Using the AdSense Help Community

Hi publishers!  It's been a really long time since I've needed to try and explain AdSense help pages.  Lately, however, the AdSense forum is overflowing with questions that we can't answer.  

One of the reasons is because people use the AdSense English language community and write in their own language. For the majority of languages, Google Translate is your friend! You can type your question into Google Translate and ask it to be translated to English.  Then post the English version when asking for help. 

You'll probably get help (or at least an answer) faster than if you post in a non-English language in the English help group.

Some of the forum PEs (that stands for Product Expert which is what Google call us these days) might answer questions posted in other languages, but not all devices have on-page translation, so a lot of non-English questions might go unanswered. I try to answer as many of them as I can, but not all languages translate into questions that make sense, and if we can't figure out what help the person is asking for, we can't answer the question.

YouTube-AdSense Accounts and How to Add a Website

Most new YouTube partners who don't already have an AdSense account will find that their new AdSense account will have a UI that's different than other YT partners. The new UI shows only that it's a YouTube AdSense account (AdSense for YouTube), along with minimal options in the left menu - blocking controls, payments, account, and feedback.

The homepage may show sections such as: Performance or earnings, but these will all be blank, and they'll be blank (or show 0) all the time. At some point in time, all YT-AdSense will probably have the same UI, unless they've upgraded (see information below on upgrading an account).

AdSense stopped showing any reporting from YouTube quite a while ago. Now, the only thing that will be available in AdSense is the "Balance" on the Payments page. The "Balance" will show earnings up to and including the previous month.

AdSense Changes and Updates

During 2021 AdSense has made a multitude of changes to the product - changes to how the policies are worded; products that have been removed or changed; and generally how AdSense treats reviews, approvals, and disabling. These changes I'll discuss in future posts.

The most recent change I noticed is coming in early 2022 for publishers currently using the AdSense Matched Content units, and for publishers who haven't been able to use Matched Content.

When they finally institute the changes, all publishers will be eligible for the matched content units.

[Removing the eligibility restrictions that currently apply to Matched content. The new format will be available to all AdSense publishers.]

For those publishers who have been asking why they can't use AdSense Matched Content units, this change in March of 2022 will allow them to also use it.

AdSense Approvals are Not Guaranteed

I'm pretty sure I've discussed this at some point in the past, but the time has come to bring it up again.

When you apply for AdSense (when anyone applies), there is never a guarantee that your account, or the property you submit (whether a website/blog/youtube channel/app) will be approved. 

Signing up for an AdSense account isn't like signing up for a Google account or Gmail account or any other type of product account that Google offers.  Those accounts you don't usually require an approval - you sign up, and once you complete the sign up, you have a working account. THAT DOESN'T happen with AdSense.

AdSense wants and needs to approve what the ads are going to be placed on, so it has to meet their requirements, and they have to want what you produce. Not every site will be a good fit for AdSense. That doesn't mean that it's a bad website/blog, it just means it isn't something they are looking for right now.

The AdSense Conundrum

Here the world is, six or seven months into various forms of lockdown or virus outbreaks, and still we're wondering how long this will continue.
From an AdSense perspective, and from my own point of view (this is not official from AdSense staff in any way, just my own thoughts), I would say we have seen many more forum posts asking for approval from AdSense.
The problems I (and probably other Product Experts) are more aware of than ever are blogs and websites thrown together hastily, just to be able to earn a little money from AdSense. This is probably due to the fact that all over the globe, people have lost their jobs; businesses and companies have folded or closed, losing their revenue; costs to purchase products (even groceries and medicine) have increased exponentially; and many people have been too ill to go out and work.
The pandemic has created a monster in the world ... it's called "need".  Now, more than ever people are looking for ways to earn money without leaving their homes, in order to stay safe and healthy.

The problem is, there are only so many people able to write well enough to earn a sufficient amount to support themselves and their families.  That and, as most long time publishers already know, there is absolutely no guarantee that you will even earn enough with AdSense to supply you with groceries, never mind other needs.

Many sites, currently, are being rejected for lack of quality content ... that's what happens when you think you can create a website in a hurry and make a living from it. Writing a blog, even if it's all your own content, doesn't make you a writer, nor does it make you a businessman (or woman). It simply makes you one of the billions of people out there who have blogs.