AdSense approval checklist

www and non-www versionsAccess & availabilityMany people type your domain with or without “www”. If one version fails, Google can treat the URL you submitted as wrong or unreachable. If both load, you have two copies of the same site.

Certificate expiryAccess & availabilityWhen a certificate expires, browsers block your site with a warning and Google may see it as unreachable. If this happens during review, it can cause a rejection.

HTTP to HTTPS redirectAccess & availabilityGoogle's own checklist asks whether your site redirects HTTP to HTTPS. Without a permanent redirect, Google and visitors can reach two copies of every page.

Redirect chainAccess & availabilityEach redirect adds delay and another place where things can break. Long chains can make crawlers give up, and it is harder to confirm the URL you submitted is the real site.

Number of articlesContentGoogle asks for “enough content for our specialists to evaluate” but gives no number. Sites with fewer than about 20 useful articles are often rejected as “Low value content”. The count matters less than the quality of each article.

Default CMS contentContentDefault posts and demo pages make a site look unfinished. Reviewers notice them at once.

Duplicate titlesContentThe same title on several pages makes it hard for readers and Google to tell them apart. It often points to copied or templated posts.

Embed-only articlesContentGoogle's replicated-content policy covers pages that embed others' content without adding value. Google asks you to add your own contribution.

Hidden textContentText hidden from visitors but present for search engines breaks Google's spam policies. It can also be a sign that the site was hacked. Accordions and tabs are fine, so check the examples.

Keyword stuffingContentRepeating a keyword again and again to rank is keyword stuffing, which breaks Google's spam policies. It also makes the text hard to read.

Near-duplicate articlesContentGoogle's policy on replicated content covers copied or rewritten text that adds no value. Many near-identical pages look like mass-produced content to a reviewer.

Repeated sentences across pagesContentThe same paragraph on many articles makes pages look generated from a template. Boilerplate in the main text also lowers the share of original content on each page.

Low-value nicheTopic & nicheSites like these are usually built from copied or easily copied content. They are rejected for “Low value content” very often. This is a common pattern, not a written ban.

Off-topic articlesTopic & nicheA few off-topic posts are normal. Many of them make the site look like it chases traffic rather than serving one audience. This is our estimate from topic words.

Misleading claimsPolicyGoogle's policies forbid misleading content and harmful health claims that go against scientific consensus. Exaggerated claims also lower reader trust.

Template pagesProgrammatic SEO & duplicationMany pages that differ only in a city or keyword are doorway pages under Google's spam policies. They are a typical cause of “Low value content”. This is our estimate from text overlap.

Many pages on a new domainProgrammatic SEO & duplicationThousands of pages in a few months is a typical sign of mass-produced content. Google's spam policies call this scaled content abuse when the pages add little value. This is our estimate, not proof.

Thin page groupsProgrammatic SEO & duplicationA large group of short, similar pages is what Google means by scaled, low-value content. One weak group can drag down how the whole site is judged.

Sources on sensitive topicsPage qualityOn health, money and legal topics, readers need to know where the information comes from. Links to official bodies or research show your claims are based on evidence.

Heading structurePage qualityA clear heading structure helps readers scan an article and helps search engines understand it. Messy headings usually come from the theme or page builder.

SubheadingsPage qualityLong articles without sections are hard to read. Good subheadings show the reader, and the reviewer, that the article is organised.

Template-filled articlesPage qualityPages that fill one template with different keywords are a typical pattern of scaled, low-value content. Google's spam policies and its replicated-content policy cover this.

Honest titlesPage qualityGoogle's content guidance asks whether titles avoid exaggerating or shocking. Clickbait titles also make a site look spammy to reviewers.

Broken imagesSite structureBroken images make pages look unfinished, and reviewers notice. They often appear after a site move or a deleted media library.

Broken linksSite structureGoogle's policies name “linking to content that doesn't exist” as misleading navigation. Broken links also make a site look neglected.

Links between articlesSite structureLinks between related articles help readers go deeper and help crawlers find every page. A site where every post is a dead end looks thin.

Links between articlesSite structureLinks inside your text help readers find more on the same subject and help Google understand how your pages relate. Articles that no other article links to are easy to miss. Menu and footer links do not count here. This is our estimate from the pages we crawled.

XML sitemapSite structureA sitemap helps Google find all your articles, including ones that are hard to reach by links. It is not required, but it makes your site easier to crawl and review.

Dead URLs in sitemapSite structureA sitemap should list only working pages. Dead entries waste crawl time and look careless.

Sitemap errorsSite structureA broken sitemap is worse than none, because crawlers waste time on it and may miss your pages.

Canonical points to another pageTechnical SEOThis tells Google to ignore these articles and use another page instead. It is usually a theme or plugin mistake, and it hides your content.

Mixed contentTechnical SEOBrowsers block or warn about insecure files on secure pages. Images may disappear and the padlock may break, which hurts trust.

Good pages marked noindexTechnical SEOThese look like real articles with enough text, or your homepage, but they tell Google not to index them. Google may also turn off ads on content it is told not to evaluate, and a reviewer may see too little content. This is often a setting left over from when the site was being built.

Articles marked noindexTechnical SEONoindex hides pages from Google Search. Google may also turn off ads on content it is told not to evaluate. If many articles are noindex, a reviewer may see too little content.

Missing page titlesTechnical SEOThe title tag names the page in browser tabs and search results. A missing title often points to a broken theme or template.

Affiliate disclosureTrust & required pagesGoogle's policy forbids hiding the purpose of your content. Readers should know when you earn money from a link. Many countries also require this by law.

Consent banner (CMP)Trust & required pagesTo show personalised ads to visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Google requires a certified CMP that supports the IAB TCF. Without one, those visitors may get limited ads or none. It does not block approval, but it affects earnings.

Contact informationTrust & required pagesNo Google rule names a contact page, but a site with no way to reach the owner looks anonymous. Reviewers and Product Experts treat this as a trust problem.

Cookie consent for EU visitorsTrust & required pagesUnder the GDPR in Europe, a site needs the visitor's consent before it sets ad or analytics cookies. Google's EU User Consent Policy requires publishers to get that consent, and AdSense requires a Google-certified consent tool (CMP) to show ads to visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland. Turkey's KVKK has similar rules for visitors from Turkey. We load your homepage from a server in the EU, so we see what an EU visitor sees.

Cookies set before consentTrust & required pagesConsent has to come first. Under the GDPR and Google's EU User Consent Policy, ad and analytics cookies may only be set after the visitor agrees. A banner that appears while trackers are already running does not count as consent. We loaded your homepage as a visitor from the EU and did not click anything.

Disclaimer for sensitive topicsTrust & required pagesOn health, money, law and safety topics, readers need to know who is giving advice and on what basis. Google's content guidance asks for this kind of transparency. It is not a written AdSense rule.

Required privacy statementsTrust & required pagesGoogle lists what your privacy policy must say: that third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads, and how users can opt out. A generic template often leaves these out.

Real-user speed (Core Web Vitals)User experienceThese numbers come from the Chrome UX Report (CrUX): real visits by Chrome users over the last 28 days, measured at the 75th percentile. Good means LCP (loading) of 2.5 s or less, INP (responsiveness) of 200 ms or less and CLS (visual stability) of 0.1 or less. Poor means more than 4 s, 500 ms or 0.25. Core Web Vitals are part of Google Search's page experience signals. They are not an AdSense approval rule, but slow pages lose readers and earn less.

Pop-up covering the pageUser experienceThe Better Ads Standards, which Google's policies follow, count large pop-ups and full-screen overlays as bad experiences. Reviewers want to see your content first.

Content needs JavaScriptUser experienceGoogle can run JavaScript, but not always quickly or fully. If your text appears only after scripts run, crawlers may see an almost empty page.

Fits on a phone screenUser experiencePages that scroll sideways are hard to read on a phone, and most visitors come from phones. Google asks for an easy, readable experience.

Loading speed on mobileUser experienceSlow pages lose readers, especially on mobile data. Under 2500 ms is a good target. Speed matters for visitors more than for approval.

Google line in ads.txtVerification & ads.txtGoogle gives one exact line to use. If your site has an ads.txt file that does not list your publisher ID correctly, Google may not buy your ad space.

ads.txt formatVerification & ads.txtCrawlers skip lines they cannot read. Invisible characters, rich-text quotes or extra commas are common causes. If your Google line is broken, it does not count.

AdSense approval checklist

Blocker 13

Critical 26

Warning 49

Notice 46