AdSense Requirements in 2026: What Google Actually Asks For
Approvalens · Updated October 4, 2026 · 6 min read
To use AdSense in 2026 you need to be at least 18, own a site whose HTML you can edit, publish original content in a supported language, follow the Google Publisher Policies, have a privacy policy with the required disclosures, and, if you get visitors from the EEA, UK or Switzerland, use a Google-certified consent platform. Two things changed this year: TCF v2.3 became mandatory for consent strings created from 1 March 2026, and from June 2026 Google may ask you to verify your identity with a government photo ID before ads go live. Minimum post counts, domain age and traffic thresholds are not on the list.
Requirements at a glance
| Requirement | Hard rule? | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Applicant is 18 or older | Yes | Age requirement |
| Not in a sanctioned country or territory | Yes | Country restrictions |
| Identity verification when asked (from June 2026) | Yes | Account setup |
| Account setup finished within 6 months | Yes | same page |
Access to your site's HTML <head> |
Yes | Owning the site |
| Site is a domain (or a subdomain on a public-suffix platform) | Yes | Site management |
| Content is high quality, original and attracts an audience | Yes | Eligibility |
| Content primarily in a supported language | Yes | Supported languages |
| Site is easy to navigate | Yes | Program policies |
| Compliance with Publisher Policies | Yes | Publisher Policies |
| Privacy policy with ad cookie disclosures | Yes | Required content |
| Certified CMP for EEA/UK/CH personalised ads | Yes, for those users | CMP requirement |
| ads.txt file | No (recommended) | Ads.txt guide |
| About and Contact pages | No (strong trust signal) | Misrepresentation policy |
| Minimum posts, words, traffic or domain age | No | See below |
Who can apply
Age. "Publishers must be at least 18 years of age to participate in the AdSense Program." If you are younger, a parent or guardian can apply with their own account.
Location. AdSense is not available to publishers in Crimea, Cuba, the so-called DNR and LNR, Iran or North Korea.
Identity. Google's account setup page says: "Starting June 2026, you may need to verify your identity before your account can start showing ads and receiving payments." Expect a government-issued photo ID and possibly a short video selfie, with 45 days to finish. Use your legal name and the address on your ID when you create the account; a mismatch here causes more delays than anything on the site.
The real six-month rule. "You have 6 months to complete the steps to set up your account." This is about finishing setup, not about how old your domain is.
Platform. Blogger and other host partners sign up from inside their platform, and YouTube creators apply through YouTube Studio. Sites on platforms that do not let you add code to the <head> cannot be added.
Site requirements
It must be live and reachable
AdSense asks whether your site is "published and live on the web", whether it can be reached without a password, and whether it has a valid SSL certificate with an HTTP to HTTPS redirect. The AdSense crawler (Mediapartners-Google) must not be blocked. Problems here produce the site down or unavailable rejection.
It must have content worth evaluating
"Your site must be live and contain enough content for our specialists to evaluate. If your site is under construction, doesn't load, or is difficult to navigate, we can't set up your account." No number is given. What reviewers look for is original contribution: experience, analysis, data, photos you took. Copied, spun, embed-only or auto-generated pages without human review are the fastest way to a low value content rejection.
It must be in a supported language
Turkish, English and around fifty other languages are supported. Persian, Swahili, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Uzbek and Albanian are among the languages that are not on the list today. The site's main text needs to be in a supported language; a few phrases in another language are fine.
It must be easy to use
A working menu, no broken internal links, no pop-unders or forced redirects, and no ads or scripts that hijack the back button.
Policy requirements
Everything on the site has to follow the Publisher Policies. Prohibited content (sexually explicit material, piracy, hacking, fake documents, malware, hateful content, harmful health claims) blocks approval. Restricted content (alcohol, gambling, weapons, tobacco) is allowed with fewer advertisers. Program policies add rules about clicks and traffic: no clicking your own ads, no paid-to-click or autosurf traffic, no text that asks people to click. See policy violations for the common traps.
Privacy and consent
Privacy policy. Mandatory. It must tell users that third parties, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on prior visits, and explain how to opt out of personalised advertising. The full list is in privacy policy requirements.
EEA, UK and Switzerland. To serve personalised ads there, you must use a CMP certified by Google that integrates with the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework. This applied to the EEA and UK from 16 January 2024 and to Switzerland from 31 July 2024. Traffic from a non-certified CMP "may be eligible for non-personalized ads or limited ads".
TCF v2.3. "TCF v2.3 is mandatory for all TC strings generated on or after March 1, 2026." If your CMP still emits v2.2 strings, update it.
US state laws. Google advises complying with laws like the CPRA. AdSense offers a US states privacy message in its Privacy & messaging section.
What changed in 2026
- March 2026: TCF v2.3 required for new consent strings.
- June 2026: identity verification may be required before ads serve and payments start.
Neither change affects how your content is judged, but both can hold up a site that is otherwise ready. Do them early.
What is not a requirement
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| 20 or 30 posts | No official number. "Enough content for our specialists to evaluate." |
| 1,000 words per post | Google: no preferred word count. |
| Domain older than 6 months | A China/India rule removed around 2019. |
| A certain number of daily visitors | No official threshold. |
| Being indexed in Google Search | The AdSense crawler is separate from Googlebot. |
| ads.txt before approval | Optional; if present, it must list you. |
Read how many posts you need for a practical take on content volume, and see our checklist for a printable version of the table above.
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FAQ
Do I need a custom domain for AdSense?
You need a domain or a subdomain on a platform in the public suffix list, such as a Blogger blogspot address applied for through Blogger. A free subdomain on a builder that does not let you edit the <head> will not work.
Is there a minimum traffic requirement?
No official text sets one. Google only asks that the code be placed on a page that has content and gets regular traffic.
Do I need a CMP if most of my visitors are from Turkey or the US?
The certified CMP rule covers users in the EEA, UK and Switzerland. If you get any meaningful traffic from there and want personalised ads for them, yes.
What happens if I do not finish identity verification?
Google gives you a set window to complete it. If you do not, ads and payments can be held until you do.
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