AdSense 30 Day Suspensions - How to Fix

A recent change in how AdSense deals with invalid clicks has publishers wondering how to deal with it, and naturally, all of them want to "fix" it, and everyone wants to appeal it.

The 30-day suspension period isn't fixable.  This is a decision AdSense has made in order to give the publisher time to try and correct the violations that caused the suspension.

"We may temporarily suspend if our policies are repeatedly or egregiously violated. This will provide you with a final opportunity to review all of your sites and take the necessary corrective actions so that your account is not disabled.

Please note that we’ll continue monitoring your account for compliance. If additional violations are accrued then we may need to disable your entire account. If this occurs then we may withhold earnings for a period of 60 days prior to the date that we disable your account.

We encourage publishers to use this 30 day suspension period to review all of their content, remove existing violations, and put safeguards in place to avoid future policy issues. When reviewing your sites for compliance, we recommend paying close attention to our content and ad placement policies."

For further help and links to steps to take see the help page in the AdSense Help Center.

"An account suspension provides the publisher with 30 days to make the relevant changes to their sites. If you have been suspended, you'll still be able to log into your AdSense account. However, no ads will be shown for 30 days, and you'll notice a payment hold automatically added to your account.

At the end of this suspension period, we'll automatically re-enable ad serving, remove the payment hold, and monitor your account to ensure compliance. Please be aware that if additional issues with policy violations or invalid activity persist following an account's suspension period, we may permanently disable the account.Note that account suspensions are unappealable."

Additional information on this page in AdSense. 

And before you start complaining about this 30 day period, consider the alternative. In the past, Adsense would simply have disabled the AdSense account, and most of the time, that disabled account is permanent. It means no more Adsense. If you received a 30-day suspension, you have a chance to fix the problems.

What Problems?

Most of the time the suspension is related to invalid clicks, invalid activity, or traffic problems. We've discussed invalid clicks and invalid activity in the past - this doesn't necessarily mean that you've clicked your own ads or asked others to do so (but if you have, then stop it. NOW.) Invalid clicks/activity/ can come from lots of other activities. Just a few of the things that might cause problems:

- people using the same IP as you
- clicks from small groups of people, like forum members, or from schools, or internet cafes, etc.
- on a website or blog, even improper ad placement can cause invalid clicks
- improper ad placement on mobile devices (ads are too large or cover too much of the screen)
- using links exchanges
- using sub4sub
- improper promotion of your property (website/blog/channel/app)
- traffic coming from bad backlinks
- advertising improperly using social media or ads on social media (there's a right way, and wrong way)

Before suspending your Account, AdSense has thoroughly examined your account, your account history, your traffic patterns and the properties you are monetizing. They haven't done this "automatically"; it hasn't been suspended by bot; it hasn't been flagged by some visitor; it hasn't been done without an investigation. And that's probably one of the reasons it cannot be appealed.

AdSense has 2 choices: they can suspend your account for 30 days, or they just disable your account totally.  This 30 days suspension can be looked at as a warning that something isn't right with your account/site/traffic, and should be a "wake-up" call.

Why the Suspension?

Really? The answer may not be what you think. It's not to punish you.  Given Adsense's history of disabling publishers for non-compliance, you might think this is just another way to make your life miserable.

Well, it isn't.

AdSense wants to help you keep your account; to become better publishers and to gain a better understanding of the right way to do things. They want to give you a chance to be better - to do better!

What to Do During the 30 Days

The first thing is "what not to do" ... don't just sit around for 30 days waiting for the suspension to be lifted. Although the problem may not have been caused by you, the is a change that it might have been caused by you unknowingly.  This is particularly true if you haven't reviewed the policies recently (they do change from time-to-time, so it's important to keep on top of this). This means it important for you to figure out what the problem(s) might be, otherwise you won't know how or what to fix.

What you need to do is launch your own investigation.

- check your traffic sources (ie: referrals, where traffic is coming from)
- if using unauthorized traffic, get it stopped asap
- make sure you haven't used poor or non-allowed methods of generating traffic
- make sure your traffic is organic
- check your ad placements/locations and sizes
- thoroughly review the policies with respect to ad allowances per page/sizes allowed where
- make sure you take steps to protect your properties as well as possible
- if you did/are clicking your own ads ... shame on you. Stop it. Don't do it again. Ever.

Take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that there are no further problems: do this BEFORE the 30 days are up. Show AdSense that you are taking pro-active steps to try and correct whatever the issue is.

No, they aren't likely to tell you "exactly" what is wrong. Whatever wording is in the email you received is about the only wording you'll get from AdSense directly. If you've taken time to investigate and still aren't sure what the problem is, or if you've fixed the problem then ask for help in the AdSense forum. The forum questions are mostly answered by your peers - others who may have already had to deal with a suspension, or others who might understand the best way to figure out the possible issues. Discussion is a good way to double check what you've already fixed and make sure you didn't miss something.

Be pro-active and reactive. Don't loaf!




Oh yeah, one last thing ...   

posted by J. Gracey Stinson

AdSense was Approved - But No Ads are Showing!

We've been seen a lot of this lately. People get a notice that their account is "fully approved to display ads" ... but then, after waiting for several days ... well, none of the ads are showing up.

There could be several reasons for this, including the fact that sometimes mistakes happen. We've also seen a number of instances (more than a few) where people received an approval email, and hours or days later received a disapproval. The mistake was the approval email, which is corrected by the disapproval email. This is not a rare occurrence, but it isn't all that common either. It's just that it does happen, so if it happens to you ... find out why your site was disapproved, and make whatever changes are necessary before trying again.

Other reasons for ads not showing include not being fully approved, or being approved with a host account which will only show ads on host URLs, or a host account that will only show ads on host URLs (like YouTube).

Have a look through the following list - these are a few of the reasons your ads might not show up if you were, or think you were approved.

If you don't think any of these are the reasons, go through the troubleshooter (#9 on the list below). If the troubleshooter doesn't turn up any resolutions, and doesn't provide a contact form (in some cases it will, in others it will not) then post a question in the AdSense Help Forum and see if anyone can offer further suggestions.

Keep in mind when you post in the forum that the people answering questions aren't staff. If you don't provide enough information in your question, they'll have a hard time answering it. See "The First Consideration" below and make sure you include your information.

The First Consideration

When you come to the AdSense forum and simply state "my ads don't show, why is this?" ... nobody can answer you.  

Why?  Because nobody will know

• if your account is approved at all
• if it is approved in the first or second stage of the review process
• if your code is entered properly
• if your account is a host account or standard (full) account ("Host" accounts show as Host accounts in red in the upper part of the page)
• if your account is a host account that was approved for blogger, for ad mob, for youtube, or for use on some other partner site
• if your AdSense account is showing any messages or notices
• if the site you put the ads on is the site you applied with
• if the site you put the ads on is already disabled (this can happen if you purchased a new domain or bought a website from someone)

So if you would like help in answering the question of why the ads might not be showing up, you'll need to provide a lot more information than just saying "why can't I see ads on my site".  Provide as much information as you can when posting your question (using the above as a reference when deciding what information you need to give).

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In the meantime, some of the following information can help you troubleshoot through some of the possible reasons on your own.  Please take time to read the following information. If none of the following information helps, open a question of your own (or add to your own question if you already posted one).

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1. You applied for Adsense using YouTube or AdMob

If you have an approved Adsense account that you obtained by applying through AdMob or your YouTube channel, you won't be able to use Adsense anywhere except host URLs.

(a) Since AdMob is only for displaying AdSense in mobile apps, you need to upgrade your account to use it on a website. You "should" be able to link it directly to your YT channel though.

Upgrade to display on a website following instructions in this link: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/2534771?hl=en&ref_topic=2811251&rd=1

(b) If you applied through your YT channel then you can only display ads on YouTube unless you are approved for an account upgrade.

YouTube: If you have signed up for AdSense via a YouTube account and you’d like to show ads on other host domains, then you’ll need to provide us with a top-level domain. At this time there's no possibility of monetizing other hosted properties for AdSense accounts created via YouTube without upgrading the account by providing a top-level domain.

To request an account upgrade you need a top level domain (you can't submit a blogspot or other subdomain URL for an upgrade request).
So basically that means you can't show AdSense on a blogger url without first submitting a domain to get your account upgraded.
See the instructions here: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/2534771?hl=en&ref_topic=2811251&rd=1 

2. You applied for AdSense using a blogspot (Blogger) URL and are trying to show ads on your own domain (or a custom domain on Blogger).

If you have a hosted adsense account through blogger, then you need to request an upgrade to your account before ads will display on your own/custom domains.

Follow these instructions here: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/2534771?hl=en&ref_topic=2811251&rd=1

3. You applied for a Host account upgrade by submitting the URL and placing the ad codes, but no ads show up.

That's probably because the upgrade isn't approved yet. During the upgrade process, your website/blog will go through the same review process as if you were applying for a new Adsense account, so it can take anywhere from a few days, to a couple of weeks for Adsense to complete the review. If they approve your upgrade request, ads will begin showing, and you'll receive an approval mail. If they don't approve it, you should receive an email notice saying the upgrade was not approved. In that case, no ads will show. 

4. Your AdSense PIN was issued, but you haven't received or entered it, and it has been SIX (6) MONTHS since the first PIN was issued.

In this case, ads will not begin showing until you complete the PIN Process and enter your PIN -note that it can take up to 48 hours after entering your PIN/verifying your address before the ads display, so be patient. (See: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/157667?hl=en&vid=1-635792076383490765-1595138867)

5. The AdSense Code

(a) The Adsense code is not correct in the page.  In some types of templates, even if you copied the correct code from your AdSense account and pasted it into your website/blog as required, the code will be corrupt when you save the edit. This is a matter of the template or blogging platform, and you'll need to take steps to correct it.

Wordpress.com: you cannot place Adsense code on Wordpress.com hosted sites, not even if they have a custom domain. Wordpress doesn't allow it, and the codes will not enter correctly.

Wordpress.org: if you are not using the official Adsense-Wordpress plugin and have placed the code manually, check to make sure it is not corrupt. Some templates will do funky stuff with the ad code (most often what we see is line breaks at the end of each line of Adsense ad code - you'd need to remove those. To install the official plugin if you want to try it see:  https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/3380627?hl=en&vid=1-635792076383490765-1595138867

Blogger: if you are trying to paste the AdSense code into the <head> or after the <body> tag of the template's html you'll get errors. Paste the ad code into an html gadget for blogger (layout page, + New Ad Unit, paste code, position gadget), OR use an Adsense Gadget (layouts page, +New Ad Unit, Adsense Gadget), OR use the earnings tab of your blog to place ads in the sidebar and posts.

Other web builders: if you are using a website builder provided by your hosting company (like Godaddy's web builder, or Yahoo Site Builder) then  you should ask for help at the support center for the product you are using. Unless one of the volunteers in the Adsense forum has used these other products, it isn't likely any of us can provide much help with specific products.

(b)  There are too many AdSense ad codes in the page. AdSense allows a maximum of 3 AdSense ad units per page. If you try to put more than that (i) it violates policy and is a cause for warning or disabled accounts (ii) not all of the ads might display or (iii) none of the ads may display. Make sure you only have 3 Adsense ad units on a page.  (You may also use 3 Link Units (or "link ads"), but these are not the same text ad units, so make sure you haven't confused the codes.)

6. Your Adsense account was approved, but ads aren't showing.

You may still only be approved for Stage 1 of the approvals process.  Check the approval email that you received from Adsense.

If it says to place the code on your site, then you'd only be in the first stage of the approvals process. When you place the ad code, an ad won't show up. Not until they complete the second review. Placing the ad code allows them to continue with the second part of the review.

That  can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (depending on how much traffic the site has) after you put the code on your site.

When they complete that part of the review, you'll receive another email that says whether your site is approved or not.

7. You have a fully approved non-host Adsense account that's showing ads on other websites, but not showing on your new website.

Your new domain or website may already be disabled from serving adsense ads. This can happen when you purchase a domain or website. The previous owner may have used AdSense and had the site/domain disabled at that time either for a policy violation or invalid activity.  There are very few ways to correct this. If you earn enough to qualify for direct contact with Adsense staff, then you can use the "contact us" link in the AdSense help center, or in your AdSense account. You can explain the situation and ask them to review your new site.  If you have no contact with staff, there will likely be no way to get AdSense ads to show up on it.

In order to prevent this happening, check any domain or website you intend to purchase before paying out money for it. Use these tools (I use both because it's a good way to confirm it if both tools show a site as disabled/banned).

The AdSense Sandbox:  http://ctrlq.org/sandbox/

Isbanned: http://www.isbanned.com/ 

8. Your site may be written in an unsupported language. Languages not supported by AdSense may not use Adsense ads on them. Please refer to the language list: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/9727?hl=en

9. Check the troubleshooter for reasons why ads might not show: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/1208336?hl=en

posted by J. Gracey Stinson

Why Doesn't My Blog Qualify for Adsense?

Yep, you got it. That's another often asked question that echoes through the Adsense forum lately. Some are posted in AdSense, and some are moved to the AdSense forum from the Blogger forum. But all of them nearly always have the same answer, BUT, there are several situations that apply here.

Situation #1 - Applying for a new AdSense Account

When you create a new blog on Blogger and want to apply for AdSense with it, you will probably find the "Earnings Tab" is not active, and you can't submit an application.

This is because the blog is either too new, or has too little content to be able to qualify for AdSense, so the ability to apply is on hold (by the Earnings Tab being temporarily disabled) until such time as the maturity of the blog (it's age) and the amount of contents on the blog deem it as being fit to apply with.

When the earnings tab is enabled, you'll be able to apply with your blog. This, however, does not mean your blog is approved yet, it just means that you can apply with it. Whether or not the blog is approved will not be decided until it goes through a 2-step approval process.

The first step allows you to login to an AdSense account and to place the code on your blog. Once you've placed the code on your blog, the second step will begin.

The second step is where AdSense will review your blog and all of it's contents to see if it's something suitable for them to monetize. During this time, you won't see any ads on your blog. You won't see any ads unless AdSense approves it during this second step. Once the review is complete (this review can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks) AdSense will send you another email, but you may notice ads showing before you actually get the email.

So, when does it become enabled?

Well, that's open for discussion really. Nobody knows because there is no information posted about what will cause it to become enabled. Having spent enough time in the AdSense forum you come to the conclusion that it can take several months before that happens. If one thinks about it logically, in a couple of months, how much content would you post? The average blogger probably posts twice a week at least, so two posts a week times 8 weeks equals about 16 posts, but most of the time, what we're seeing is the blogs need more than that in terms of content amounts, unless the posts are very long, so shoot for somewhere around 20 to 30 posts. The more content in each post, the more likely you'd be accepted with a lower number of posts. (Don't add words just for the sake of adding words. The posts have to be useful.)

If your blog is almost a few months old, or is a few months old and you have at least that much content, you should be getting pretty close to seeing your Earnings Tab enabled.  Unless ... well there is another requirement that Adsense has for just about all of the Asian countries, and that is the fact that sites should be six months old, so some of you may have to wait longer than a couple of months.

Situation #2 - Adding a Blogger Blog to a Fully Approved AdSense Account

This occurs when you already have an AdSense account that's approved to display ads on your own websites, or already approved to display ads on Blogger URLs (blogspot URL).

Even though your AdSense account is already approved for another blog, your new blog still has to qualify to display ads on it, so ... the earnings tab is disabled, the same as if you were applying for a new blog.

This makes sense because no advertiser wants their ads displaying on sites with one post, that's a few hours old. The idea is pretty much the same as in Situation #1 - when your blog is suitable (in terms of age and content amount) the Earnings tab will become active and you can link your blog to your already approved AdSense account.

You will not have to go through another review at that time. Your account is already approved, so the ads will begin to show once you can link it to your AdSense account.

Situation #3 - Your Blog uses a Custom Domain

In some cases, the Earnings tab may not be available when you want to apply because your blog is already using a Custom Domain. In this case, if your site is old enough, and has enough content you can apply at the AdSense homepage with your domain instead. Be aware that if your site is really new and hasn't much content, it's likely to be rejected, even if you can apply.

Your account will go through the same 2-step process as noted above in Situation #1. If it's approved and the ads begin displaying, the Earnings Tab should eventually become enabled, but even without the earnings tab, the ads will still work fine and still accrue earnings.

Situation #4 - You Already have an AdSense Account approved through YouTube or AdMob

You can't place AdSense ads on a blogspot URL if your account was approved through YouTube or AdMob. Not without upgrading that Host Account.  And to upgrade that Host account, you can't use a blogspot URL. Please see "Applying for a Host AdSense Account Upgrade" on this page for instructions on how to upgrade.

posted by J. Gracey Stinson

AdSense, Where's my Payment?

Over the last month or two I think I've seen more payment related questions in the AdSense help forum than ever before. There seems to be a small flood of them, this month alone. Some of the questions have related to the new line entry on the payments page, where Adsense now shows the amount of earnings that have been deducted due to invalid activity (usually accidental clicks, or from "bad" traffic and/or bots - often not the direct fault of the publisher).

Prior to this change when deductions were made, it wasn't noted how much of that deduction was due to invalid clicks. For more on this update to the Payments page, see the recent article on the Inside AdSense Blog.

But the vast majority seem to be "why wasn't my payment issued?" ... these questions have come from publishers world-wide, and many are from publishers that have been collecting payments regularly without any problems.

Most of the publishers have either reached, or exceeded the payment threshold and have long ago entered all the required details to verify their accounts and payment methods. So where is the payment? Why hasn't it been released (issued) this month?

A few of the publishers who qualify for direct contact with AdSense staff have contacted staff and asked that exact question.

A few indicated that the response said their accounts were under investigation and until that was complete, the payment wouldn't be issued.  How long one of these "investigations" takes is anybody's guess. I really don't know, but I would expect for the most part, it isn't going to be "a few days". Anyone that's been around AdSense long enough already knows that there isn't much that AdSense does "quickly".  I would think it wouldn't be a surprise if the investigation took a week or two, or ... unfortunately, even longer than that.

What sort of investigation it is, or why the account was chosen is something else I can't really answer. We do know that all publisher accounts are monitored by AdSense. We also know that when AdSense finds something to be "irregular" in a publisher's account they'll investigate further. (Also see reasons for payment holds in the help center.)

• Your account is currently under review for compliance with our program policies
  All accounts are monitored for policy compliance and invalid activity. At times, while your account is under investigation, your payments will be temporarily placed on hold. You do not need to contact us about this hold; the hold will be automatically removed at the end of the investigation if your account is policy compliant and your traffic is valid.

Whether that's an odd batch of traffic and/or clicks on ads, or whether it's multiple reports coming in from the website reporting options (such as spam websites, or publisher's spamming groups or people with emails they didn't sign up for, or improper ad placements, etc.) or a payee name change in an account (which isn't allowed), AdSense is going to investigate these issues to make sure the account doesn't become a risk for the advertisers whose ads appear on on our sites.

The bottom line is that nobody can answer for AdSense when it comes to payment issues. If you qualify for direct email support from AdSense you'll be able to access the contact email form in the help center, in which case you can ask for yourself why your payment hasn't been sent.

So far, I haven't personally had to deal with an investigation issue myself, so there isn't much in the way of help that I can offer. I can, however, tell you what I would do if I found myself in this position.

1. I'd start by looking at my traffic over the last few months: where it came from; the referring sites; checking my promotional methods. Fairly often, bad traffic can be an issue, so that's the place I'd start investigating my own stats.
2. Then, I'd consider my methods of promotion. Did I hire someone who might have sent spam emails to promote me? Did someone put my site link on a link exchange (cause I surely would not)? If I hired some off-beat SEO firm, the first thing I'd be doing is asking for an exact copy of every single thing they did to promote my site. (Often, these people do things way outside of AdSense policy without telling you.)
3. Next, I'd review my blogs or websites for content compliance. Is my content original (my own/did I write it myself or copy it?); is any of my content in violation of any policy?; are any of the comments users leave considered spam, or lead to spammy websites?; is my own content sort of spammy and poorly written?
4. Then, I'd start investigating my own social pages and links. Have I spammed my site/post links all over the web using social services? Have I misused social sharing in some way? Have my personal friends or family gone on a "sharing spree" without telling me (which would only make things worse).

I can tell you that if my own account were under investigation by AdSense, I'd be spending 100% of my time investigating my own site, it's visitors, it's contents, and my own actions to make sure that there wasn't anything "odd" going on.

... I wouldn't be sitting around just waiting for AdSense to finish up.

posted by J. Gracey Stinson

AdSense and Nigerian Publishers

In the last couple of years Adsense has seen an increasing number of Nigerian publishers jockeying for approvals for their websites and blogs, and fairly often what we see in the AdSense Help Forum are, sadly, rejections.

The same as any publisher with a rejected website, they wonder why. Most are simply baffled, and not aware of the policies, but some cry foul because of race. AdSense doesn't reject websites based on race or nationality. Most of the time, rejections are based on content suitability, and many of the contents on Nigerian blogs aren't suitable for AdSense.

So it's not a race issue, and it's not even really a country issue, since publishers from Nigeria can be approved for AdSense provided they produce the right type of content. What it probably boils down to is a culture issue. Every country (in fact, even within a country every province) and it's people develop in different ways. Britain is often known for it's restraint (or what some people call their stuffiness); Canada is often referred to as the "polite" or "politically correct" country (frankly, I live here and beg to differ, but hey, that's how people see us), and Nigeria is no different. They have their own unique culture - colourful, boisterous and full of life.

Unfortunately, while they seem to be a really "open"people, they also have no problem publicly discussing the types of topics that aren't suitable for Adsense.

Many blogs we see rejected have contents that have been copied from other news sites, and the majority of sites from Nigeria that are rejected have a similar bent ... copied news, and copied celebrity gossip, much of which often contains contents of an adult nature.  That's frowned on by Adsense and by AdWords advertisers, which is an important fact in whether or not the site can be approved.

I personally don't understand the preoccupation with gruesome news, but I expect it's because they seem to live in middle of it and are forced to endure exposure to things most of us in this area of the world can only shudder at. It's sad, and frightening, but this sort of gruesome content isn't acceptable for Adsense either.

I also don't get the preoccupation with celebrities. They're just people, like the rest of us. I've never understood that, and it's pretty popular in all cultures. But copying a celebrity's images from someone else isn't allowed, and can actually cause you to be sued by the celebrity, never mind being rejected by Adsense.

All sites (no matter where the publisher lives) are expected to comply with copyright laws, including the copyright laws of the US, and the copyright guidelines issued by AdSense.

So although it might not seem that simple to some, the answer really is simple.

1. Write your own contents based on your own personal experiences. Don't copy it, don't edit someone else's articles, don't write about the same thing others are writing about unless you've personally got experience to draw from.
2. Don't copy other people's images. Only use images with permission, or pay a licensing fee to use it.
3. Don't write about gruesome news, don't show gory or disturbing images, don't write about women/children being abused in horrible ways using graphic language.
4. Don't go for the most common information available all over the web. Write something different. BE different ... and be yourself.

DON'T be a follower of all the others around you. Be a leader to others in your culture and break away from the multitude of "same" type blogs. Come up with your very own, very unique ideas and start writing; start photographing; start painting or drawing or doing whatever it is you do best ... as long as what you do best isn't copying others.

posted by J. Gracey Stinson

Choosing the AdSense Payment Method

Over the past several years there have been ongoing changes to the payment system for AdSense.  More countries have been moved from payment by cheque or Western Union to EFT (electronic funds transfer) or Wire Transfer, and some countries now have SEPA payments. The actual steps to set up your payment method and to see what is available to your country, see the AdSense help center articles "Setting up your Form of Payment" and "Payment FAQs".

Why can't I choose my payment method?

At one time, as soon as your estimated earnings crossed the Payment threshold (usually around $10) the option to choose and confirm your payment method became available in your AdSense account. That, however, has changed now.

If you aren't able to choose your payment method, check your "Payment" page in your account. Are there verified earnings showing that reach or exceed the threshold ($10) on that page? If not, you won't yet be able to choose a payment method. Instead of working off the estimated earnings, AdSense payment method now only becomes active shortly after the verified earnings are posted to your payments page, and have reached the verification threshold.

For those earning only from a YouTube channel, this would mean waiting until around the 15th of a month for your YouTube earnings to be transferred from your channel onto the Payment page in your Adsense account.

For publishers earning from websites or blogs, the finalization takes place between the 1st and 7th of a month.

"Why Can't I Get my Payment by Cheque ?" OR "I don't have a Bank Account"

In some cases, the payment method that once existed in your AdSense account may no longer be available in your AdSense account.

This would mean that you will need to set up a new payment method in order to continue receiving your payments. In most of the countries where AdSense used to offer payment by cheque and now offers EFT payments, you will no longer be able to get your payment by cheque. You will most likely only be able to choose EFT as your payment method and will require a bank account.

When I enter and verify my bank account, when will I get my payment?

This depends on a couple of things. If you haven't actually reached the payment threshold (usually set at $100US or equivalent in local currency) then you wouldn't receive a payment until your verified earnings reach that, and then you'd receive a payment during the normal payment cycle. (See "When will I be paid.")

If you just reached the payment threshold and entered your bank account, you would also be paid during the normal monthly payment cycle for that month.

If your AdSense Payment page has shown that you have been at or above the payment threshold for a few months, but haven't yet received a payment because either you hadn't entered a PIN or hadn't entered and verified a bank account, then you may see your payment issued within a few days after verifying your bank account.

This doesn't apply to accounts that still receive payment by Western Union or cheque. Accounts still using those payments would have their payment issued in the regular payment cycle.

Can I use someone else's bank account, like a parent or friend?

No, you won't be able to verify a bank account unless your name is on the bank account. The account holder of the bank account needs to match the payee name in your AdSense account. Since you can't change the payee name in your AdSense account, you need a bank account in your own name.

If a parent has signed up for you, the parent would most likely be the payee name in your AdSense account. That means the parent needs to enter their bank account.

For spouses, or anyone else who holds a joint account with someone else, as long as your name is also on the joint bank account, you can use a joint account to receive your payment, as long as the payee name in the AdSense account is one of the names on the joint bank account.

Also note, the bank account must be located in the same country as the address in your AdSense account, so as an example, if you live in Canada (like me) and your AdSense account has your Canadian address, you'll need a bank account in a bank in Canada.

posted by J. Gracey Stinson©

Can I use Affiliates with Adsense?

That's a question we seem to be getting more often than we used to, particularly from newer publishers.  The simple answer is yes you can. But it's more involved that just a simple answer (and that's pretty much how a lot of things are with Adsense.

You can use an affiliate link (or even two) on a blogpost or website page that also has Adsense ads on it. But there are things you need to know. Don't run off to plaster affiliate links on your site before reading the rest of this, or you could find yourself in a world of hurt.

AdSense doesn't provide guidelines on using affiliate links, but it does provide guidelines on the contents you can place Adsense ads on. One of those stipulations is that your contents must be original, another involves not using unsuitable contents (such as adult contents, or contents on drugs and some types of supplements that might be illegal in the US, or gambling) ... there are too many "Prohibited Contents" to mention one-by-one here. Just make sure to read the policy.

Those policies basically mean that anything you put on your pages that have an AdSense ad on them must also comply with the policies, and that means any affiliate links should also comply. Don't use affiliate links to sites that contain contents prohibited for Adsense.

Because you need original contents, if your pages only contain a bunch of affiliate links from somewhere like Amazon, and only contain the the original reviews and summaries, don't put Adsense ads on those pages. Pages like that would fall into the "thin affiliates" category.

Don't put Adsense ads on a page whose sole purpose is to promote an affiliate - pages like that are nothing more than a gigantic advertisement for the affiliate product. If it looks like an affiliate promotion, smells like an affiliate promotion, and sounds like an affiliate promotion ... leave Adsense off of that content. Don't put adsense on e-stores with no original contents, and almost no textual contents. This would also be considered a "thin affiliate" site.

Make sure any page(s) that contain your affiliate links use the "no follow" attribute for all the links, and make sure you have more original contents of your own than affiliate links. One or two lines of text with half a dozen affiliate links is not going to be considered as:

• sufficient
• original
• unique
• useful

Write an article, one that provides some useful and personal insights, then you can include an affiliate link or two with the article, along with your Adsense ads.

Learn to think like Adsense. When an AdWords advertiser puts their ad on your site ... why are they putting it there?  They want people to see their product or service, they don't want it alongside a dozen other similar products owned by different companies. The chances of someone being interested enough to visit the AdWords advertiser grow smaller with each affiliate link that's on the same the page.

That's not great news for the AdWords advertiser. It may not even be that good for you either. If people visit your affiliate links and move away from your site onto a shopping site (like Amazon), you'll only make money if those people buy a product. If they don't buy and leave Amazon to go search for something else, you lose out altogether. The AdWords advertiser loses out. AdSense loses out.

Keep your affiliate links on your AdSense monetized pages to a small, reasonable amount and you can have an effective page that can work for both types of advertising, and may earn you money from both.

posted by J. Gracey Stinson