Part 1: Joining the AdSense Program

Understanding Google policies

We discussed earlier how rewarding the Google AdSense program can be. However, joining the Google AdSense program is not that easy or everyone in the world would do it (which would defeat its purpose, ultimately). You have to be approved by Google in order to create your AdSense account and start earning money from it.

How do you get approved? Google famously has never publicly published details of its approval process, there are tips you should follow to ensure a high possibility of getting approved.

The good news is that Google does publish its policies and you do not need to be a member to read them. 

You should read them and be certain that you are in 100% compliance with them, not only when attempting to start your AdSense account, but once you are already a member. They update these policies regularly and a violation will get you suspended. A list of Google AdSense policies can be seen at: http://www.google.com/adsense/policies

Content – The Key to AdSense!

As stated earlier, we cannot say exactly how Google decides to accept or reject a site. However, one thing is for sure – the main criterion for approval is always the content of the website!

Most sites get rejected simply because they do not have any – or enough – good content. What constitutes “good” content? 

We can say what it is not. The types of websites that only have links and “filler” content aimed at attracting Search Engines, and sites that do not offer any informational content but solely focus on their own products and services. Google is one of the smartest companies on the Internet, and they can easily tell “junk” content from “real” content, even if many web surfers themselves can’t.

Google approves websites that have significant real content. These could be in the form of informational articles, analyses of various topics, and much more. For business websites that solely focus on selling their products and services through their website, including informational articles about their industry is smart, and this data is usually pretty easily available.

Another reason why most business websites do not qualify for the program, is that most businesses are specialized, and these websites are most likely to get Ads from their competitors, as only those ads would be relevant. 

As discussed, competitor ads would be blocked by you, filtered by Google, or both, so an AdSense program that serves no ads makes no sense!

Similarly, websites that focus only on links for generating search engine traffic do not have any content at all, according to both common sense and Google. These sites may rack up fairly high traffic scores and so forth, but they do not qualify for AdSense.

One of the best and simplest strategies is to include at least 30 to 40 informational articles of 400 to 450 words each and update them from time to time. Writing these articles yourself may be a daunting task. However, the good news is that there are considerable websites that offer articles for free, and plenty of professional writing resources who can not only write high quality material for you, but can especially optimize that material to work well with search engines and the “qualification” processes for systems like AdSense.

Google AdSense programs: Choose your Tool(s)!

Google currently offers five programs: 1)AdSense for content, 2)AdSense for Search, 3)AdSense for Feeds, 4)Adsense for Mobile Content, and 5)Premium AdSense.

1)AdSense for content

AdSense for content is the main AdSense program – contextually targeted ads are displayed on your webpag

e, and you get paid for every click. These ads are specifically targeted to the content of your webpage. Consequently, if you change the content of your page, the ads that are displayed would also change. AdSense allows you good con

trol over what ads get served, since there might be some obvious problems if it didn’t. These include:

Blocking Ads – you choose

While the ad selection is automatic, you can block unwanted ads – such as those from your competitors. You just tell Google which companies to block from your sites.

Reviewing and filtering Ads – semi-automatic

Google has its

 own strict policies for ad content (no profanity, no racial discrimination, etc). These are filtered out automatically from your point of view. Additionally, you can choose to block additional content through custom filters. This is slig

htly different than blocking an advertiser, since with this method an advertiser you generally allow may submit ads that would individually be filtered out.

Allowing the publisher to select an ad

In the rare case where Google’s content engines can’t make a clear match of ads to pages, they will let you pick which ads you want served. If you don’t pick, y

ou’ll get public service spots.

The look-and-feel of Ads can be customized

Ads shouldn’t look out of place or be jarring on your website. Google allows you to customize colors and layout. You can choose options provided or have your own custom layou

t and color applied to the ads. The advertisers have no control over this; as the material appears on your site, you can and should select how it looks.

Tools for analysis

Tracking and analyzing the performance of any marketing campaign is critical. Google AdSense provides a range of comprehensive online reports that allow you to monitor and analyze your earnings as well as the performance of ads by many metrics, including size, color, and so forth, so you can make adjustments to maximize the value of the placements.

Here’s a simple equation that spells it out:

A content-rich page = Highly-targeted ads

Highly-targeted ads + Interested users = Healthy clickthrough & conversion rates

Healthy clickthrough & conversion rates = Success!

2)AdSense for Search

This is another program whereby Google allows you to ad a Google Search box to your website. By doing this, visitors to your site can search the entire internet fro

m your website itself. In a way, your site becomes a host to Google. Except you make money!

The search results page that is displayed when a visitor on your website searches through the search box on the site itself, also displays Google Ads (AdWords ads) next to the usual listings, just as it would on Google.com. If the visitor clicks on any of these Google Ads, you get paid as well. Thus, with AdSense for search you can enhance your income potential beyond what just the content of your actual site can provide.

AdSense for search offers all the same options and controls as AdSense for content. These include ad customization, ad filtering, monitoring and tracking results, and so on.

3)Google AdSense For Feeds

In May 2005, Google announced a limited-participation beta version of AdSense for Feeds, a version of AdSense that runs on RSS and Atom feeds that have more than 100 active subscribers. According to the Official Google Blog, "advertisers have their ads placed in the most appropriate feed articles; publishers are paid

 for their original content; readers see relevant advertising—and in the long run, more quality feeds to choose from."

AdSense for Feeds works by inserting images into a feed. When the image is displayed by a RSS reader or Web browser, Google writes the advertising content into the image that it returns. The advertisement content is chosen based on the content of the feed surrounding the image. When the user clicks the image, he or she is redirected to the advertiser's website in the same way as regular AdSense advertisements.

AdSense for Feeds has remained in its beta state until August 15, 2008, when it became available to all AdSense users.

4)Google Adsense for Mobile Content 

AdSense for mobile content allows publishers to generate earnings from their mobile websites using targeted Google advertisements. Just like AdSense for content, Google matches advertisements to the content of a website — in this case, a mobile website.

5)Google AdSense Premium service

The AdSense Premium service provides advanced functionality and features, provided your website qualifies for it – which in fact very few sites do.

As a base requirement, your website should received at least 5 million search queries or 20 million page views a month to qualify for the Premium service. (We’re betting if your sites qualify for this level of service, you already know all about AdSense!)