I’ve repeatedly said I wanted to receive Google AdSense Approval. I finally received it this week after almost eighteen months.
I’m going to share my challenges and how this finally became a reality after a lightbulb turned on in my head.
The Website History
This website was started in late March of 2023. I literally had zero knowledge of how to create or maintain a website.
I knew people had ads, but I didn’t know how the process works so I started researching.
Fast forward to May 5, 2023 – I knew I wanted Google AdSense Approval. I saw someone with a website one month older than mine get approved, so I eagerly applied.
Rejected.
Oh, that’s a bummer. I’ll write better articles and revamp the ones I’ve done.
Two weeks later, I applied again.
Rejected.
Maybe I need more articles. I wrote with a crazy determination to hit 25 articles. Then I wanted 50 articles.
I read through Google’s policy, studying every aspect.
But Why, Google?
I spent way more time researching why I wasn’t approved than I want to admit.
We’re talking over a year of rejection. I thought maybe if I applied again after getting rejected, a new Google person would feel sympathy for me and let me into the exclusive Google AdSense Approval Club.
I was only getting a small amount of clicks from search engines. At less than 100, I also only had a small amount of subscribers.
Someone told me I needed 250 subscribers. I’m still not even close to that.
So I figured I needed more organic search traffic. Early in 2024, I started gaining a lot of clicks through search engines so I applied again.
Rejected.
Ugh. I stopped saying I wanted ads on my monthly website updates. I was basically saying I was a failure month after month and I was tired of saying that so I said nothing instead. On my monthly income report, I posted “Oh, trying to figure out what I want to do about ads”.
But I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to receive Google AdSense Approval.
Pinterest traffic was picking up significantly and search engine traffic was higher than I ever had.
Yet every time I applied, I was rejected for the same reason.
Thank you for your interest in AdSense. After reviewing your application, our specialists have found that it does not meet our program criteria. Therefore, we are unable to accept you into our program.
Why was Google being so vague?
I read the Program Policies over and over again.
Fiverr
So after about a year of being constantly rejected, I decided to look into receiving outside help.
I decided to check out Fiverr.com. I entered “Google AdSense Approval” into the search box and researched anyone who could possibly help me.
The first person responded with “What is your niche?”. Um…it’s pretty much whatever I feel like working on. The niche is me. I’m my niche. They didn’t like that answer and told me that they only worked on specific topics.
I read through the services the Fiverr associates offered but none of it sounded good enough. I didn’t want to waste my money because I’ve done that too many times.
None of the videos I watched provided any true help. I read articles on how “easy it is”.
Google states…
If your application is rejected, review Google’s feedback and make any necessary changes. Common issues include insufficient content, content quality issues, content policy violations, site navigation issues, traffic source issues, and unsupported language. You can also refer to Google’s Spam policies for good practices for your site. Once you believe your site meets the requirements, you can reapply.
What was the problem? Was my site just not good enough and I’ve got blinders on to how bad I am?
Why couldn’t anyone tell me exactly why I was being rejected?!
The Epiphany.
You know what? The Google directions clearly say I need all of these pages:
- Contact Page
- About Us Page
- Privacy Policy Page
I have all those. But I have my “About Me” and “Contact” on the same page under separate sections.
So basically, I had a page that read “About Me/Contact”.
I decided that I was going to separate those and have a different link to each. I kept the “About” link in the header and added a footer for “Contact”.
GOOGLE ADSENSE APPROVED IN TWO DAYS.
Are you freaking kidding me?
I have less traffic than I’ve had in 6 months. I literally had 15 visitors the day before I was approved.
One month before I applied to Google AdSense for the final time, I stopped posting for four weeks due to focusing on work/personal life. Plus, a few months ago I changed my URL to stop showing the date, which caused all pages to be redirected to new URLs. I’ve been feeling the pain ever since.
My Google search results fell off a cliff. Literally. It’s a cliff.
I still don’t even have 100 subscribers. I get a notification every time someone saves my pin on Pinterest because I get that excited when someone actually saves my pin to their board.
And Google approved me for simply following their guidelines and having an about me page separate from a contact page.
Do you know how much mental anguish this has caused me? I’ve totally inflicted all of this on myself!
Where The Website is Now
Like I said, search traffic is down. I’ve got over 100 articles and I am currently posting something new each week.
I’ve only had Google AdSense Approval for three full days and right now and with very little traffic, I’ve made less than $1.00. So how much have I lost in the past year and a half?
Eh, I’m not going to give this too much thought. I will say that it should be a couple thousand dollars at least. I’ve had some very busy days over the past year and a half. It’s hard to say.
I do know that I’ll keep a close eye on it for the next month and post all about it in my monthly income reports on my blog page.
Moral of The Story
Sometimes the answer is right in front of you. I was so stuck on believing the website was crap… my writing was crap… That I didn’t even consider that it was a simple reason why I wasn’t getting approved.
What’s the best thing that has come out of this?
My website is not crap!!
It’s actually given me some much needed motivation to continue on this website journey. I definitely wasn’t throwing in the towel – I’ve actually never considered giving up.
But I have had ups and downs throughout the journey.
The moral is to stick with it. Get feedback from friends and family.
It could be a really simple thing that you’re missing. If you love the website, do it for you.
If you’re rejected 10+ times like I was, make changes and reapply. Google won’t punish you for it. 🙂
Resources For Google AdSense Approval
MonetizeMore – WHAT TO DO IF YOUR ADSENSE APPLICATION IS REJECTED – A GUIDE
Google – Your AdSense Account Wasn’t Approved
Website Policies – 10 Top Reasons Why Your Google AdSense Application Gets Rejected
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