What is Google AdSense and How to Start Earning With it?

What is Google AdSense? How to start earning from it? How is it different from Google AdSense or Google Ads Manager? We will answer all these questions in our guide.

If you are planning for website traffic monetization, then you definitely must have heard of AdSense. It’s the most renowned name in the publishing industry for ad revenue generation. Whether you’re starting your publishing journey or are already halfway through, understanding Google AdSense is essential to tap into one of the most trusted ad monetization platforms available.

Google AdSense is a beginner-friendly, performance-driven solution for turning your website traffic into revenue. It connects your site with Google’s vast advertiser network, automating ad placements and maximizing fill rates through real-time bidding.

In this guide, we will answer what is Google AdSense and dive deep into all its nitty-gritty. Whether you’re just starting your monetization journey or exploring ways to enhance your current strategy, this article is your one-stop resource.

What is Google AdSense? (AdSense Definition)

Before diving into technical details, let’s address the fundamental question: What is Google AdSense?

AdSense is a Google-owned platform for publishers to monetize their websites or YouTube channels by running ads. It connects publishers with available ad space to advertisers who want to run advertising campaigns.

There are certain things that you should know about Google Adsense:

• It’s an ideal platform for beginners.
• It is free of cost.
• It offers basic personalization features to tweak the ads’ appearance on your website.

With Google AdSense, your ad revenue is directly proportional to your website traffic. The more traffic, the higher your ad revenue.

Now that we have answered “What is Google AdSense?” in detail, let’s explore the ad formats offered by the platform.

How does AdSense work?

The working of Google AdSense is simple: AdSense makes the ad space available to advertisers, a bid request is sent to Google Ads when a user lands on a page, advertisers bid on it, and the highest bidder gets to serve their ad.

Before you understand how Google AdSense (the publishing half) works in depth, you should know how Google Ads, the advertising half, works.

When an advertiser wants to promote their products, they sign up with Google Ads to reach their target audience. The platform lets brands set up their ad campaigns and allocate a budget to run them. Once the setup is done, advertisers then start bidding on the incoming impressions (users) that are relevant to their niche. If they win the bidding war, their ad gets displayed.

FYI, bid = amount that advertisers are ready to pay to serve ads.

Now the question comes, who brings the impressions? And where is the ad shown? Here comes Google AdSense.

The impressions are received from the websites that are a part of Google AdSense. Moreover, the ads are shown on these websites itself. FYI, impression = a user visiting your website, in AdTech terms.

Let’s understand this process in detail:

1. When a user lands on your website, it triggers the AdSense code in the website HTML to send the bid requests.

2. AdSense conducts an auction wherein all the interested advertisers bid on the given impression.

3. Google evaluates the relevance and the ad quality of the highest bidder before serving.

4. The ad is served after all the criteria are met.

You read it right: Google does check for ad relevance and quality before serving the ad. In other words, the highest bidder doesn’t necessarily get to serve the ad. If the ad doesn’t meet Google’s relevance and ad quality criteria, it may choose some other bid that’s near the former and meets all the requirements.

The reason behind this checkpoint is Google’s user-first approach. According to AdSense, the displayed ad should be helpful to users for increased engagement. This ensures increased ad revenue in the long run.

What are the Payment Models of Google Adsense?

AdSense follows two payment models: CPM and CPC. However, as of November 2023, it has moved away from cost-per-click or CPC and is only focusing on CPM.

CPM stands for cost per mille (per thousand impressions). Mille is a Latin word that means thousand. For example, mille gives you the word millennium, which means a thousand years. Coming back to the topic, under the CPM model, the publisher is paid for every thousand impressions an ad gets.

Note that the bidding takes place per impression, but the payout is based on per thousand impressions. Going by this, you can get a fair understanding of how advanced the programmatic advertising ecosystem is. 

Now that we have covered the basics, let’s understand how does Google AdSense work.

Pros and Cons of Google AdSense

Pros

• Google AdSense is easy to set up. You just have to sign up, set up your account, get the Adsense approval, and you are good to go.
• You get access to a diverse pool of advertisers who bid for your ad space in real time, increasing the fill rate and eCPMs.
• AdSense handles advertiser relationships on your behalf, so you don’t have to negotiate prices with each advertiser.
• The platform offers several less intrusive ad formats that can maintain a steady ad engagement and increase ad revenue.

Cons

• Revenue depends on traffic, so low or inconsistent traffic can negatively impact the revenue.
• You need to reach a minimum Adsense payout threshold of $100/100 CAD/€70/£60, which can be challenging for smaller websites.
• AdSense offers limited control over ad content, as you can’t choose specific brands or campaigns you can work with. This can be challenging for publishers as not every ad may align with your website’s content.
• Google has strict site content and ad policies, and any violation can lead to account suspension, disrupting your income flow.

Google Adsense vs Google Ads

Feature	Google AdSense	Google Ads
Who it’s for	Website and app owners who want to earn money by showing ads	Businesses and advertisers who want to advertise on websites
Payment model	You get paid per 1000 impressions on the ads shown on your site	You pay per click, impression, or action taken on your ad
Control over content	You don’t choose the ads, but you can block specific ads, ad categories or even advertisers	You write and design your ads, along with budget allocation
Where ads show	On your website, mobile, or video content	Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, and publisher websites (including those using AdSense)
Ad placement control	Full control over where ads appear on your site	No control over which websites your ads appear on (but can be adjusted with placement settings)
Earnings potential	Varies based on your traffic, niche, and ad performance	Potential for increased sales and customers
Optimization options	Limited (focused on layout and blocking)	Extensive tools for campaign optimization like audience targeting, bidding, devices, timing, etc.
Setup requirements	Website URL, phone number, address, approved AdSense account	Google Ads account, campaign setup, billing info

Google AdSense vs GAM (Google Ad Manager)

Feature	Google AdSense	Google Ad Manager (GAM)
Best For	Ideal for beginners and small websites starting out	Best suited for medium to large publishers with higher traffic
Setup & Ease of Use	Very easy to set up, requires no advanced technical skills	More complex and requires knowledge in ad operations
Demand Sources	Only serves ads from Google’s own ad network	Supports multiple demand sources including third-party networks
Reporting & Analytics	Offers basic reporting and performance insights	Provides detailed and customizable reporting tools
Revenue Potential	Generates moderate revenue due to limited control	Typically yields higher revenue with advanced optimization
Supports Header Bidding	Does not support header bidding technology	Supports header bidding to maximize earnings
Supports Direct Deals	Does not allow direct advertiser deals	Enables direct deals and private auctions with advertisers
Inventory Types Supported	Website ads only	Supports websites, apps, video, and multiple ad formats
Pricing Control	No ability to set base prices for ads	Publishers can set floor prices, and priorities for ads

Google AdSense Eligibility Requirements

After “what is Google AdSense?”, let us answer another burning question: How to get your website approved for AdSense?

There are certain requirements that you will need to fulfil to be qualified for earning through AdSense. These include:

• Users should be of legal age (18+ years) to sign up. Or else a guardian must sign up on their behalf.
• They should either be the website owner or have access to the source code.
• The website content should not have plagiarized, scrapped, adult material, or copyrighted content without permission.
• Your website content should be engaging, original, high-quality, and add value to the user.
• User-generated content, like comments, should be moderated to avoid policy violations.
• The website should be clutter-free, and the navigation should be seamless for enhanced user experience.

Note: You must meet the additional AdSense requirements if you use Blogger or YouTube.

How to set up Google AdSense?

Setting up a Google AdSense account is easier than it seems on the outside.

1. Sign up on Google AdSense with your Google account and create your account.

2. Set up your account by adding the website URL, payment country, valid phone number, and postal address.

3. Submit your site for AdSense approval. It can take a few days to four weeks max to get the approval.

4. Verify site ownership and add the AdSense snippet code in the header section of each page of your website. If you are using CMS to manage your website, you can use plug-ins or extensions for AdSense integration.

5. Add your payment information.

6. Personalize your ad settings and start with traffic monetization.

Common AdSense Policy Violations

There are certain AdSense policy violations that publishers should be aware of. Not being mindful of these violations can either lead to account suspension or revenue being withheld. Some of them include:

• Using prohibited content like adult material, violent or counterfeit content, gambling/narcotics-related content, etc, to monetize your website
• Placing ads on duplicate content
• Lack of privacy policy page
• Placing ads on 404 error pages
• Minimal text content on the website

Google AdSense Best Practices

Some AdSense best practices you can follow include:

• Target high-CPC keywords as they indicate high advertiser intent
• Create high-quality, unique content that adheres to the EEAT guidelines.
• Mindfully place ads above the fold for higher viewability
• Block ad categories that don’t align with your audience to focus on more profitable ads
• A/B test ad units to identify the ideal ad layout for your website

Key Takeaways on Google AdSense

• Google AdSense is a beginner-friendly platform for publishers to monetize website traffic. It connects publishers with available ad space to advertisers who want to run advertising campaigns.
• There are eight ad formats offered by AdSense: Banner ads, multiplex ads, related search ads, anchor ads, side rail ads, vignette ads, ad intent anchors, and ad intent links.
• As of November 2023, AdSense is moving away from the CPC model and is only focusing on the CPM model to be at par with the industry standards.
• Working of Google AdSense: User lands on the website > AdSense initiates an auction > advertisers bid on the impression > AdSense selects the winning bid based on ad relevance and quality > ad is served.
• There are many benefits of AdSense, such as it doesn’t require technical expertise to set up, provides access to a diverse pool of advertisers, and offers less intrusive ad formats. However, the cons include strict content policies, limited control over ad content, and heavy dependence on traffic for revenue generation.
• AdSense eligibility criteria include website content to be original and high-quality, user-generated content to be moderated, and access to website source code, among other things.
• How to make an AdSense account: Sign in to AdSense with a Google account > add website URL for verification > add payment country > embed the AdSense code > add payment information > personalize ad settings > start serving ads.

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FAQs on Google AdSense

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