I had always planned on running ads on my blog to help offset hosting fees. I imagined that I would finish configuring my wordpress site, theme and plugins, write a single blog post, and embed an ad with the help of Google AdSense.
Much to my surprise, when I applied to show ads on my site through a Google AdSense account, I was denied due to ‘insufficient content’.
My first Google AdSense application failed while my site had 1 blog post (1357 words), and 1 ‘about’ page (55 words). Total words for the first failed Google AdSense advertising application: 1412
I researched the ‘insufficient content’ issue and concluded the following:
- Googling the issue, several websites (not tied to Google) mentioned that I’d need between 10 and 20 blog posts, with a minimum of 400 words per post before getting approved for showing Google AdSense ads.
- The issue of ‘insufficient content’ had arisen due to the tightening of quality standards for the AdSense advertising program. Google AdSense does not want to run ads on poorly constructed and maintained websites, or sites that plagiarise or automate the creation of content.
- The application and approval process is manual (human verified) and takes several days from the time you ‘submit’ your site for review, and the time you get approved/denied. Too many people have tried an automated auto-population method for padding out word count.
Not to be dissuaded, I began creating more content when time permitted. Content that I’m interested in and passionate about. Not content for the sake of content.
My second application for the AdSense program failed 3 weeks later. The blog had a total of 6 blog posts and 1 ‘about’ page, totalling 3354 words. Each post included quality metadata, images and formatting. I was a little disappointed, but half expected the failed application due to the requirements I had read about.
I continued to create new content.
Google AdSense e-mailed me a friendly reminder about my failed application/s. It sat in my inbox for weeks. I ignored it while I allowed myself more time to create more guides, reviews and content in general.
Recently I applied for AdSense for the third time and was successful. I received the following e-mail. 🙂
So what did it take in the end?
11 posts (various topics) and 3 pages (‘about’, ‘contact’ and ‘privacy’) totalling 7,556 words.
It was a couple of months between my second and third attempts at AdSense monetisation (between 6 and 11 posts: 3354 and 7665 words), so the requirement may be anywhere between those two figures.
If you are on the monetisation journey, let me know what it takes you to get there! (If you’re in America, you’re on a ‘monetization’ journey – we spell a few things differently here in Australia)
So you may be wondering, how much revenue has been generated from the Google AdSense advertising?
I’ll sign off by sharing the first day’s Google AdSense revenue totals for my blog. Let’s just say that I won’t be contacting the McLaren dealership anytime soon. Nor will I be buying that can of Coke Zero either.
