Google's AdSense program is a great way to make some extra cash from a medium-sized website, but it's not without its drawbacks. In order to make real money, you'll need to meet all of the eligibility requirements in addition to having a sufficient amount of traffic.
Google only has a few specific, real-world AdSense eligibility requirements. I'll list them here, but what concerns me more are the "unofficial" eligibility requirements, which don't necessarily disqualify you from the program but do allow you to profit from it.
The application process consists of several steps, beginning with the application, verification, review, and activation of the account. During the review, the Google team will examine the content on the publisher's website and decide whether or not to approve or reject the application.
- Users must be at least 18 years old to apply.
- You must have ownership and control of your website.
- The on your website articles must be unique and interesting.
- No phony traffic should be circulated.
- Google's content guidelines must be followed in your content.
- No distribution of copyrighted content is permitted.
- Your website should not give the user an unpleasant experience.
1. Users must be at least 18 years old to apply.
This is a very straightforward one. To be eligible to use AdSense, you must be over the age of 18 according to Google's terms and conditions, which almost no one has ever read in the history of the planet.
I imagine this irritates those bright 16-year-olds who create a popular website but have no way to monetize it? To be honest, if you're building a monetizable site, you can create an account using your parents' information until you're old enough to get your own. I'm not going to say much more about this because the vast majority of you reading this aren't concerned about it. Simply put, grow older!
2. You must have ownership and control of your website.
In overall, you must have some level of articles over your website's content. You'll be in violation of Google's terms of service and possibly copyright violations if you publish content that isn't yours.
There is pair of exceptions to this rule. For example, you can still monetize content that you have syndication rights to republish from other sources if you're a website.
When it comes to "controlling" your website, it essentially means having access to its source code. Isn't AdSense useless if you can't put the ad code on your website? There are exceptions to this as well. Sites like HubPages, for example, allow users who write for the site to add their own code, which then displays ads in a rotation between their own and the author's on the content of that person. On the other hand, you can sign up for AdSense for YouTube and monetize a YouTube account without ever having to touch code because it's already there.
3. The on your website articles must be unique and interesting.
This one, along with the next one, is housed in a sub-page titled "Make Sure Your Site's Pages Are AdSense Ready." It's essentially another rule about how your site must have monetizable content. If Google discovers that your site is full of thin pages, stolen or scraped content, content that doesn't make sense, or content that provides no value to a reader, your application is likely to be rejected.
To be honest, this is pretty basic SEO advice. You should be fine as long as you're writing your own content and it's aimed at something people actually want. The bar has been set quite low. This is primarily intended to eliminate spam sites, PBNs, content thieves, and other similar sites.
4. No phony traffic should be circulated.
This is a big one, possibly one of the most important AdSense policies, but it's also not something you can test or determine before applying for the program. Rather than getting you rejected, it's more likely to get you kicked out of the program down the road.
Prohibited methods include repeated manual clicks or impressions, automated click and impression generating tools, and the use of robots or deceptive software. It's important to keep in mind that clicking your own ads for any reason is strictly forbidden."
Google will examine your traffic and clicks, and if they discover evidence that you are referring fraudulent clicks or impressions to your AdSense ads, you will be banned immediately.
5. Google's content guidelines must be followed in your content.
The type of article that can be found on the Google-monetized site is severely limited. Pornographic material, pornography, shock content, dangers, excessive profanity, hackers information, malware, drug articles, sale of weapons, and so on are prohibited on your website.
In fact, there's a lot more than what I've written here. The entire section on content policies can be found here. Before you apply, make sure your site complies with all of their rules.
6. No distribution of copyrighted content is permitted.
Copyright law requires that all content you display on your site, from images to text to videos, is something you are allowed to use or share.
Your pages should, for example, include blog writing you wrote yourself, images you created yourself, a logo you paid to have created for you, and other similar elements.
In contrast, your page should not include content plagiarized from another site, images obtained without a license to use them from Google image search, or video created by someone else that you present as your own.
In some cases, you may be able to legally use content that you did not create. It's fine to include a link to a public social media post or a YouTube video as long as you don't claim credit for it. You may also be expected to add value, surround it with unique article. If you have a license to do so, such as from a stock photo site, you can use images that you didn't create.
Because copyright is such a vast and complicated area of law, it's best to err on the side of caution.
7. Your website should not give the user an unpleasant experience.
A website that has a "abusive experience" is one that uses manipulative, harmful, false, or misleading practices that Google prohibits.
These are:
- Page elements that resemble chat apps, system warnings, or other dialogue boxes that the user might want to interact with.
- Areas of the page that are clickable despite the fact that nothing on the page indicates that they should be.
- Misleading buttons, such as a "next page" arrow that takes you to a landing page instead of the intended destination.
- Scripts that manipulate the browser's history in order to prevent the user from using the "back" button.
- Anything that steals information through social engineering or phishing.
- Elements that make it appear as if the user is clicking in order to trick them into clicking.
- Any type of malware found on the site.
Basically, anything that makes a page appears to be attempting to defraud users, steal information, distribute malware, or otherwise commit fraud is prohibited.
Conclusion
Before applying, we strongly advise you to review all of the eligibility criteria listed above. Apply for an account once you've met all of the above requirements. Google will evaluate your application and respond to you via email within a few days.
