What I Learned Getting 6 New Websites Approved for Google AdSense

Michael Appiah Agyekum

• min read

Table of Contents

6 New Websites Approved for Google AdSense

Hi everyone,

Since around October 2025, I noticed that getting a new website approved for Google AdSense became much more difficult than it used to be.

After working on several websites and already having older AdSense properties generating roughly $12–$20 per day, I wanted to understand what was actually making the difference between an approval and a rejection.

So I decided to document what happened with my six most recent websites that successfully went through the approval process.

These weren't just theoretical experiments. I looked closely at the website structure, content, navigation, domain history, design, performance, and overall user experience.

One important lesson became clear:

AdSense approval isn't just about having enough articles. Google needs to see a complete, useful, trustworthy website.

So let's go through the things I paid attention to.

1. Essential Website Pages

Before submitting a website, I make sure the basic pages are complete and easy to find.

At minimum, I recommend having:

About Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Disclaimer
Cookie/GDPR information where applicable

These pages aren't magic approval buttons.

However, they help establish who operates the website, what the website is about, and how visitors can contact or understand the site's policies.

2. Navigation Must Actually Work

This is something I learned the hard way.

Don't assume your navigation is fine just because it looks good.

Before submitting, I click through everything.

Check:

Main menu
Categories
Footer links
Tags
Internal links
External links
Buttons
Search
Mobile navigation

I've seen websites where a button looked perfectly normal but sent visitors to the wrong destination.

A broken or misleading navigation system creates a poor user experience.

So I don't just look at my website.

I actually use it like a visitor.

3. Pay Attention to Design and Customization

Your website doesn't need to look expensive.

But it should look finished.

I normally check:

Logo
Typography
Featured images
Homepage layout
Category structure
Article layout
Footer
Mobile responsiveness
Essential pages

The goal isn't to impress Google with a fancy design.

The goal is to make the website comfortable for a real visitor.

If someone lands on your homepage and immediately thinks, “Is this website finished?”, you have more work to do.

4. Content Is the Serious Part

Here is where I will be spending most of my time.

One of the biggest lessons from my experience is that content quality matters far more than simply hitting an article-count target.

Your articles should demonstrate that a real person understands the subject.

That means:

Explain things clearly.
Add your own perspective.
Use real examples.
Share practical experience where appropriate.
Avoid unnecessary repetition.
Check facts before publishing.
Don't simply rewrite another website.

I would rather publish fewer useful articles than fill a website with dozens of pages that don't provide anything new.

5. Be Careful With Rewritten or Low-Value Content

There are many shortcuts people use when creating articles:

Rewriting existing articles

Changing the wording of another article isn't the same as creating something original.

Automatically generated content

AI can help with brainstorming, research organization, editing, and other tasks, but blindly publishing generated articles can result in repetitive and low-value content.

Translation

Translating an existing article and making only minor changes doesn't automatically make it original.

Doing the work yourself

This is the approach I trust most.

When I write an article myself, I can add:

my own experience,
examples,
opinions,
mistakes,
observations,
screenshots,
and practical recommendations.

That's much harder to fake.

6. Give Your Domain Time

I wouldn't buy a brand-new domain today and immediately expect AdSense approval tomorrow.

A new website needs time to become a real publication.

During that period, I would focus on:

publishing useful content,
establishing the site's topic,
fixing technical problems,
creating internal links,
building a clear navigation structure,
and making the website useful to actual visitors.

There isn't a universal rule saying a domain must be one month, three months, or six months old before applying.

Age alone doesn't guarantee approval.

The important thing is what you've built during that time.

7. Website Performance Matters

A slow website creates a bad experience regardless of whether you're trying to monetize it.

For WordPress websites, I normally pay attention to:

caching,
image optimization,
unnecessary plugins,
font loading,
JavaScript,
and overall page performance.

Tools such as caching and image-optimization plugins can help, but don't install plugins simply because someone gave you a list.

Every plugin adds another potential dependency.

The objective is simple:

Make the website fast, stable, and easy to use.

8. Choose Your Hosting Carefully

When you monetize a website, reliability matters.

If your website regularly goes offline, visitors can't access your content and search engines may have difficulty crawling it.

I therefore look for hosting that provides:

good uptime,
reasonable server performance,
reliable support,
backups,
and enough resources for the website.

Don't choose hosting purely because it is the cheapest option.

At the same time, you don't need an expensive enterprise server for a small blog.

Choose something appropriate for the size of your website.

9. Use a Professional Email Address

One small detail I like to have is a professional email address using the website's domain.

For example:

contact@yourdomain.com

It looks more professional than using a random personal address for a business website.

More importantly, it gives visitors a clear way to contact the person behind the site.

If your hosting doesn't provide email, services such as Zoho Mail may provide alternatives depending on their current plans and availability.

I wouldn't treat a professional email address as an AdSense approval trick.

Think of it as part of building a legitimate website.

10. Be Careful With Sensitive or Restricted Topics

Before choosing a niche, understand Google's policies and the advertising restrictions that may apply to it.

I would be particularly careful with websites centered around areas such as:

illegal drugs,
black-market activity,
violent content,
dangerous activities,
certain medical claims,
and other restricted subjects.

If you're building a website primarily to monetize with advertising, it's worth understanding the relevant publisher policies before investing months into the project.

11. Don't Obsess Over an Exact Article Count

You'll often hear advice such as:

“Publish exactly 21 articles.”

Or:

“You need 30 articles before applying.”

I wouldn't treat those numbers as official requirements.

A website with 15 excellent articles can be more valuable than one with 50 weak articles.

Instead of asking:

“Do I have enough posts?”

I'd ask:

“Does my website look complete?”

That means checking whether:

the important topics are covered,
the articles are useful,
the site has clear navigation,
the essential pages exist,
the content is original,
and visitors can understand what the website is about.

12. Keep Improving After You Apply

Submitting an AdSense application shouldn't mean stopping your website.

Continue:

publishing useful content,
fixing broken links,
improving old articles,
monitoring Search Console,
improving site speed,
and responding to what readers actually need.

If you're waiting for a decision, don't turn the website into a finished museum.

Keep building it.

What Changed My Thinking About AdSense Approval

The biggest lesson from working on multiple websites is that I stopped looking for a secret approval trick.

There isn't one checklist that guarantees approval.

Instead, I started looking at the website as if I were a visitor.

Would I trust this site?

Can I understand who runs it?

Can I easily find the information I need?

Does the content actually help me?

Are the links working?

Does the site feel complete?

Are the articles original and useful?

Those questions are much more valuable than obsessing over an exact number of posts or trying to find a shortcut.

My Pre-Submission Checklist

Before submitting a website, this is the checklist I'd run through:

Website

Essential pages

Content

Technical

User experience

Final Thoughts

Getting a new website approved for AdSense can feel frustrating, especially when you see other people claiming they were approved almost immediately.

But I wouldn't build a website around trying to beat the approval system.

I'd build one that deserves to be approved.

My experience with multiple websites taught me that the strongest foundation is surprisingly simple:

Useful content + clear identity + good navigation + trustworthy information + a solid user experience.

Don't chase a magic article count.

Don't copy another website.

Don't build a site purely around advertisements.

Build something people would actually want to visit even if there were no ads on the page.

Then monetization becomes the next step, not the entire purpose of the website.