Time for AdSense, Blogger and YouTube Updates

In the last several months there have been quite a few changes for Adsense users. Over the next few months I'll be trying to explain some of the changes and give you my own thoughts on them or if I can, offer some answers. The Help Center has been updated with a new look and navigation system, and the dashboard in your AdSense account has been updated as well.

Recent additions include the Scorecard, which for some people seems to have created a small panic. The Scorecard really is just a way to see where you might be able to improve your site(s), and your AdSense earnings or traffic. Suggestions made in the Scorecard are just suggestions.

Just as an example, if your "Revenue Optimization" on the Scorecard shows less than 5 blue dots, you can find out why by clicking the little down arrow next to "Revenue Optimization". The sections listed are "Recommended Ad Formats" (are you using all the most recommended ad sizes and formats?); "Text and image ads enabled" (have you enabled all your ads for text and image?); and "Crawler Errors". All of these subsections will have a green checkmark, a yellow exclamation point (recommends changes) or a red exclamation point (needs work). The small arrow next to each section opens up to display their recommendations.

In this screenshot, the recommendation is that switching to recommended ad formats can help increase revenue, with a "learn more" link next to that. If you click the "learn more" link, it will take you to a page like this one:  Most successful ad sizes. 

So what do you do? The first thing you do after reading the information is really take a look at your own site - you know it better than anyone else. Consider why you are currently using the ad sizes/styles/formats that you are using right now. You chose them for a reason. What was that reason? Was it the same when you chose them as it would be now if you were putting new ads on your site?

Recommendations aren't always right, so it's up to you as the site owner and publisher to think about what works best for your site and for your visitors. Don't arbitrarily make changes to ad sizes just because Adsense says you might earn more. If your site's size (in terms of screen width) can't support larger ad units, don't use them just because Adsense automatic suggestions think you should.

Most site owners who have an interest in providing a good experience to their users will first consider how the larger ad units might affect that user experience, and whether or not larger ad units actually fit well into the ad space provided. If your site appears to have too much space taken up by advertising, then using larger ad units is probably not a good choice to make.

Don't blindly make changes that Adsense suggests to your site - keep in mind that these suggested changes are basically "auto initiated", so nobody physically has gone to look at your site. That much is apparent when it's been suggested I use a 970 pixel wide leaderboard on a website that is only 800 pixels in width - it seems rather obvious to me that an ad that large simply won't fit across the width of my site so I'm certainly not going to institute that change.

The same can be said for all the suggestions made in the Scorecard - you should fix things that actually require fixing (crawler errors), and you should review their recommendations and suggestions, but don't panic about instituting those changes if you are happy with your site layout and/or can't make all the changes they expect.

In my Scorecard under "Site Health" (Page Speed Performance) there is always a yellow exclamation point. Why? The pages they list for recommended change include a website that includes articles as well as a lot of free images and textures, they expect me to reduce the image weight so the images will not slow down the page load time, but ... well, it would be pointless to optimize the images to the point where they look crappy. I'm a photographer, I don't want my images looking bad so they load super fast. All of my images are already optimized for web, and they're optimized to a level I can live with. I'm not going to optimize them any further just because Adsense thinks I should. They're not the one whose reputation is on the line, I am. So I'm the one who has to decide that, not Adsense.

The other page they list as a slow loading page (it isn't slow, actually so I have issues with that but ...) is a blog hosted on blogger. All of things they say cause the slower load are (a) blogger coding and (b) adsense ads (only 2 on each page, and no other ads). I guess they want me to fix the Google issues?

So having taken the time to review their recommendations I decided against taking them, and left my pages as they were. None load so slowly that it's an issue, and making whopping changes to get a page to load a few nano-seconds faster isn't really worth the time, nor the issues that would be created by making those recommended changes.

Having five blue dots on the Scorecard isn't my goal. My goal is to provide useful information and products to my visitors, and I believe I'm doing that reasonably well on my monetized sites.

In the end, it's really up to you - the site owner - to decide which changes make sense for you, and which do not. Your decisions should never be based on the fact that "you are losing revenue", because you may not be losing any revenue at all. In fact, sometimes making the recommended changes may cause you to see lower revenues than you previously had.

Approach any changes to your site with thought and consideration before running off and making major changes.

Help Articles for the Scorecard

About Your Scorecard: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/3006004?hl=en&ref_topic=3131279

Changes to Your Scorecard: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/3131280?hl=en&ref_topic=3131279

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Coming in the next round of Update Articles - Signing Up from Blogger and YouTube, Resubmitting Applications with a new URL, and ASense Accounts from an AdMob Upgrade.

Putting AdSense Ad Code on Your Blogger Blog

If you're new to blogger, new to web publishing, or new to AdSense you might need a little help getting your ad codes onto blogger. For those of us who have been using this platform since it came out, placing ad codes seems like a simple thing, but for newbies it can be confusing. Particularly since blogger seems to be constantly changing the way things are done.

With blogger, there are multiple ways you can get your codes onto your blog. There are several types of gadgets that will work, or you can use the earnings tab, or you can even paste code directly into the text area. Keep in mind, pasting code into the text area may not always work. It will depend on the type of template you are using for your blog - usually a standard blogger template works best for that. If you use third-party free templates, or blogger's dynamic template, posting ads in the text area may not work at all. The instructions below are for using normal blogger templates (standard ones, not the dynamic ones).

Using a BLOGSPOT URL

If you use the free blogspot URL, almost all the available methods will work if you've been approved to place an ad code.  Keep in mind that being asked to place the ad code doesn't mean the ad will display right away, so all you may see is a space where the ad is placed (in some templates, you might not see any space at all).

Because the approval process can take a few weeks to complete you might see ads for a short period of time when first placed, then they suddenly disappear. That's because ad code/ads collect "impressions" (that's visitors coming to the page) and when there are enough impressions, the second part of the review will begin, and you won't see ads for a while again. Not until they approve your blog.

So, to place the code you can use the AdSense gadget (which places code for you, so no copy/paste required), or you can paste ad code that you've been given or created in your AdSense account into an html gadget. You can also choose to have ads between your posts if you'd rather have that - you can edit the post template to choose that option. The simplest method is to use the earnings tab in your blog dashboard, choosing where to place the code using the radial button. Some of these options may not work if you are using a custom domain with your blog (the earnings tab may not be available).

You can use the AdSense Gadget from the layouts page. OR
You can use the html gadget and paste code into it from the layouts page.
On the layouts page, simply click +New Gadget and choose the type you want.

Blogger's Adsense gadget offers several options for ad types and sizes in
the drop down menu. There is no need to paste code into this gadget.
You can choose the colours for text ads once you've chosen the size and type of ads.

To place ads between posts, go to the layouts page and in the blog posts template
Click the "edit" button.

When the "edit template" dialogue opens you see the options available.
Scroll down until you see "show adsense between posts" and select that.
Don't forget to click "save" at the bottom. Also note that choosing ads between posts
means you need to set your homepage not to show more than 2 or 3 posts, or you'll have
too many ads on a page. Ads in sidebars and other gadgets also count towards the total ads.

Using the Earnings Tab (when available)

On the earnings tab of approved blogs, you can choose where
you want your ads to display, and blogger will place them automatically.

Using a CUSTOM DOMAIN

When directing a custom domain to your blog, not all of the above options may work. If the earnings tab isn't available, or the AdSense Gadget shows an error when adding it, you'll need to use the html gadget and ad code from your account.

Use the html gadget to place ad code from your "MyAds" tab in your
AdSense account. Once saved, you can drag the gadget to any spot on
your layouts page that accepts a gadget. Be sure the ad size is compatible
with the space you place the gadget in.

Placing Ads in the Text of your Blog Post

You may find some tutorials on other blogs for parsing AdSense code and placing it directly in the html of your blog's template. Personally, I find this option less than satisfactory, and it can result in errors from clicks not being recorded, or sometimes the ad not being clickable, or the ad being in the wrong spot in the post. Once it is in your template, it shows up in the same spot on each post you publish.

This isn't always a good thing. Some posts you may not want ads on, or some posts you might want ads in a different spot. Keep in mind that no matter how you place the ads in your blog, publishers are allowed no more than 3 Adsense ad units on any page, so if you have ads in gadgets, or are placing ads using any of the other methods listed above, placing another ad in your post MUST NOT lead to having more than 3 ads on the post when it's published.

When I have a popular post where I might want to place a third ad (I generally only use 2 in my sites), I simply copy the ad code from my account and paste it directly into the post editor, using the html option, rather than the "compose" option. Keep in mind you need to add a couple of line spaces manually, or you'll have an ad that's far too close to the content (and cause a violation). Make sure the ad size fits within your posting space. Don't try to paste an ad code for an ad that's too large into the space, or it will cover contents, or part of your sidebar.

Click the HTML button at the top of your posting editor while preparing or editing a post.
Paste the ad code into the text area, being sure to add a few line spaces. Publish your post.

Once your ad is visible, check the placement to make sure the ad isn't
too big for the space, and is far enough away from the content.

Questions? Just ask by leaving a comment and I'll be happy to answer them if I can.

posted by J. Gracey Stinson

A Phone Conversation with Google?

So yesterday around the supper hour I received a long distance phone call from an area code I didn't recognize. Generally, spam calls (ie: unsolicited sales calls from telemarketers) don't show an area code or telephone number on our call display, they simply show as "private". Normally, I tend not to answer calls if I don't recognize the number, but we're in a bit of a family situation right now where we might receive calls from health professionals and we might not recognize the number, so I answered the phone.

 What exactly does this have to do with Adsense? It doesn't really relate "directly" to Adsense, but if you read on, you'll see that it might have an indirect affect on a site carrying AdSense ads. In my case, it probably wouldn't have affected my Adsense account since the site this call related to doesn't have Adsense on it, but yours might.

The caller on the other end of the line began by telling me they wanted to update my Google Business listing. Right away, I was hesitant about the call. I couldn't imagine Google calling me for a simple thing like updating my Google Places listing. If they wanted to do that, they'd more likely send me an email than make a phone call. The next thing he asked was my name, which I also found strange. Considering the fact that updating a Google Places business listing involves the business owner whose name is attached and listed along with the business information, Google would already know my name, so they'd either ask for me directly or ask if I was that person. They probably wouldn't ask what my name was. So far, two sentences into the conversation and I'm pretty sure I was not talking to anyone from Google Places.

Next the caller asked if I knew where my business site ranked when someone did a Google search for the type of services I provide. I indicated that I did in fact know, and since I am semi-retired and live in a small community and my site comes up fairly high in serps, it's placement was fine with me. Next he wondered if I knew where my site ranked on Bing and Yahoo, and other search engines and "bingo" ... I knew this was nobody from any Google services.

Right from the beginning I was suspicious since I know Google isn't going to "cold call" me for a tiny business like mine unless they're wanting to sell me a useful service like Google Engage, or Apps for Business (which I already had), and anyone calling from Google always identifies themselves and the programs they work with. So I asked this guy why Google would even care where my site ranked on Bing or Yahoo and there was silence on the other end of the line, and the silence got even deeper when I finally told him that Google wouldn't bother cold-calling me to update my business listing either, and I was a suspicious of his relationship with Google.

He asked me if I wanted to be removed from his call list since he didn't think he could help me. (Ha!) I asked directly what his position in Google was, and he finally admitted he didn't work for Google, but (yeah, there is always a but isn't there?) they were "partners" with Google. Oh really?

My final words to the caller: Do NOT call me again. 

So some of you might still be wondering how all this could possibly have any affect on your Adsense account. If you haven't figured out why this guy was calling me, I'll explain it.

With all his discussion of where my site ranked in all the search engine SERPs it was painfully obvious to me that they would have tried to sell me some sort of "SEO" help ... possibly okay services, but generally if they cold-call you, they're probably desperate for customers (and their money) and might just use methods way outside of anything that's acceptable for a site carrying Adsense.

 A word of caution - if you get a call from "Google", you better make sure they really are from Google BEFORE you give them any information at all - and I do mean "any".  Don't even give them your full name. And never buy any SEO services from a cold-caller without checking out their company and services before entering into any contract. This sort of thing is how scammers get your money, and how inexperienced AdSense publishers may have lost their accounts for generating invalid traffic or unauthorized methods of site promotion. Never let any SEO company promote your site unless you do your homework first, and know the methods they'll use are compatible with Adsense policies. Always be involved in the decision-making process; a good SEO company will involve you in everything they do for you, and won't charge an outrageous price for things you can learn yourself; they won't use automated methods for generating traffic; they won't spam forums, blogs or email with your site; they won't submit your site to link farms or link exchanges etc.

On a personal level - my opinion on this is simple. If they (SEO companies) can learn how to promote sites using only approved methods (no tricks, no blackhat), then so can I; and, so can you. Visit Webmaster Central to get help free - that's why the forum exists. Between Webmaster Tools help center and the Webmaster Central help forum, you can learn what you need to know to make good decisions for promotion of your own sites.

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

Gmail About to Be Disabled? STOP!

Another try by spammers/scammers to get your login information for your Google Account (and therefore, the access to your Adsense account).

The email you'll receive, on the surface, looks real enough. But how do you know it isn't?  To start with, I'd be suspicious of the email address the email was sent from. I don't know for sure what email address Gmail pros have, but most product pros have an email address that relates to their area - like an @google address.

The email I received purporting to be from Gmail came from an @service address. I'd be hesitant about that alone.

The second thing I noted is that the email wants you to click through a link - one that looks like it leads to a google support page, HOWEVER, when you hover over that link, you will note that the link doesn't go to a google page at all. It goes here:  http ://www  .pertiwi.cn/www_logs/   maill.   htm

That's not a gmail help page - it's not a google page at all. Most likely it's a page that will harvest your personal data.

Along with those two factors, the statement in the email that mentions the Google policies looks like it should lead you to a Google Policy page, but the link isn't active, and doesn't work.

The silliest part of this mail, the least thought out, I suppose is that they send it to your Gmail account (where it lands in spam in my box). If your account truly is disabled, you wouldn't be accessing your Gmail account at all, and would never see the mail anyways. If it were coming from Google, the mail wouldn't exist. You'd get that message for a disabled Gmail account on a web-page, not in your mail box, which you can't even log into.

If you can't login to your email and you do get a page with a disabled notice, check the links carefully before following any of them. It's up to you to ensure your own security. The best thing to do is check links in any mail before clicking on them.

If you find yourself with problems logging into your Gmail, you can ask for help at the Gmail/Google Product Forum.

More AdSense Questions With Answers

Every now and then we get a spate of questions in the AdSense forum that are basically the same question (or very similar) multiple times. Some of recent questions we've noticed appear to be increasing in numbers, and while many have already been answered before some of them are worth a second look, so without further discussion, onto the questions.


Do I have to create a new ad unit for each article or page?

No, you can use the same ad unit code on each article if you don't want to use different colours or sizes. AdSense ads are targeted to the content of your article, so even if you write about different subjects in each article, the same ad unit code will show different ads on different pages.

If you want to track the performance of the ad unit on each page, you can create a Custom channel or a URL channel for each page.

Can I get my PIN sent by courier, SMS, or email?

No, that it isn't possible. The PIN is sent by regular postal services. The reason for that is because AdSense needs to verify your physical address - in other words, they want to be sure you live at the address/country that you've given in your AdSense account.

If you aren't able to receive your PIN in three tries, Adsense will make alternate arrangements with you (through a notice in your Adsense account) to verify your address that don't invovle mailing another PIN.

Does AdSense partner with PTC (Pay-to-Click) Sites?

That's a big NO.

Any site related to pay-to-click advertising or "jobs" that require you to click on AdSense ads is absolutely outside of anything related to AdSense, and AdSense  will not partner with them in any way, and any AdSense publisher who uses such a site  (ie: PTC advertising) would soon find their own AdSense accounts disabled.

Not only is advertising your monetized sites on a PTC-type site against Adsense policy, AdSense considers PTC sites to be defrauding AdWords advertisers. AdSense policy is very clear, and it can be found here:

Prohibited Content

What's the policy?

The term "pay-to" refers to sites that promise payment or incentives to users who click on ads, surf the web, read emails, or perform other similar tasks. Placing Google ads on such pages may result in invalid impressions or clicks and is therefore prohibited. Similarly, sites which primarily drive traffic to or discuss pay-to services are not permitted to show ads.

AdWords advertisers pay Google to display their ads in order for them to get some value from their ads - they are looking to advertise and sell their products, or to find new leads for their companies. They are not looking for someone to just click their ad because they've been paid to do so.

From the Adsense Help Center - Prohibited Content

Adsense ad clicks from PTC sources would be considered invalid and the publisher will not get paid for them because the advertiser will not pay for them.

If you use AdSense on your sites, then stay away from sites of this nature, and do not be taken in by any who say they have a contract or partnership with AdSense. This is a big fat lie, and the only thing a site like this will do for you is get your AdSense account disabled.


How long does the second stage of AdSense approvals take? Why is my approval taking so long?

The second stage of the Adsense approvals process can take anywhere from four business days to a week or two - usually not longer than that. (Business days exclude weekends and US holidays)

The final approval stage begins when you place the required ad code on your website. Once you have placed the code correctly, the final approval (second stage) process begins.

Note that if you applied through a YouTube channel for approval, placing the code is not required.

If you haven't had an approval email after a couple of weeks at most, you should check the status of your application using this form: Check Application Status


Adserving was disabled to my site and I don't know why.

Adsense emails generally give a rather generic reason in these sort of notices. It is up to the publisher to read through any reference links AdSense has included in the email to see if any of the policies have been violated.

Because AdSense publishers come from around the globe, some things which might be considered okay from a "legal" standpoint in their country may not necessarily be considered "okay" by AdSense Policies, sometimes making it more difficult for publishers to understand what the violation is.

The answers generally lay in the AdSense help center, which is why AdSense includes those links in many of the emails. If you are unable to determine the reason, you can ask for help in the Group Support forum.


Why is my new tech site rejected?

Ahhh. This is one question that has become more and more frequent. And one of the harder to ones to answer.

Not wanting to offend anyone here, but the easiest answer is that tech sites are "a dime a dozen" - and that's partly beause in some countries, new technology is often a hot topic.

The problem itself doesn't lie in the fact that it's a site related to technology, the problem seems to be that for the most part, tech sites aren't all that original. While a publisher might write large parts of their own articles, they tend use images from the web or from the company's website, and they repost standard technical details taken from the manufacturer's website. These aren't considered original contents. Then there is the fact that almost every tech site will be covering the same product, and usually in the same way.

Because AdSense is looking for sites that add some sort of new value to the internet, more tech sites with similar contents aren't of that much interest to AdSense right now. Most of these new sites don't add anything new to the world of tech-blogs because their subject matter has been covered "ad nauseum" by hundreds or thousands of similar sites.

To get a tech blog approved, it would have to be spectactularly different and unique - in it's presentation, and in the way it covers new technology. The same tired articles and reviews aren't going to cut it for AdSense at this point in time.


Is there a human to contact at Adsense?

Well, there are in fact many humans that work at Google, including the AdSense product staff but for the most part, there is little direct contact between staff and publisher without going through some troubleshooting.

Many of the troubleshooter's have direct contact forms if the troubleshooter doesn't resolve your issues. Asking for help in the forum can also get you contact with a staff member when the situation warrants it, but even in cases where issues are escalated you may not always get direct contact with the staff if the issue can be corrected without any interraction.

This page in the Adsense help center contains troubleshooting links, and contact links for publishers:

Troubleshooters and Contacting AdSense

This isn't necessarily because they don't want to offer support, but because they receive thousands of requests daily, and the AdSense staff are limited in numbers. They also don't just handle escalated forum complaints - these are only a small part of the job they do so while it may seem to some they aren't doing enough, their responsibilities are much more than just dealing with publisher complaints.

And no, there is no telephone support for publishers. We often see questions that ask if there is an Adsense telephone number. I'm sure there is, but it isn't one that a publisher would ever get an answer at. All calls to Google are routed through very well trained receiptionists - polite, but tough as nails. You won't get past them, even if you do have a phone number to use.

There is an Advertisement on my site that interests me can i click it?

Absolutely NOT.

AdSense publishers may not click on any AdSense ads on their own websites. That is one of the first things you are told when signing up for AdSense. Please be sure you read and follow the instructions.

Program Policies - Beginner's

Don't click on your own Google ads.
If you'd like more information about one of the advertisers appearing on your site, please type the URL of the ad directly into your browser's address bar.

AdSense policies forbid publishers and family members or friends living in the same household from clicking ads on your site(s), so make sure that this does not happen.

If you truly are interested in the product or website listed on an ad on your own site, note the URL given on the face of the ad and visit the advertiser's site that way, not by clicking on your own ads.


Will I be approved?

Even if the forum volunteers review your website, none of us can say for sure if your site would be approved or not. That's something which is entirely up to AdSense.

Some of the reasons a site may not be approved are:

• duplicate contents (you've posted your articles on more than one site)
• copied/scraped contents (you've copied contents from other places)
• copyright infringements (using images with no authorization or license, linking to or hosting copyright infringing contents like free online movie sites or free music sites)
• hosting or linking to contents that contain hacked/cracked/pirated/warez downloads or similar offerings.
• not having enough content (one or two posts/pages isn't enough, you need about six months worth of your own original work to qualify)
• you've had a previously disabled AdSense account (which means you can't have another account at all)
• you are under 18 (publishers must be 18 or over to qualify)
• your site is written in a language AdSense doesn't support
• you have an aggregator site
• your site is only a search bar

There are many other reasons, but those above are the ones we see most frequently. If your site contains or is similar to any of those mentioned, we can tell you that you probably won't get approved, but none of us have an actual say in what gets approved and what doesn't.

Only AdSense has the final say.

YouTube Monetization for Minors (Under 18)

This is fast becoming one of the most prevalent questions we're seeing in the AdSense Help Forum, and most likely in the YouTube Help Forum as well.

Minors under the age of 18 can't sign up for their own Adsense account, even if you can have your own YouTube Channel (YouTube's age requirement is 13 I believe). This becomes a problem when the minor tries to sign up themselves and AdSense rejects their application. Instructions given in some areas simply tell the minor to have a parent sign up for them. But don't explain exactly how to do that.

What you can't do is resubmit your application through your YouTube Channel by changing the email address from your own, to one of your parent's email addresses. That will get you rejected again. You also can't directly submit an application for AdSense with one of your own email accounts and put your parent's name on the application form.

The steps to sign up for an AdSense account need to be taken separately by the parent.  The parent needs their own Google Account/Email address in their name. And the parent will also need to have a website, or blog (Blogger.com), or YouTube Channel (in their name, not in your name) to apply with.  Once the parent has an approved AdSense account, it can be linked to your YouTube Channel.

However, in some cases, the parent doesn't have a website or blog, or even a monetizable YouTube Channel, so in effect, there isn't any way for the parent to apply for Adsense for the minor.

The simplest thing for a parent to do is to create a YouTube Channel under their own name. Their YouTube Channel doesn't need a lot of videos to qualify for monetization.  Once they create a YouTube Channel, the parent can upload one video (or have their child upload the video for them) and wait for YouTube to enable the Channel for monetization. Once it's enabled, the parent can apply for Adsense through the Channel's monetize tab (on the monetize page, the parent will need to look for and click the link that says "how do I get paid" to get the Adsense application).  Once the parent's account is approved, the minor can link it to their own channel, following instructions to do so on YouTube.

If you are a minor who is hoping or planning to get a full Partnership someday on YouTube and are working towards monetizing your videos, you need to plan ahead a little, in order to make this process simpler, and trouble-free.

Make sure you are aware of the content requirements for monetized videos, particularly if you use visuals from gameplay in your videos.




HOW TO PREPARE FOR MONETIZING

1. Sit down with your parent(s) or legal guardian at the computer and explain the monetizing process to them - especially if they aren't very familiar with the web.
2. Explain why you can't sign up yourself for AdSense, and why you'd like your parent to sign up for you.
3. Go to the AdSense Help Center and read through the AdSense Program Policies and Terms and Conditions with your parent.  This part is important, because it will be your parent who is the party owning the AdSense account, and they should be aware of the requirements. The parent's name will be the "payee name" in the AdSense account, and the parent will be responsible for collecting the earnings, and for paying any taxes due on the earnings (no, I'm sorry I can't help you with tax requirements for whatever country you live in). And because they will be responsible for that, they should understand the requirements. YOU should understand the requirements in the Terms and Conditions as well,  because you will still be responsible for following them since the account will be monetizing your channel.
4. Next, if your parent doesn't have a Google Account, help them sign up for one. If they don't have an email address, have them sign up for a gmail account. 
5. Then take your parent to YouTube and have them set up a YouTube Channel under their own name. Even if they don't plan to use it. This YouTube Channel will be the way you submit an application for AdSense. If your parent has no interest in making their own videos, create one or two videos yourself - make sure their contents are suitable for monetizing. Upload those videos to your parent's YouTube channel.

This YouTube account owned by your parent(s), will be the way you apply for Adsense directly from a YouTube channel.  Now you have the requirements in place, and your parents are aware of what's happening. 

Once the parent's channel is enabled for monetizing by YouTube, the application for Adsense is made directly through the parent's channel with the parent's email address.  That means either you, or your parent will need to login to their Google Account, and their YouTube Channel and submit the AdSense application directly through their channel.

Preparing this in advance (before trying to monetize your own videos) will mean a lot less hassle and aggravation, and less problems in trying to get your own channel monetized.

With a parent's channel already monetized and approved by AdSense, you can now simply link your own YouTube Channel to your parent's AdSense account.

This solution seems to me a lot simpler than trying to make a suitable website or blog for your parent, particularly since the requirements for using Adsense on a blog or website require a lot of written articles (original articles, not copied from somewhere else), and in some cases, a wait of six months before it would be approved.

A FINAL WORD

Keep in mind that when a parent monetizes your channel, you should also take the time to find out the best options for safe-guarding both your Channel, and the AdSense account against invalid activity. It can happen to anyone - even on a YouTube Channel, so be sure you use the tracking options available to you.