AdSense on Blogger: Earnings Tab, Settings and Common Rejections

On Blogger, you apply for AdSense from inside Blogger itself: Earnings → Create AdSense account. You don't paste code into a theme first. Approval then depends on the same things as any other site: enough original content for a reviewer to evaluate, a privacy policy, working navigation, and a crawler that can reach your pages. Most Blogger rejections come from a handful of fixable settings and template habits, not from the platform.

How the Blogger route differs from a normal site

Google's eligibility page is explicit: "Please sign up for AdSense via your Blogger or host partner account." According to Blogger Help, the steps are:

1. Sign in to Blogger and select the blog.
2. In the left menu, click Earnings → Create AdSense account.
3. Choose the Google account linked to the blog, fill in the AdSense form, add payment details and verify your phone.
4. Submit, and don't interrupt the flow before the redirect.

If the Earnings page says your blog "isn't currently eligible", fix the content first. Blogger doesn't publish a post count or blog-age threshold there, and the official AdSense standard is still "enough content for our specialists to evaluate" (setup page). The "you need 30 posts" rule is folklore. See how many posts you need for the reasoning.

Both a *.blogspot.com address and a custom domain can be added. blogspot.com is on the Public Suffix List, which is why AdSense treats yourblog.blogspot.com as a site of its own (site management change).

Settings to check before you apply

Open Settings in Blogger and go through these sections in order.

HTTPS

Under HTTPS, turn on both "HTTPS availability" and "HTTPS redirect". AdSense's site-not-ready checklist asks for a valid certificate and an HTTP→HTTPS redirect. On a fresh custom domain, the certificate can take a while to issue. Wait until https:// loads without a warning before you apply.

Crawlers and indexing

Blogger's default robots.txt looks like this, and it's fine:

User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Disallow:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
Allow: /

Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

The empty Disallow: under Mediapartners-Google means "allow everything". Trouble starts when people turn on Enable custom robots.txt and paste a template from a forum. If you see User-agent: * followed by Disallow: /, Googlebot is blocked. Google can then disable ads on content it "cannot evaluate" (ad placement policies). Leave custom robots.txt off unless you know why you need it. The robots.txt guide explains the special rule that Mediapartners-Google ignores the * group.

Also check Enable custom robots header tags. A stray noindex on the home page or on posts is a frequent copy-paste accident.

Monetization and ads.txt

If you signed up through Earnings, Blogger handles ads.txt for you, and the AdSense site status may show ads.txt as "Not applicable". You only need Settings → Monetization → Enable custom ads.txt if you also run other ad networks or added AdSense code manually. Once you switch it on, the file is yours to maintain. It must contain your own line:

google.com, pub-1234567890123456, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Use pub-, not ca-pub-. A custom ads.txt that lists only another network blocks Google from buying your inventory. Full details are in the ads.txt setup guide.

Custom domains

If your blog runs on www.example.com, turn on Redirect domain so that example.com forwards to www. Google reads www.example.com/ads.txt only when the bare domain redirects to it (ads.txt crawl rules). A broken apex domain is also a common reason for "site down or unavailable".

Template problems that hurt approval

Blogger themes from free-template sites cause more trouble than the platform itself. Problems we often see:

Problem	Why it matters	Fix
Encrypted footer script that redirects if the credit link is removed	Unwanted redirects are a program policy violation	Switch to an official Blogger theme or a clean, unobfuscated one
Menu items pointing to # or to label pages with one post	Navigation must be "easy for users to navigate"	Build a real menu: 4–7 categories with several posts each
Demo widgets left in place ("Lorem ipsum", sample slider)	Looks unfinished, the kind of "under construction" screen Google won't approve	Delete every placeholder widget
Popular posts, related posts, labels and archive widgets above the article on mobile	Pushes content below the fold	Move widgets below the post body
Pop-under or push-notification scripts from other ad networks	Pop-unders are banned on AdSense pages	Remove before applying

Content and pages Blogger users often miss

• A privacy policy page. Create it under Pages, not as a post, and link it from the footer or menu. It must mention third-party vendors including Google, cookies, and how to opt out. Our privacy policy guide lists the required statements.
• About and contact pages. Google doesn't name them as a requirement, but they help show who runs the blog. Blogger's Contact Form gadget works. Put it on a page people can find, not only in a sidebar.
• Label pages as thin archives. /search/label/recipes pages only list posts. They're blocked by Disallow: /search in the default robots.txt, which is fine. Your real content has to be in the posts themselves.
• Embed-only posts. A post that's just a YouTube video and two lines of text adds little. Google asks you to "contribute your own original content" (site pages ready).
• Copied posts. Recipes, lyrics or news pasted from elsewhere count as replicated content. Rewriting a few words doesn't change that.

A Blogger-specific pre-application checklist

• HTTPS availability and HTTPS redirect are on
• Custom robots.txt is off, or contains no Disallow: / for *, Googlebot or Mediapartners-Google
• Custom robots header tags don't add noindex to the home page or posts
• Custom domain: the apex redirects to www
• Custom ads.txt is off, or includes your Google line
• Theme has no obfuscated scripts and no third-party pop-unders
• Menu links go to real pages and categories
• Privacy policy, about and contact pages exist and are linked
• Posts are your own work with real substance, not embeds or copies

The general approval checklist covers the non-Blogger items too.

Check your blog

Paste your blogspot or custom-domain address into the free Approvalens scan. It reads robots.txt, ads.txt, menus and posts the way a crawler would and shows the three biggest issues.

FAQ

Can a blogspot.com subdomain get AdSense?

Yes. blogspot.com is on the Public Suffix List, so AdSense treats each blogspot subdomain as its own site. Apply through the Earnings tab.

Do I need a custom domain for approval?

No. A custom domain can help readers trust and remember you, but Google has no rule requiring one on Blogger.

Should I add the AdSense code to my theme manually?

If you joined through Earnings, Blogger places ads through its own integration and you don't need to edit the theme. Manual code is for special layouts, and then you also manage ads.txt yourself.

My Earnings tab says the blog isn't eligible. What now?

Improve the blog first: more original posts with real substance, clear navigation and a privacy policy. Then check again. Blogger doesn't publish an exact threshold.

Do I need a minimum number of posts?

There's no official minimum. What matters is whether a reviewer can see a useful, original blog with enough content to judge.