How To Make Money With AdSense [2020 Edition]

This is the best page that you will find on How to Make Money With Google AdSense. Here, we will present to you the best Google AdSense Tips and Strategies so that you can finally, once and for all, learn how to make money with AdSense.

This article is written for both those who are new to the AdSense world and want to discover how to make money with AdSense and for those who have implemented AdSense on their blogs or websites but are not making any money from Google AdSense.

To begin, for those new to the world of Internet Advertising, I will provide an overview of what AdSense is and how it differs from Adwords. If you already have AdSense on your blog, you may want to skip this step.

Following that, I will take you through all of the four steps that you need to implement to be successful with Google AdSense–all of you should read this! Here is an outline of what you will find below:

Everybody who succeeds with AdSense follows these four key steps and anybody who does not have success with AdSense does not follow them. It’s that simple.

Why?

The reality is that most people do not make much money from AdSense.

This happens for several reasons: not enough traffic to your blog, AdSense Ads are not optimized, poor keywords are selected, content is not conducive to advertising, on page optimization is not performed, you expected returns to quickly and gave up…and the list goes on and on. Don’t fret.

Everybody can be successful with AdSense by following the four steps listed in this article.

So, I will teach you the exact tips that you need to become successful with Google AdSense. If you are new to the advertising world, or are not having success with Google AdSense, read this article for the best AdSense tips and strategies that will enable you to produce a sustainable income online using Google AdSense.

AdSense: An Overview

(As I mentioned, if you already have Google AdSense and know what it is, you can skip to The Four Steps to Google AdSense Success.)

Let’s begin this section with a definition of Google AdSense straight from the source: Google. Google defines AdSense as follows:

Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads on their website’s content pages and earn money.

One sentence tells us an awful lot. We can see from Google’s definition of AdSense that the first thing that you will need is a website. This is not a deal breaker. In fact, it is very easy to create a website for free and I will show you how to accomplish this below.

After creating a website, you simply need to visit this page to apply for a Google AdSense account. Once you have established a Google AdSense account, Google will provide you with the tools that you need to place AdSense Ads on your website.

That’s it. It is really that easy. In fact, many people accomplish this in a matter of moments and then wait for their big payday. Well, sorry folks, ain’t gonna happen…unless you read on.

The Difference Between AdSense and AdWords

Before we go any further, I would like to point out quickly the difference between AdSense and AdWords as this sometimes tends to confuse people.

AdWords is a program that allows you to advertise your website. For example, if you go to the google homepage and type in “Make Money with Google Adsense”, you will see several ads on the right hand side of the screen (and often on the top of the screen). These ads are placed under a stealthily subdued sign that reads “Sponsored Links”. This is Google AdWords and people are paying for that ad to appear.

Why would people sign up for AdWords? Well, for your site to appear naturally in the Google rankings, you will have to do a lot of work. A new website very rarely will appear in the search engines naturally. Thus, many people choose to pay for their website to appear by using Google AdWords.

When you sign up for Google AdSense, these ads that people have purchased through Google AdWords will appear on your site just as they do on the Google search engine. You can see several samples of Google AdSense on this page, directly below the title of the article, and in the two graphics on the top right side of the page. When people click on your AdSense ads, you will then receive a portion of the advertising money that people have paid to Google. Google receives the other portion and this remains Google’s biggest money maker to date.

Steps to Setup a Website and Google AdSense

Most people assume that this will be the difficult part. They think that they need to have a lot of technical prowess and money to set up a website. In fact, that is not true at all. Many people who have succeeded in making money with AdSense do not have any technical skills at all.

Here is what you need to do to get started immediately.

Step 1: Setup a Website

There are two websites I recommend to get started with a free website immediately: WordPress.com or Blogger.com. Of these two, I prefer WordPress.com because it provides more design options. However, Blogger.com is easier and allows you to start quicker. What is most important is that both of these sites allow you to place Google AdSense on your website and they are both free.

Is it better to own your own website to succeed with Google AdSense?

Many people will tell you that you need to have your own website to really succeed with Google AdSense. Initially, I do not believe this to be true.

The simple fact is that it takes a long time for a new website to be truly recognized and gain popularity and trust. If you use WordPress.com or Blogger.com, you already have a built in trust as these sites are all very well known and carry a solid Domain Authority (this means that Google thinks that they are important).

After you have tasted some success, you may want to buy your own domain name and setup your own sites. However, to get started immediately with AdSense, choose one of these two free sites. You can literally be up and running in 10 minutes.

Step 2: Sign Up for Google AdSense

After you have your website all setup, it is time to sign up for Google AdSense. This is easy to do. You can take a tour and sign up here.

The Four Steps to Make Money With Google AdSense

After people get their website setup, write a few articles, and then place Google AdSense ads on their site, they typically are very disappointed with the results because they have made many beginner mistakes.

In fact, this disappointment usually amounts to an early exit from the game of making money online. People create websites, write great content, and then…nobody visits, which means that you have no ability to earn AdSense income.

I have widdled the list down to the four steps that you need to take to generate a solid income online with Google AdSense.

However, take note, you will not be an overnight success. Each of these steps takes time and it takes a while to earn a residual income online using Google AdSense. If you keep at it, you will succeed, but it will take time.

The four steps outlined below are for both beginners and those who are not achieving success with AdSense. If you follow these four steps to make money with Google AdSense, you will succeed in the long run.

Step 1: Write Content That People Are Searching For

This is perhaps the biggest mistake that beginners make when trying to earn an income with Google AdSense. They may write great material but nobody is searching for these particular terms.

I made these very mistakes when I began. Why? Well, I like to write about general ideas. As a comparative literature major in college, I was always interested in what was happening in our world and I liked to write about it. So, for example, I would write a post entitled “America: The New Mexico” that I thought was very good. However, nobody would read it because nobody searches for that term.

What did I learn from this? I learned that you have to adjust your writing to what people are searching for. I still write general columns but they are read mostly by people who visit my site directly and not from search engines such as Google.

So, what then are people searching for and how you can you choose the proper keywords?

Step 1a: Choosing Proper Keywords

I use a tool called UberSuggest to determine what people are searching for.

This tool will let me know what people are searching for on the Internet. For example, for this article we can see the variety of searches for making money with AdSense.

Choose Non-Competitive Keywords

When you are trying to succeed online, you will quickly realize something: you have a lot of competition.

In the case of Google AdSense, you are trying to create a page that will generate a lot of visitors and thus a lot of AdSense clicks.

However, everybody else is out there trying to do the same thing and they may have a better chance of succeeding than you do if they have been around longer.

Let’s look at this article as an example. I am writing about making money with Google AdSense because I am experienced with it. However, the term “how to make money with AdSense” has well over one million competitors.

What does this tell me? It tells me that this article will not rank in the search engines for a long time-the competition already has too many inbound links (see below) on this term and it will take years for my site to compete.

This is ok with me because I have the time to wait. Also, people will view this article when they visit my site and it will generate visits in that manner.

But, for any article to achieve near term success, you must choose non-competitive keyword terms.

For example, you might want to write about LCD TVs. However, your site will never naturally appear in Google for the term LCD TV because the competition is too stiff.

So, what should you do? Give up? No. You simply need to narrow your focus if you want to succeed in the LCD TV market. You may choose to write instead about an “LCD TV DVD combo” for example. As we see in the graphic below, people are searching for this term and the competition is much less.

Step 1: Write Content That People Are Searching For: Summary

If you want to make money with Google AdSense, you need to write about what people are searching for. If you are inclined to write about your local high football team’s performance, you will not make money with Google AdSense.

You have to choose keywords that people search for. As mentioned, my current favorite tool is UberSuggest.

Using these tool, you will find many keywords that people search for thousands of times a day. These terms would make you a lot of money with Google AdSense but they are simply too competitive.

Thus, you need to narrow your focus to build traffic. Choose less competitive terms initially to bring visitors to your site!

Step 2: Optimize the Keywords on the Page: On Page Search Optimization

Once you have chosen your keywords, you need to carefully implement them on your site and on other sites. There is a whole profession dedicated to this called Search Engine Optimization or SEO.

My favorite quote about Search Engine Optimization comes from an article called SEO and Golf: They Both Look Easy…Until You Try Them…probably because I am a fan of golf. In this article, the author states that there are basically just two main ideas regarding SEO and they are as follows:

Create a well-written page using a few select keywords and ensure that the page has solid on page SEO (OPSEO) with the use of proper titles and tagging.

Create inbound links to that page from a variety of authoritative sources.

We will address point #1 right now entitled On Page Search Engine Optimization. Once you have selected your keywords, you need to ensure that they are properly placed within the document.

On this page for example, let’s have a look at On Page Search Engine Optimization.

First, take a look at the title of the page which appears at the very top of the window. The first part of the title reads “How To Make Money With AdSense…”.

Now, have a look at the URL in the address window-this also contains the terms for which you are optimizing.

Let’s now look at the coding of this page, which is very easy. Choose “View | Source” within your browser and have a look at the section entitled <meta name=”description”…>. There, you will find the keywords for this article as well. This is important as many search engines will show this as a description of your site.

Finally, have a look at the items that are bolded or bigger on this page. Many of them are in what are called heading tags, indicating to the search engines that I am emphasizing particular keywords.

These techniques present the art of On Page Search Engine Optimization. Basically, you want to naturally fit your keyword into important places within your article.

Step 3: Obtain Inbound Links

The absolute most important component of the success of any webpage is the number, quality, and relevancy of websites that point to it (inbound links) and the words that they use to point to it, otherwise known as the anchor text.

As an example, if I received an inbound link from those who are currently at the top of the list for the term “Make Money With AdSense”, this page would escalate up the Google rankings. Why? Because the quality and relevancy of that link would be extremely valuable.

So, one way to accomplish inbound links is simply to ask. Here is an example email that you may want to seend:

Dear Website Owner:

I noticed that your website contains a lot of information about AdSense. In fact, I’ve really enjoyed and learned from all of this content.

I have just written a very detailed article about How To Make Money With AdSense which you may enjoy. If you think it may be useful for your audience, I don’t object if you would like to link to this article.

Thank you so much for your time and attention.

Cheers, Richard

You will read on many sites that one method to attract inbound links to your web page is to simply ask as I have just done. But do you see the problem with this?

I am asking for an inbound link from a website that is going after the same web traffic that I am going after. There is a bit of a built in conflict.

However, I have an edge in that many of my pages, such as the ones mentioned above, have a higher page rank than his page which means a link from these pages carry more weight. This is an advantage of having quality, pre-existing content

There are many other ways to generate inbound links. Many specialists in the arena suggest that you should spend about 80% of the time creating inbound links and only 20% of the time creating content.

This is the importance of inbound linking.

Finally, remember to pay very close attention to the importance and relevancy of the site linking to you and the anchor text that is used in the link. One link from CNN.com on a relevant page would vault you right to the top of the search rankings!

Step 4: Optimize the Ads on the Page

After adhering to the first three steps, we now have created a page using keywords that are being searched for, we have optimized the contents on this page so that it has the ability to rank well for the keywords, and we have many inbound links from other sites using the keyword(s) in the anchor text.

We will make money with AdSense now, right? Well, not necessarily.

We have to make sure that we have optimized the AdSense Ads on this page so that people will click the advertisements. In Google AdSense parlance, the frequency with which a user clicks your ads is called the Click Through Rate. A low Click Through Rate is bad and a high one is good-it means that you can make more money with AdSense.

So, where is good AdSense placement and where is not?

Well, let’s go to the source to answer that question. Google has a page called Where should I place Google ads on my pages? which presents a “heat map” of where users tend to click most. I have found this to be a very adequate representation of how to place ads on the page.

Basically, a text ad directly under the title works terrific. Studies have shown that people tend to click text ads more than they do image ads. Personally, I like image ads, such as the ones that you see on this page, to enhance the look of the page. If you put text ads all over, the page would not look good.

One other Google AdSense feature that you will want to try is called AdSense link ads. If you put them into the sidebar with your other links, they tend to work out very well.

In summary, AdSense placement on your pages is critical. If you place AdSense ads on your pages in the wrong place, nobody will click them and you will not be making any money.

What if you have performed all the appropriate steps outlined above and nobody is clicking on your ads? Well, this probably means that the ads presented on the page are not relevant. So, let’s have a look at that aspect.

Step 4a: Optimize the Relevancy of the Ads

If you are writing about making money through the AdSense program, but your ads are geared toward horse-back riding, you will not be making any money with your ads.

Thus, the relevancy of the ads is very important and you can make it happen through an AdSense feature called Section Targeting which I find to be extremely effective.

AdSense Section Targeting allows you to specify which part of the content that you want the Google crawlers-who are going to determine the content of your page-to focus on. My site, ThisIsHowYouDoIt.com, your home for how to videos and articles, is a perfect example of how you can use section targeting.

You see, I like to answer a lot of how-to questions. To me, research is extremely fun. However, this means that I have links to all sorts of content on one page. Look over to the right to see what I am talking about. You might see links that have nothing to do with how to make money using Google AdSense.

Thus, I use AdSense section targeting on each page to tell the Googlebot to ignore all of the stuff over to the right of the page and to focus just on the contents of the article being presented.

Nearly all of the time, the Googlebot gets it right and I see relevant ads on my pages!

How To Make Money With Google AdSense: Conclusion

My goal with this page has been to create the ultimate making money with Google AdSense guide. I hope I have done right by my goal.

I have narrowed the topic of making money using Google AdSense down to four relatively easy to understand tips. Here they are presented in graphical form:

If you follow the above steps, you will earn money online with AdSense over time. You need to acknowledge that it takes time to build up a reservoir of great pages that people will visit.

As I mentioned, this topic-making money with AdSense-is highly competitive. I do not anticipate see results on it for sometime.

I know though, after this extensive article that I have just written and the inbound links that will come my way, that I will have a page that will succeed over time.

Why? Because, quite frankly, this page is all that you need to succeed with AdSense.

You will find many people out there that will try to convince you to buy their products on making lots of money with AdSense. And, I promise, you will be tempted to buy them.

However, here is the big secret: Follow the four rules outlined in this article and you will surely know How To Make Money With Google AdSense.

For more detailed reading, check out the making money with AdSense blog which delves deeply into the details like where to place AdSense ads on your site and how to do it.

Appendices: Other Ways To Make Money Online

Google AdSense is not the only way to make money online. Check out these pages for more information:

How To Make Money Online: This page presents the variety of ways that you will want to consider if you want to know alternate ways to make money online.

How To Make Money On Amazon: Amazon is a great way to make money online as an affiliate. If you enjoy writing products reviews, you can make very good money as an Amazon affiliate. Unlike Google AdSense, which is pay per click, Amazon works as a pay-per-action which means that people have to buy items for you to earn money.

How To Make Money on eBay: eBay, along with Amazon.com, remains one of the best affiliate programs available. You can earn money by selling items OR buy referring people to the eBay site much like you would do as an Amazon affiliate.

Make Money Online Fast: This page features many programs that are available that may allow you to earn money fast through online resources.

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Richard Cummings

Author at Obvious Conclusions

Richard Cummings is a writer, traveler, and web content developer. He creates fun, informative how to articles for this site and exercises his creative writing prerogative at ARichIdea.com.

Get your copy of his latest book entitled Obvious Conclusions, stories of a Midwestern emigrant influenced and corrupted by many years living in San Francisco and abroad. It just received its first outstanding review "...reminiscent of David Sedaris or Augusten Burroughs" on Amazon UK.