AdSense, And Blogger, Require Quality Content

We see questions about content requirement, in both AdSense Help Forum: Blogger / Host Partners, and in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

My blog was just deleted, as a spam host! I Don't publish spam!

and

Why can't I get my Earnings button activated? My blog is over a year old, and contains hundreds of posts!!

Neither blog owner publishes a blog which contains blatant unwanted commercial content - or hacking or porn. But neither blog is suited for hosting AdSense ads, either.

As the web becomes saturated with people publishing, without a proper plan for content source or for subject, Google is trying to encourage quality content.

Both AdSense and Blogger want people to publish blogs which are worth reading - because blogs that are worth reading get traffic - and deliver customers who view the ads published by AdSense. And AdSense wants to keep their ecosystem healthy, to encourage quality advertising.

AdSense wants the best content - to encourage the best ads, and the best ad compensation.

Blogger wants original, well written content. This encourages people to read the blog - and tell their friends about it. And more readers encourage more writing by the owner.



Some blog owners publish posts which contain only YouTube videos. This violates both AdSense Program Policy, and YouTube Terms Of Service. YouTube videos may not be used in a monetised blog, as significant content. YouTube specifically forbids

the sale of advertising, sponsorships, or promotions on any page of an ad-enabled blog or website containing Content delivered via the Service, unless other material not obtained from YouTube appears on the same page and is of sufficient value to be the basis for such sales.

If you read through the AdSense Support Forums, you'll find mention details of other problems - not always stated in the references.

• Ad placement and quantity.
• Classroom blogs.
• Diet / health / medications blogs.
• Get rich quick / MMF / MMH / MMO blogs.
• Poor grammar.
• Graphic violence blogs.
• Job blogs.
• Mixed content blogs.
• Scraped / syndicated content.
• Tech blogs.

Ad placement and quantity.

AdSense has very high standards about how ads are featured on the blog - and how many ads may be present on the blog. The total number of ads - both AdSense and third party - should be limited. And showing ads in popup windows, and other imaginative techniques, is strictly forbidden.

Classroom blogs.

Blogs which provide exam result lists, answers to previous exams, study guides, and / or promote sale of pre written term papers are loosely termed "coursework". This is mentioned, in Prohibited Content: Content that enables dishonest behavior.

• Sale or distribution of term papers, paper-writing or exam-taking services;
• Content that promotes fraudulent activity.

AdSense won't finance blogs which encourage people to waste money that is spent for education, on fraudulent activity.

Diet / health / medications blogs.

Health and medical advice must be provided by certified and supervised professionals. Peoples lives depend upon proper medical advice, based on in person diagnosis.

Get rich quick / MMF / MMH / MMO blogs.

Content which provides advice on getting rich is poorly advertised, in a blog which needs AdSense. If the advice is truly useful, the blog owner would be busy using his own advice - instead of telling other people, and trying to get ads to finance his advice.

There is no legitimate product sold, that benefits from ads hosted on a "get rich quick" website.

Poor grammar.

Advertising managers, who use AdSense for brokering their ads, require well written blogs, to host their ads.

Graphic violence blogs.

Content which depicts or encourages violence is not family friendly - and is not desired by AdSense, or by their advertisers.

Job blogs.

AdSense provides ads on sites with original content. Any commercial agency, company or governmental organisation, with jobs available, will have its own website.

A jobs blog is simply content scraped from various commercial agency, company and governmental organisation websites.

Mixed content blogs.

AdSense displays ads, based on content in each page displayed. A blog with ads on the various index pages - such as archive, label, and main page - needs a clear and consistent subject, for ads to be properly assigned.

Scraped / syndicated content.

AdSense requires original content. AdSense policy is based on financial and legal concerns.

Scraping content and passing it off as one’s own is not only wrong, but it also happens to be a serious violation of our policies. AdSense depends on maintaining a balance between user, publisher, and advertiser experience.

Blogger has long provided similar guidelines - but based on content quality.

Spam blogs cause various problems, beyond simply wasting a few seconds of your time when you happen to come across one. They can clog up search engines, making it difficult to find real content on the subjects that interest you. They may scrape content from other sites on the web, using other people's writing to make it look as though they have useful information of their own.

However you discuss it, original content is required, to host ads with any future.

Tech blogs.

There are thousands of various tech advice blogs and websites, all over the Internet - most simply repeating advice from other blogs and websites.

Again, original content is an absolute requirement - for both AdSense and Blogger.

The bottom line.

AdSense sells ad space to advertisers who want to publish quality ads, on quality blogs and websites. They are very careful, to keep their ecosystem clean and well maintained - because that is how you encourage ads which offer the best payment rates.

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Both #AdSense and #Blogger, as part of #Google, have consistent standards of quality.

AdSense is the best paying advertising placement service on the Internet. To encourage the best ads, they are very selective of blogs and websites - and only accept the best, into their program.

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Wording The Blog Title And URL - Same or Unique?

Some blog owners setup a new blog - and want to know if the blog title and URL may - or (alternately) should - be the same.

There is no policy for Blogger, about blog title and URL - either that the "words" in each can, or cannot, be the same. Some SEO experts suggest benefits from having relevant words, in the URL - and some blog owners confuse this advice, as suggesting having identical titles and URLs.

Be wary of advice that references websites, in discussions about blogs. There are subtle, but real, differences between dynamic blogs, and static websites. Rules that may be important for websites may not be relevant, for blogs.

The most obvious differences, between blogs and websites, are found in content - but blog design may have similar differences.

SEO strategies, for a dynamic blog, and a static website, will be different. Dynamic blogs have many exciting opportunities.



I have suggested that it may not be possible to make the blog title and URL the same, in all cases.

• Most subjects won't be unique. Many blogs will share a subject.
• The blog URL must be unique. Two blogs cannot share a URL.
• The blog URL will have restrictions, in characters allowed.

Most subjects won't be unique.

Any popular subject will have many blogs published to that subject. Every blog, about the same subject, will have a different URL.

If a blog is published, to a subject which has no competition, it will be a subject which interests nobody. A blog with no competition will likely have no readers.

The blog URL must be unique.

Two blogs cannot share a URL. One URL == one blog.

That does not mean that title and URL cannot share "words" - just that it's not possible that they will be identical, for all blogs.

There can be only so many ways to mention your favourite, top level movie star, in the title - and there will be even less ways to construct a unique URL. A less famous celebrity, on the other hand, will have less blogs to compete - and less readers also.

The blog URL will have restrictions, in characters allowed.

URLs can use only certain characters.

a sequence of characters beginning with a letter and followed by any combination of letters, digits, plus (+), period (.), or hyphen (-)

That syntax is somewhat limited, compared to characters that may be used in blog titles - and in the blog description and content. Less choice of syntax leads to less possibilities for uniqueness, while providing some clue as to the purpose of the blog.

A Blogger blog is dynamic - and you SEO using content.

Blogger blog content is dynamic. You get more performance, from a blog with regularly published, unique content, that's informative and interesting.

You get less performance, from imaginative naming strategies. Acme does not make an "SEO Kit", for Blogger blogs.

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Some #Blogger blog owners worry about the need to publish a blog with the Title and URL containing the same words. Some suggest that having identical words is necessary, others that having identical words is not permitted.

Fortunately, neither possibility is relevant to Blogger / Google Content or TOS regulation. Blogger and Google care about content quality - and prohibit scraping and spam.

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Buyer Beware - Don't Buy Pre Published Blogs

Don't develop a blog, that's simply designed to host AdSense ads - and avoid pre published blogs, in general.

Blogs and websites that are blatantly designed as ad hosts are classified as "MFA" ("Made For Ads") - and are never accepted as AdSense hosts. AdSense, and Blogger, want blogs with quality content - informative, interesting, and unique.

Legitimate and useful blogs start with content that is important to the blog owner.

Blogger, some time ago, explicitly prohibited sale of blogs.

Either Blogger will delete the blog as spam - or AdSense will classify it as "MFA".

If you buy a blog, "blogspot.com" or custom domain, with content already in place, it will probably contain copyrighted material. If Blogger does not delete / lock it as spam, AdSense will probably classify it as "MFA" - and the blog will never display ads.

Blogger blogs are based on personal interest. When you buy a pre published blog / domain, you're buying somebody else's discarded personal interest.

Most people who sell blogs do so after learning that what they have won't host ads or get traffic. Pre used blogs are frequently subject to disapproval, by AdSense - or DMCA / Spam classification, by Blogger.

If you do the research, you'll find out why the previous owner sold it to you.

You'll probably end up with a disabled AdSense or Blogger account - and doing the research, you'll find out why the previous owner sold it. It's like a "lemon law" car. If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is just that.

You would never, knowingly, buy pre worn underpants. Why would you buy a pre published blog? Start with an available URL, and add your own content. That's how you get content, reputation, and traffic.

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#Blogger blogs are supposed to be based on personal experience or interest - using content that's informative, interesting, and unique. Purchasing a previously published blog, with content left in place, violates that principle.

A smart blog owner starts with an empty blog - using an available URL, and adds content.

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A Healthcare Blog Is Not A Suitable AdSense Host

Some blog owners publish blogs, with subjects completely unsuitable for AdSense ads - which would produce legal liability if endorsed by AdSense / Google.

One completely unsuitable subject, for AdSense, is healthcare and medical advice.

Healthcare is not a suitable blog subject, to host AdSense ads, for several reasons.

• Medical advice needs to be given by certified professionals.
• Blogs and websites published by medical professionals do not need ads.
• Google does not want legal exposure, from endorsing uncertified medical advice.

Medical advice needs to be given by certified professionals.

Healthcare and medical advice needs to be dispensed by certified medical professionals - based on individual and regular medical examinations, provided in person. Medical advice, on anonymous blogs and websites, should not be trusted.

Be skeptical. Things that sound too good to be true often are. You want current, unbiased information based on research.

Certified medical professionals are (indirectly) well paid, by their patients - and have no need to publish blogs and websites that cannot provide reliable results, financed by ads. And their time is better spent, caring for their patients - not publishing blogs of dubious future.

No experienced medical professional will provide anonymous advice, using a blog or website. They know that proper medical procedure requires direct, in person examination and conversation.

Blogs and websites published by medical professionals do not need ads.

Blogs and websites, published by reliable and well known medical institutions - like any company blog or website - do not need ads, to supplement income. Medical institutions, like medical professionals, are financed (directly, or indirectly) by the patients in their care.

Non certified professionals - and outright amateurs - cannot provide adequate medical advice, anonymously. Medical subjects are extremely complex, requiring constant recertification - and no uncertified amateur can ever know enough to reliably advise anybody.

Google does not want legal exposure, from endorsing uncertified medical advice.

For AdSense and Google to endorse a blog, published by someone of unknown reliability, to provide medical advice, they would be opening themselves to tremendous liability. The medical profession is open to enough legal danger - even with advice and care dispensed in person, by certified professionals, and subject to endless peer and supervisory review.

Google does not need the legal risk. AdSense explicitly identifies Healthcare-related content as a prohibited blog and website subject.

To comply with local laws and regulations related to the promotion of healthcare and medicines, Google prohibits ads on pages that contain certain healthcare-related content

Blogs that publish healthcare and medical related articles will never display AdSense ads. If you want to publish a Blogger blog, with AdSense ads, you will need to choose a different subject for your blog.

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Some #Blogger blog owners publish blogs containing health and medical advice - and try to host AdSense ads on their blogs. They do not realise that AdSense has no intention of providing ads, for blogs which provide unknown and unreliable medical advice.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/adsense/partner-sites-eg-youtube/FQwlKSJ3c8c

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A Computer / Tech Blog Is Not A Good AdSense Host

Some blog owners do not understand why ads do not display, on their blogs.

We see a frequent complaint, in AdSense Help Forum: Blogger, YouTube, Partner sites.

I installed ads to my blog - but the ads are not showing. It has been several months already - and I have received no feedback, from AdSense.

Too frequently, the blogs in question turn out to be computer / tech blogs - many offering free downloads of various commercial products.

Many computer / tech blogs do not get AdSense ads, even if approved - for several good reasons.

• Too many blogs, applying for AdSense, are tech blogs.
• Too many tech blogs copy content from other blogs and websites.
• Too many tech blogs offer downloads, and provide possible copyright violations.

Too many blogs, applying for AdSense, are tech blogs.

There's no market for more tech blogs, because there are too many tech blogs, already.

AdSense puts ads on blogs and websites that are relevant to the product being advertised. Relevant blogs and websites bring relevant traffic - and customers - to the ads displayed, and sell more product.

To get ads, a blog needs informative, interesting, and unique content. With the marketplace for tech blogs saturated, it is unlikely that any relevant blog will have content that is significantly more informative, interesting, and unique than the general population.

Even if approved to host ads, that does not guarantee that any blog will show ads at any time - or on all pages. Ads are placed when available, on the best blogs to host them.

Too many tech blogs copy content from other blogs and websites.

Content copied from other blogs and websites produces little traffic - and sells less product.

AdSense is going to put ads on blogs and websites with unique content, because blogs and websites with unique content get more traffic. And blogs and websites with more traffic sell more product.

Too many tech blogs offer downloads, and provide possible copyright violations.

AdSense won't put ads on blogs and websites which present possible DMCA violations. There is no system, right now, to identify what content, offered for download, is being offered by the content producer - so downloadable content, in general, is suspicious.

If AdSense was to place ads on a blog which offers downloads as significant portions of blog content, they would be placing Google in potential legal jeopardy, for content which is a problem with DMCA action.

The bottom line.

In short, if you publish a computer / tech blog, you may have to come up with an imaginative twist to your content, if you hope to host AdSense content.

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Some owners of #Blogger blogs which deal with computer / technical subjects don't understand why their blogs - even having been approved for #AdSense ads - don't show ad content. They don't understand that ads are not always available, for all approved blogs.

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Google Does Not Want Details Of All Offensive Blogs

Some people are victims of a offensive blog, want the offensive content removed - and find the Blogger Help: Report inappropriate content and the Google Help: Removing Content From Google forms inadequate.

How do I supply details of a blog which includes harassment or bullying content? I need to show the offense.

Some Blogger / Google forms, which are intended to feed Google Legal, simply allow us to state the URL of an offensive blog. There is not place to state exactly why a blog may be offensive, for all form selections.

There will be some cases where we may have to take action, ourselves - and start with court action.

In some cases - possibly depending upon seriousness of offense - Google Legal appears to only want us to report the URL of a problem blog.

In the past, we would advise providing details of offense, when reporting.

Previously, we would advise providing details, to identify specific offense - or where the offense is present, in the blog. This appears to be no longer relevant, in some form entries.

Be very very specific why you believe that they should be legally required to remove, or edit the content of, the blog in question.

With some offenses being reported currently, only the blog URL is requested.

Detail of offense, with some problem blogs, now appears to be a matter for Google to identify, on their own. Possibly, this encourages us to only reports problems which are blatantly obvious.

If the offense, in a problem blog, is subtle, it may not be relevant to them. In some cases, what is offensive to us may not be legally actionable for Google.

In some cases, an offended person may have to take legal action, on their own.

If you report a problem blog, using the appropriate form, and you wait patiently - and no action is taken - you may have to take action on your own.

This is where you hire a lawyer - and get a court order from a sitting judge, that supports your needs. Then, you must submit your court order, properly.

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All offensive #Blogger blogs do not appear to require the same level of detail, when reported to Blogger / Google. In some cases, we can only report a blog URL - and Google Legal will take it from there.

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Diagnosing AdSense Account Problems

AdSense uses various techniques to protect their content quality - and when they take action, they don't always give you a lot of clues about their actions, or warnings before taking action.

Both AdSense and Blogger use fuzzy analysis to classify unacceptable content and practices. Neither AdSense or Blogger can publish definitive policy advice, each time they classify or suspend an account.

AdSense publishes policy guidelines - and prohibited content, to define the limits.

AdSense works best when staying well within the limits.

Like Blogger, AdSense requires blog owners / publishers to stay within the limits.

We want to maintain a strong ecosystem for both advertisers and publishers. As a publisher, you are responsible for maintaining high quality inventory and traffic.

People who stray outside the limits should not expect detailed coaching, which let them determine exactly what limits can't be exceeded.

When you exceed the limits, you may not like the results.

Bad news, seen by some too late.



Dodgy techniques and traffic cause problems with both AdSense and Blogger - and both AdSense and Blogger will take action.

For best results, read and follow required practice.

When an AdSense account is suspended, AdSense provides a Disabled Account FAQ. You can use the FAQ - but you'll do better to read the policies, and stay within the limits.

You can appeal, after correcting a problem - within limits.

You'll find limited support for appealing - even after identified problems are resolved.

Thanks for contacting Google AdSense. According to our records, you already appealed to us twice in the last 30 days. Due to the volume of appeals we receive and as indicated in our help center you can't appeal more than twice per month.

If your previous appeals have been unsuccessful please remember that our actions are the result of careful investigation by our team of dedicated specialists, taking into account the interests of our advertisers, publishers, and users. Though you might be disappointed with our decision, we are unable to reinstate your account.

If you have new information which may have helped us to reinstate your account then you are welcome to submit another appeal next month.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.

An effective appeal requires two definitive details.

1. Acknowledge what you did wrong.
2. Describe what you are doing to prevent its recurrence.

The best action will be to read and observe published policies.

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Like #Blogger, #AdSense does not provide detailed advice, or advance warning, about unacceptable content or practice. AdSense publishers are simply expected to read their policy documents - and stay well within the limits.

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Financial Advice Blogs Do Not Need AdSense

We see unhappy blog owners, in AdSense Help Forum: Blogger / Host Partners, asking about the ads which they should have, on their blogs.

Please let me know why ads are not showing, on the blog - or how much time it will take more in showing ads.

Sometimes, the answer(s) are simple - but will not satisfy the owner.

Not all blogs are suitable, as AdSense ad hosts.

Financial advice blogs are not suitable, to host AdSense ads.

One example of unsuitability involves commercial and financial experts. Some blogs offer financial advice - and the owners would like to add ads to their blogs.

The reference AdSense Help: Prohibited content provides no reference, to financial blogs. The problem with financial blogs, that will not display ads, involves conflicting interest.

Ads hosted by a financial advice blog would be for services of a competitor.

If ads were to be displayed, on a financial expert blog, they would be for competing financial advice services. No ad manager, however, would pay for his clients ads to be hosted on a website belonging to a competitor.

In order for ads to be meaningful, on a financial advice blog, the financial expert would have to be making very little money. This would conflict with the business strategy of any financial expert.

Anybody who needs income from ads, to support a financial advice blog, does not make enough money - and therefore is not worth paying for advice. And nobody will pay for ads, from would be customers of someone who publishes a blog with bogus advice.

Anybody who publishes a blog with financial advice does not make enough money.

Any successful financial expert makes far more money, from providing advice, than income from any website which hosts AdSense ads. Anybody who can successfully provide financial advice is much better off spending more time providing more financial advice directly, to qualified customers.

Nobody who has enough money to interest a successful financial adviser is going to be surfing the web, looking for advertisements selling financial advice. This consideration, too, is going to prevent any web savvy ad manager from paying any clients ads to being hosted on a website owned by somebody publishing dodgy financial advice.

There is simply no market, for websites providing financial advice, in hosting AdSense content. Pure and simple.

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Some financial advice experts would like to finance their websites, using AdSense ads hosted on #Blogger blogs. They do not consider that there is no market for AdSense hosted financial advice ads - because anybody who sees an income improvement, from AdSense, is not making enough money from financial expertise - and is not worth paying for advice.

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Our Blog Content Is Our Responsibility

We see evidence of occasional confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about blog content responsibility.

One of my blog posts disappeared. I have tried every known recovery procedure. There is no way to actually contact anyone from Blogger Support.

Long ago, Blogger Support would provide assistance, in recovery of deleted posts. That service ended some time ago.

Blogger promises us that our blogs will be ours, forever - and that they will support that promise.

That promise is most likely to be upheld if we maintain control of our blogs - and of the content in the blogs.

Blogger will ensure that our blogs remain under our control - but we have to maintain the content. If we change or delete a post, Blogger is not going to second guess our intention, and revert our change, or un delete our deletion.

If we change a page or post, there are two possible recovery procedures.

• Undo the change - using the browser editor menu.
• Recover the contents - using search cache.

Undo the change - using the browser editor menu.

If you make a mistake, the Blogger post editor, like many edit windows, supports "Undo" aka "Ctrl - Z". You have to act immediately, though. If AutoSave becomes active, you may not get the chance.

Recover the contents - using search cache.

This is the procedure currently used, for recovering deleted pages and posts. It is most effective, for established (cached) pages and posts - draft and new pages and posts may not be found, in cache.

Our chances are otherwise limited.

Short of using undo or cache recovery, we may be out of luck - if we make a change that needs to be reversed. As long as we do not violate Content or TOS Guidelines, our content is ours - to have and to maintain.

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As we publish our blogs, Blogger promises us that they will ensure our ownership, forever. That promise requires that we take responsibility for any mistakes - and that we take responsibility for the content in our blogs.

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Plan The Custom Domain Upgrade, With AdSense

Too many blog owners take their Blogger blogs, successfully hosting AdSense ads using a Blogger Hosted account, and decide to get a non BlogSpot URL.

Having survived the challenge of getting the custom domain published blog working, they settle back and look for lots more traffic, because of the new non BlogSpot URL - and more income, from AdSense. Then, they discover harsh reality.

Not only do they not get lots more income, their ads are now blank.

When AdSense is involved with a Blogger blog, a custom domain upgrade becomes more than a mere formality, or technical challenge.

When AdSense is involved, a custom domain upgrade is exponentially difficult.

Besides the challenge of getting the domain setup correctly, one has the suspense of getting AdSense approval, for the new domain.

You do need to start with a Blogger blog, published to "blogspot.com", and applying for Blogger Hosted AdSense. Starting with a custom domain published blog, and applying for AdSense for Content, is not a good idea.

A verified address, with an AdSense PIN, is a specific requirement.

Note that if you haven't already verified your address via a Personal Identification Number (PIN), then you'll need to do this before you can apply to show ads on your own site. Learn more about PIN verification.

With the PIN being a requirement, you'll need to have earned at least $10 (or non USA equivalent) from the ads already - which you'll only get with a properly qualified Blogger Hosted account.

Getting AdSense working, on a custom domain published blog, requires AdSense For Content - and AdSense For Content is more selective, when approving blogs to host ads.

Work on your blog - and don't stop adding content.

I constantly advise blog owners

When your blog is successfully reviewed, ads will become visible. Until then, work on the blog. You will need a lot more content - and traffic - than what is required to simply make ads appear.

A blog, to become eligible to apply, needs lots of content - and you are wasting time asking

How much content do I need?

To be actually approved for Hosted AdSense, a blog needs more content than simply to be eligible. And, to be approved for AdSense For Content, a blog needs still more content.

And after all of that, a blog needs even more content, to get traffic, and to make money.

Make the content informative, interesting, and unique. And well written.

So, stop asking, and start publishing - and don't stop. Remember that what you publish must be informative, and interesting to your readers - and it must be original;. AdSense requires unique content, that's well written - and useful to your readers.

And make sure that the domain is properly setup, and remains online.

And, for the unique content to be read by AdSense, if you're going to publish to a custom domain, make sure that the domain is properly setup. You do not want a refusal because the blog appears to be offline.

Setup Search Console - and watch reports, daily. A Search Console report, warning you of a problem, could provide the difference between approval and rejection, from AdSense.

And learn the policies, regulations, and rules.

And learn the rules of AdSense Accounts. Read these references, as you would a bible. Learn them, before applying.

• Eligibility to participate in AdSense
• AdSense program policies
• Prohibited content
• Use my hosted AdSense account to show ads on my own site

Finally, plan the upgrade and approval process - and allow for the ads outage.

Be aware that the approval process will examine your blog even more critically than the Hosted AdSense approval. And hopefully, with the blog at least 6 to 12 months older, there will be more content to be examined, than when you applied for Hosted AdSense.

Allow for 2 to 4 weeks of no ads, while the blog is examined again. Don't start this process, then post anxiously, in AdSense Help Forum: Blogger / Host Partners.

How long does it take? My family is hungry and we need the income!

That will not speed up the approval by even one day.

So plan the upgrade, and be patient.

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Too many #Blogger blog owners, enthusiastic about their new blog now showing AdSense ads, decide that the road to riches lies with an immediate upgrade to a non BlogSpot URL - which will get them more traffic, and even more ad income.

Having upgraded and gotten the domain setup correctly - and seeing more traffic - they discover that the blog is now not serving ads. Upon asking for advice in AdSense Support, they find that they must wait another 2 to 4 weeks - and even so, it is not certain that they will ever see ads, again.

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Blogger, And Home / Small Business Blog Clusters

One topic of frustration, occasionally seen in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, involves home based business blogs, that may be victims of their own success.

We are not spam - we are a network of blog owners, in select cities all over the country. I am tired of hearing the apologies, this needs to be resolved.

The blog owner is being quite polite, but insistent.

Blog clusters, whether developed by home / small business owners, or malicious spammers, create problems for all Blogger blog owners. Home / small business blogs are clearly not intentional spam - but their structure makes them easy to mistake for spam blog farms.

Blogger values the creation of blogs with original content. Replicating original content across multiple blogs however, violates the Blogger Spam policy.

Blogger Content: Spam provides a good definition of the Blogger Spam policy.

Spam: Spam takes several forms in Blogger, all of which can result in deletion of your account or blog. Some examples include creating blogs designed to drive traffic to your site or to move it up in search listings, posting comments on other people's blogs just to promote your site or product, and scraping existing content from other sources for the primary purpose of generating revenue or other personal gains.

The most recently observed home / small business blog cluster, which generated traffic in the Spam Review section of the forum, was a USA based coupon sharing club, that had expanded into other areas - such as dining, entertainment and local events.

We are MORE than a coupon group. Our network works with Disney, Nickelodeon, local restaurants, reviews and products and events locally.

Other blog clusters have involved an Australian blog franchise of electronic / tech products and services - and a California / Florida carpet / home cleaning business.

Home / small business blogs can be mistaken for spam blogs.

Each of these three examples appear to have started as home / small businesses, possibly with one blog - and grew exponentially, as franchises. And each of the examples present problems, with automated spam classification.

• Aggregation of blogs produces unfair advantage, over other small businesses using Blogger.
• Aggregation of blogs skews spam classification, by tweaking the heuristic spam filters.
• Aggregation of blogs makes detection of actual spam blog farms more difficult.

These three concerns produce side effects, in the Blogger spam mitigation program - and lead to periodic spurious spam classification of home / small business blog clusters.

As the size of the clusters increase, so does the chance of repeated classification.

• Blogger policy prevents whitelisting the blogs in the cluster.
• The more blogs in the cluster, the greater chance that one or more blogs will be classified, at any given time.
• The more blogs in the cluster, the longer it will take to review a blog, when classified.

Understand your role, in the spam classification / review process.

If you operate a home / small business, which involves blogs clustered on a geographic and / or product - service relationship - and your business is impeded by spurious spam classification, we'll work with you, and try to get your blogs reviewed.

Please, understand that your home / small business may be pushing the limits of the Blogger spam mitigation program. Try to minimise content which replicates through multiple blogs in the cluster - and content which is scraped from various commercial websites.

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Some owners / operators of home / small businesses, which use #Blogger as a backbone for their business, produce clusters of blogs, organised on a geographic / product / service basis. Rapid growth of the businesses may lead to blogs which share content too heavily - and may lead to repeated spurious spam classification.

Owners of the blogs should learn to expect occasional spam classification, and try to minimise blog features which lead to spam classification.

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With AdSense, Congratulations Is Only The Beginning

We have a few blog owners, reporting in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, who are unaware of the AdSense approval process.

I was approved for AdSense - but my ads are not showing up. What is wrong?

This blog owner is apparently unaware of the two stage AdSense approval process.

Eligibility gives a blog owner the ability to place ad code on the blog. Actual ad content will appear later - after the blog has received final approval, and after the AdSense crawler has chosen ads for the blog.

AdSense offers congratulations, when a blog is eligible to apply to host ads.

This notice is the beginning, and is based on eligibility to apply.

Many blog owners are getting this notice - with blogs completely unsuitable to host AdSense ads.



AdSense explains the approval process in detail, in AdSense Help: Can't see my ads troubleshooter

Have you received an approval email saying that your account has been fully approved and ads should start to show on the pages of your site?

We have a two-step approval process for all accounts in AdSense.

The first step in the process is a preliminary check on your site and your account details. After you pass this step, you get AdSense account access and can place AdSense ad code directly onto your site.

The second step in the application process requires that you implement the ad code onto your site. Please note that blank ads will be served at this stage. Once you've started generating ad impressions, your site will be re-reviewed by our specialists. When you're approved at this second and final stage, you'll begin to see live ads appear on your site.

I've seen suggestions that email is sent, when final approval for ads is issued. Note that email will be received only if you provided an active and valid email address.

"Congratulations" encourages you to install ad code - ads are not a done deal.

Congratulations are being received, for some blogs with insufficient content - and others with completely unsuitable content.

The blog has insufficient content. Only a dozen posts, none over 200 words each. And, it's another tech blog, with content scraped from other blogs and websites.

Also, your command of the English language is not all that good - and this is an important requirement, with AdSense.

"Congratulations" is only the start of the activation process.

This notice is only part of the AdSense activation process. After ad code is installed, the blog is reviewed for suitability, and the AdSense crawler then chooses ads based on the content.

And activation is only a start, to making money.

Your blog needs far more content, than what is required for eligibility - or even for having ads appear, on the blog. Don't look for a consistent minimum qualification level, for hosting ads.

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Some #Blogger blog owners receive a congratulatory AdSense notice - and think that they will immediately be seeing ads, and receiving payments.

They do not understand that eligibility to apply only means the start of the approval - and later ad selection - process. And even with ads appearing, they will need more content, to make AdSense a worthwhile blog feature.

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AdSense Is A Contextual Ad Hosting Service

AdSense requires content - substantial amounts of text content - in a supported language.

The term "contextual" means that the ads, which display on each different blog, are chosen to match the subject in the posts. This assures the ad companies, which pay for the ads hosted on the blogs, that their ads will be seen by people who appreciate the products.

With the ads carefully chosen, AdSense can confidently charge appropriately - and the blog owner can be paid to host the ads.

The blog content is analysed, by the AdSense crawler, as it reads the posts.

The AdSense crawler automatically decides what ads to show, on each blog page.

The crawler, which is similar to a search engine bot, has to be able to read the content.

• Textual content is required.
• Supported languages are required.
• Photo blogs can't qualify.
• JavaScript based templates won't show ads.
• Ads may be displayed day by day - or week by week.

Textual content is required.

The crawler decides what the blog is about, by examining the text in the posts. The posts need to have some minimum amount of text, to make this work.

Supported languages are required.

AdSense ads are designed to be read by people, in their native language. Blogs written in all languages of the world won't have ads - because AdSense does not work with ad companies which sell products for people of all languages.

Only blogs primarily written in supported languages can host AdSense ads.

Please also be aware that placing the AdSense code on pages with content primarily in an unsupported language is not permitted by the AdSense program policies.

Blogs written in Bengali cannot legally show AdSense ads, right now.


If an AdSense publisher uses a legally acquired account from another website, to show ads on a blog written in Bengali, the account will be revoked - and it's a lifetime revocation.

And what ever language you write, the blog must have proper composition, grammar, and spelling.

The minimum age for AdSense publishers is 18 years - partially because you need to have ability to write clearly, in your chosen language. Posts written by a pre teen are not accepted, for blogs hosting AdSense ads.

Photo blogs can't qualify.

The crawler can't read photos. However intriguing or scenic a photo blog may be, it's not going to be approved, to host AdSense ads.

You can include photos, on any suitable blog - but photos cannot substitute for text.

JavaScript based templates won't show ads.

This is a known problem, with the Blogger supplied dynamic templates.

Third party, JavaScript based templates will present a similar problem. Templates that provide numbered pages, and similar features, are JavaScript based. Important post content, hidden behind JavaScript, cannot be read by the crawler.

Similar to JavaScript based templates, some blog owners have added "call to action" / social networking content - JavaScript based popup windows, with "Like my blog!", "Subscribe to my blog!", and similar demands. Here, too, the AdSense crawler will be unable to read the blog.

Ads may be displayed day by day - or week by week.

Just because ads do not display today, that does not mean that they won't display tomorrow - or next week. Conversely, just because ads do display today, does not imply that they will be there tomorrow - or next week.

Ads are displayed when they are available. If your blog shows ads for a given product this week, next week those ads may be discontinued - or they may be displayed on a more interesting or relevant blog next week.

The bottom line.

If you want to host AdSense supplied ads, on your blog, you have to read and heed all AdSense Policies. This is one more requirement, in activating ads on your blog.

And right now, some blog owners may be receiving a congratulatory notice, when approval is yet to be determined.

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Some #Blogger blog owners want to use AdSense to make money with their blog - but they overlook the basic necessities of being an AdSense publisher. Besides the age / content volume issues which are easy enough to define, there is the need for AdSense to be able to properly choose ads to be shown on the blog.

The AdSense crawler, which is a robotic process similar to any search engine, determines the ads to show - if it can crawl the blog and find useful details.

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Jobs Blogs Are Not Desired, In Blogger

We see an occasional hopeful spammer asking, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about one more spam blog subject.

Can I publish a blog, and provide job postings?

The would be blog owner has not read the Blogger Content rules.

Jobs blogs are a problem, in Blogger. A jobs website should be published by a Commercial or Government Employment ("Human Resources") agency - and very few commercial or government job agencies operate Blogger blogs, as their website.

Most commercial and government agencies operate their own domains, and websites - and are properly advertised by their domain URLs. Not as "jobsformycountry.blogspot.com".

The few such agencies, which settle for publishing to Blogger, will probably be too small to provide anything interesting.

A jobs blog will be a favourite of many publishers, with little work required.

A jobs blog would be a favourite, of a blog owner, because it requires little effort to publish. You simply bookmark all of the agencies offering jobs, surf to each one periodically, and copy then paste interesting possibilities, into various blog posts.

Google does not want such content. Blogger specifically prohibits it.

Spam blogs cause various problems, beyond simply wasting a few seconds of your time when you happen to come across one. They can clog up search engines, making it difficult to find real content on the subjects that interest you. They may scrape content from other sites on the web, using other people's writing to make it look as though they have useful information of their own. And if an automated system is creating spam posts at an extremely high rate, it can impact the speed and quality of the service for other, legitimate users.

Many blog owners try to make money, with jobs blogs. AdSense won't publish ads on a site with copied content.

Fact: We don’t allow sites with auto-generated or otherwise unoriginal content to participate in the AdSense program. This is to ensure that our users are benefiting from a unique online experience and that our advertisers are partnering with useful and relevant sites.

A jobs blog publisher will be seeing this - a lot.



A blog owner won't have job offerings of his own - anything offered will be copied.

A blog owner who does not represent a commercial or government agency will have no way to generate legitimate job postings. Any postings on a jobs blog will be scraped from an legitimate commercial or government agency website - and the blog will be righteously classified as spam.

And that will leave another forum post.

My blog is locked for SPAM, without any prior warning. This is my favourite blog - how can they do this to me?

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Jobs blogs are a favourite subject, for many #Blogger blog owners. They require little work - and are guaranteed to generate a lot of traffic, from the hopeful job seekers who have no idea that everything offered on the blog has been scraped from a legitimate commercial or government agency website.

They will receive little respect from the Blogger spam classifier, though. As with all scraped content, they will be righteously classified, and deleted.

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Blogger Blogs Cannot Be Used As Gateways

We see evidence of confusion, from time to time, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How do I move an established blog to WordPress (or any other platform), while retaining the history, reader interest, search engine reputation?

Some blog owners think blog readers are cattle (to be herded from blog to blog) - or monkeys (to be attracted by shiny things).

We've known for some time, that Blogger blogs cannot be used as gateways, with traffic automatically redirected from one blog to another - or from a blog to a non Google website. Use of traffic redirection scripts is a known cause of blogs classified as malware hosts.

If you wish to relocate a Blogger blog in another hosting service, you can always publish your Blogger blog, and a non Google blog / website, as dual hosts, in a non BlogSpot domain.

With your Blogger blog and non Blogger website published to the same domain, you can then combine the two, dynamically. Just remember to add unique content to each, periodically, to retain search engine reputation.

1. Publish your Blogger blog to a host in your custom domain.
2. Publish your WordPress (or any other platform) blog to a host in your custom domain.
3. Combine the two blogs.
4. Let your readers access either blog, as their choice.
5. Update both blogs, to retain search engine reputation, regularly.
6. When the WordPress (or any other platform) blog receives enough reputation and traffic, make the Blogger blog into a stub blog.

Just don't build a maze of blogs and web sites - and don't waste time or money artificially developing traffic. Blogger blog readers are attracted by interesting, unique, and useful content - and are retained by new content, added periodically.

And don't try adding clever code, to shuffle your readers from one blog to another. That could make your blog look like one member in a well planned spam blog farm - and leave you reporting

Help! Blogger just deleted my blog!!

.

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Submitting A Court Order To Google

Periodically, we have discussions in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about issues, that absolutely cannot be resolved in a forum problem discussion.

These issues will vary, by relationship to a given blog, as well as by nature of the offense perceived.

• Some blog owners have lost control of their Blogger account, and lack ability to recover control.
• Some people are offended by a Blogger blog, but an offense which may not constitute a Google TOS violation.
• Some people may believe that a Blogger blog name, in use by someone else, may reflect badly upon their hard earned business identity.
• Some people may be the survivor, in a relationship where the owner of a given blog is now deceased.

Some of these complaints may have been reported to Google, in an ongoing effort, for years.

We know that Google Legal has to take a conservative approach in evaluating the various complaints submitted to them.

Material to be removed is specified, using the Google Content Removal process. Every complaint may involve a third party, who has equal rights that must be considered.

In cases where Google Legal must deny action, and generally will not respond to a submitted Content Removal form, the person making a complaint is advised to use the courts to verify his identity and / or legal relationship with the blog in question.

Anybody who does not receive appropriate response from Google Legal may hire a lawyer, start a lawsuit, and get a court order issued by a judge. A properly issued court order can be then submitted to Google using the Google Help: Submit a Court Order to Google form.

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Blogger Won't Censor Comments, Or Accept Abusive Comment Reports

We have seen this question, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?

When will Blogger provide me with the option to block an abusive commenter, from my blog?

This is a request that simply cannot be fulfilled.

The issue of blocking individual commenters won't be solved by a new Blogger feature.

• It's technically impossible.
• It's contrary to Blogger policy.

Any abuser of Internet services (aka "hacker", "spammer", or "troll"), with any ability, knows how to create multiple Google accounts without effort. Blogger Engineering is unlikely to spend time developing a new feature ("Block this comment publisher") that will simply provide you with a false sense of security, have no effect in the long term, and require an unproductive use of their time.

If you realistically feel that a comment publisher represents a legal and physical threat to you, you should report the threat to your local police agency. Other than physical threats, Blogger regards comments as a "freedom of speech" issue. Comments published on your blog are jointly the property - and the responsibility - of the comment publisher, and you.

As the blog owner, you are allowed to choose which comments publish, or remain published, on your blog. You can moderate before, or after, comments are published.

If any comments offend you, moderate or delete them promptly. Concentrate on publishing your blog, and ignore the abuse. Eventually, the person abusing you will get bored, and move on.

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