At the time of writing this blog, this site has not yet been approved for AdSense. But personally, I have been blogging for years with friends and have learned a lot that I want to share. I realised a lot of content writers do not share their stories but rather just talk about them in some other way. That is why I have decided to write my experience, which I have had with many blogs, and how some friends and I managed to get some approved.
The Pain of AdSense Rejection as a Blogger
As a blogger, one of the disappointing messages that can throw you off and even make you quit your blogging journey is when you keep being rejected by AdSense. Mostly, these rejections are due to low-value content. I know this because I have been there on many occasions. I started working with bloggers and blogging personally in 2020, about six years ago, and the blogs that I quit due to rejection are unimaginable.
From my experience, I have learned and come to know what is acceptable by AdSense and what is not. The experience that helped me get a friend's website approved. What has been my experience all these years? Let me share it with you.
What Does AdSense Dislike
AdSense doesn't like it when you
- Copy someone's content from the internet, paraphrase it, and upload it to your website
- Write content that doesn't teach, inform, or help people
- When your content talks about harm, uses words that will cause harm, or infringes on someone's rights
- When your content is not fresh, but rather just like that of others already on the internet
- When your content doesn't provide any unique value.
What Does AdSense Like
AdSense likes it best.
When your content is unique, it adds value to what already exists, it doesn't cause harm to anyone or even incite harm in anyway.
What were the initial mistakes I made
When I started blogging initially, guess what I did?
- I was scrapping contents from the internet and uploading it
- I will refer to people's blogs and write something similar to theirs
- I used generic content, uploaded it directly to my website without adding any value
- I would download images directly from Google and add them to my content
- I always submitted between 20 and 30 articles, and not more than thirty or even 40.
At the time, all I had in mind was that blogging was just always about blogging, and just publishing content and applying for AdSense. What I didn't know was that it demanded more than that.
Why My AdSense Applications Kept Failing
After making all these mistakes repeatedly, I began to ask myself one simple question. "Why does my AdSense application never make it through?" Initially, I blamed Google. In my head, all I thought was that the system was being unfair and biased toward big websites.
But the truth was right before me; I was the one who didn't see it. The problem was not AdSense; the problem was how I approached blogging. AdSense is not approving websites just because they want to show ads. They approve websites that add real value to the internet.
What Changed Everything
One big lesson I learned that changed everything was that blogging is actually not about the number of posts you have on your site; it is not about rushing to publish 20 to 30 articles to just apply for AdSense, it is about publishing content that has purpose.
Back then, I believed once I had enough posts, I was ready. I didn't care if the posts were shallow or already written by hundreds of other bloggers. That was the mindset that had cost me so many years of rejection. Once I found out where I was lacking, I finally wrote in my best and natural tone. I wrote what I felt, what my opinions are, what is true, and finally made it with a friend on Mykeeducate.
Another mistake I got to know I was making was writing from my own experience. At first, I would write about things I did not even experience, or what I witnessed, which was not even related to my life, neither have I heard about it from anywhere. All I did was research for hours, write an article, and expect approval without experience. The system doesn't work that way now; experience is highly valued.
Once I started sharing real experiences, what worked, what didn't work, and what I learned, my content became more authentic so that people could relate to it.
Thin Content Nearly Killed Our Chances
The Trust Signals My Friends and I Personally Used to Ignore
I am sure you might have already read about this from a lot of blogs and heard from tons of YouTube videos you have watched. On your website, you must have these important pages. They are none other than.
- The about page
- The contact page
- And the privacy policy page.
My suggestion? These should even be the first pages you must get ready before you start to publish.
Final thoughts from my experience
In case you really want to get your site approved by AdSense, imagine it as a long-term investment. Since it is going to be a long-term investment, you should probably do the right thing. If you are righting article that you know is original, they have value, they make a lot of sense, it is not scraped, nor do they violate any policies, but you keep being rejected, then maybe you should keep adding more valuable content because AdSense might be expecting more from your chosen niche.
To encourage you, know that yes, blogging is a journey and rejection, that one is part of the process. If you write for humans first, approval will eventually come, but if you are writing anything because you want to be approved, then that is a wrong turn. If you ever want to ask for assistance, do not hesitate to reach out or leave a comment; I would help gladly help.
If you want to learn more, then read this blog to:
For New YouTubers, Let Me Be Honest: What You Need to Know Before You Start
