?q=http%3A%2F%2Fabrasize.blogspot.com
    Daily traffic 500-600

    100% traffic from Search Engine.


    Not Getting adsense approval please help me.

    I have blog on niche Bra size and blog url : http://abrasize.blogspot.com

    not used any spam words or adult words.

    please help me

    they say

    "
    Thank you for your interest in Google AdSense. After reviewing your
    application, our specialists have found that it does not meet our program
    criteria. Therefore, we are unable to accept you into our program.

    We have certain policies in place that we believe will help ensure the
    effectiveness of Google ads for our publishers as well as for our
    advertisers. We review all publishers, and we reserve the right to decline
    any application. As we grow, we may find that we are able to expand our
    program to more web publishers with a wider variety of web content.

    Please note that we may not be able to respond to inquiries regarding the
    specific reasons for our decision. Thank you for your understanding.

    Sincerely,

    The Google AdSense Team"

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gracey

    i need help with a problem im having with the whole acceptance process

    here is the link with explination of my problem
    thank you

    https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/adsense/fCx9cdjcRnc/tTh73kT2o_IJ

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  17. My blog http://www.sitenol.com is a coding and programming blog. I use to share other kind of articles also like web design, web hosting, software installation, Contents written by me and unique. I have tried my the best. Will by blog work for Adsense? Thanks in advance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most likely it won't work for Adsense right now, but really the only way to know if they'll accept it or not is to submit it for approval and see what they say.

      Delete
  18. Hi Mam,

    Thanks for giving us this information. I want to ask you something. i have a blog name http://computertricksinspiration.blogspot.in/. Please tell me which type of changes required in that and can i eligible for Google Adsense Program.

    Waiting for your positive response.

    Thanks for your effort.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I think the things you covered through the post are quiet impressive, good job and great efforts. I found it very interesting and enjoyed reading all of it...keep it up, lovely job..
    google car

    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.