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 other thing I see happening at this point in time is the large increase in applications. Although none of us in the forum are actually staff members, it's easy to tell from the help posts that there are far more applications coming in during the pandemic than we would normally see.  A large increase in applications means the wait time for review can be a lot longer than usual. 

Google's main offices are in California, which has been through some pretty dreadful things in the last six months. Along with many other countries, the US is still struggling to get through the pandemic and to keep their people safe, and that includes Google's people.  Give them a break, because they are human too, with families that they need to keep safe.

It could take as long as several months to get a review completed. And even though Google has office's all over the world, staff aren't as readily available in some of those countries, as they are suffering through this virus as well. In some cases, they may not even be able to review applications in some areas until the pandemic is over. 

Unless you happen to work for Google (which we don't), there is just no way know for sure where availability for review is, and where it isn't, so you may receive a notice that says they can't review your submission due to the virus. In that case, all you can do is be patient, and maybe resubmit once a month.

The following pages may help you determine whether or not your site at least meets the minimum requirements before submitting, or help you determine what problems are causing your site not to be approved.

 Eligibility Requirements

Make Sure your Site is Ready

Site Content Issues/Problems

AdSense Program Policies

Google Publisher Policies

Google Publisher Restrictions

 

posted by J.Gracey Stinson

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.
My feelings currently on the approvals system are ... well, I guess I'd say a little frustrated.  It's taking a lot of time (which is understandable when staff may be restricted due to the virus) to get through the approvals system. And in some areas, reviews don't appear to be taking place at all. Some of the people applying aren't even getting to the review stage, with messages indicating they can't review the application right now. 
The more frustrating thing is seeing sites submitted and apparently approved (showing "ready" on the sites list), but that don't show any ads. When the forum members check the site it's pretty obvious that it's totally unsuitable for AdSense ... so either it hasn't been reviewed and shows "ready" anyways, or the site showing as "ready" simply means it's reviewed, but not necessarily approved.  I honestly don't know.
If you are one of those folks who has a site that shows as ready on your sites list but isn't showing ads and you have no notifications in your account ... there is not much we can do in the forum to help you. There are several troubleshooters you can go through that might help discover why they don't show, but beyond that, we can't offer much help.  Note that some sites may not show ads on certain types of content that may be restricted; or on content that violates policy, like copied articles/contents, and that is the expected result. Ads aren't supposed to show on contents of that nature.

There is a lot in the last six to nine months that has changed in AdSense, some of it policies (so be sure to check policy before you change things on your site, or decide to do something differently) and some of related to verification procedures and approvals. 
Many of us in the forum are still trying to catch up with all those changes, so if you have
questions about the changes, all you can do is ask, and we'll try to find an answer (but no guarantees).
Hang in there folks. We're all experiencing trials and frustration right now, but eventually, we'll get through it.

posted by J.Gracey Stinson

AdSense Publishers Face Global Issues in 2020

It's a long time since I've felt the need to write a help article for AdSense publishers, but the current health situation which spans just about every country around the world needs to be addressed. There are things ahead of us that could mean a possible downturn for publishers using AdSense (and not just AdSense, but any form of earning from online options).

Most of you know already what makes AdSense (and online ads) work for so many people. It's not just the traffic, or readers/users of our content. It starts somewhere else ... something that comes before the publisher side of the story. That's the advertisers.  AdSense is a product that exists because there are businesses and companies worldwide that want to get their service or product seen by and noticed by people. Those advertisers are the ones that fund AdSense. Without them paying for advertising, there wouldn't be any money at all for publishers.

Given the current state of the world, it may not be long before advertisers won't have the money to pay for advertising. If that happens, their ads won't be available to appear on publisher sites. So, if there are few paying advertisers out there, there won't be a lot of income for publishers.

I wonder how many of you out there have considered this?

For years I have been telling people not to rely solely on online advertising income to fund your business, or feed your family.  We could be coming into a period where the reality is that already, many businesses have had to temporarily close ... for however long this health issue lasts. In Canada and the US, restaurants, bars, hair dressers and salons - and many other service businesses that deal directly with people-to-people contacts are closed.

A closed business means no generation of money to keep the business running.  Some of them will weather the storm and reopen in the future, depending on how long the "storm" lasts. But many will not.

Co-operation around the world.

Right now, just about the last thing most of those businesses will want to be doing is paying for advertising. Most will put their advertising budgets on hold.  That would mean a lack of funding for publishers if it comes down to that.

Most of us should be prepared to see even lower earnings as the months go by. Some predictions out there say it could be a month, or 3 months ... most likely the recovery period from this would be more like 18 months to two years.

There's one other thing we need to consider.  Google.  It's a big company, and spans the globe, but that doesn't mean it won't be affected by the financial issues facing every country right now. I think (personally) they will come through this - maybe not totally unscathed, but I think they have the ability to make it through this.

BUT ... Google is run by people, just like you and I. It really isn't just some huge machine run by AI (even if it seems like it).  Those people have families, just like we do. Some of their families live in countries where health care might not be the best, or where health care systems are running behind.  They worry for their families safety, just like all of us worry about ours.

Cut them some slack folks.  Many will already be working from home  because not every Google office will need to be staffed in a building, but many whose job is to be in a building may not even be able to work right now.

Google is headquartered in California ... it is one of the states hardest hit with this virus. Things may not run as smoothly as they always have, so have patience.

Considering how this is affecting the financial sectors, when you are expecting payments, they may be late ... possibly later than they've ever been. Transferring money in some cases is done digitally - but that doesn't mean it's going to go along the same as always. People have to do some of the work during these transfers ... and not all banks are going to be working at top capacity. Some smaller ones may be closed with only one or two persons working.  Everything will be slower than normal, and that isn't something Google controls.

If you are expecting your PIN and it doesn't arrive it probably isn't Google's fault either. Circumstances have changed how a lot of businesses run right now, postal services, cargo planes and ships ... all of these are limited, so things might take longer than normal. No matter how hard it is, please try to be patient.

Lastly ... be safe. All of you. Do what is necessary. Stay indoors; stay away from other people; take the necessary precautions; wash your hands. And if you believe, pray.

Right now is not the time to point fingers, or to be at war with other countries or other people or other publishers . Right now is the time to care.

Right now, the whole world is hurting. Love each other, help each other, be kind, and don't lose heart.  

posted by J.Gracey Stinson

Ads Limits Notices from AdSense

For the last month or two the AdSense help forums have seen many, many publishers complaining about their ads being limited.  This is a recent development from AdSense; something we haven't seen before.

Most people don't know how to address it, or why it's happening. To be honest, many of the Product Experts don't have exact answers for this either, so we can't offer a lot of help; we can't point out one thing that's causing it; we can't help you fix it. We can only point you at the help center information and urge you to review your sites and traffic.

The explanation in the Help Center is pretty generic, and most people don't understand it. The limits are placed for a variety of reasons.

Blackmail/Ransom/Spam/Scam/Phishing Emails and What to Do

Receiving a ransom/phishing/scam/spam email can be both a confusing and frightening experience for some web users. For others, it's just another day on the net.  These aren't new occurrences, and email boxes around the world have received such notices since the public had access to email service. That's a long time.

For most, it's simply an annoyance and they hit the spam filter without bothering to even read it (that's what I do - I never open unsolicited email).  The problems come when you think something isn't spam - some spam/scam/phishing emails look like the real thing, but a little investigation proves them not to be (check the email headers, never click on a link in an email, even if it looks real or leads to a real website).

More recently, a ransom email has been circulating. This asks people to watch a video (DO NOT); and to leave a glowing recommendation (ha ... most of the reviews are bad, not good) on a specific site. But it also threatens people with spam emails, **** links on their hacked website and several other nasty things.