Google Archives - Skilled Blogging

3 Critical Mistakes that WILL Trigger an AdSense Ban

The Internet abounds with horror stories of people losing their Google AdSense accounts and even being banned for life. This program is the single most lucrative advertising program for niche websites, so an AdSense ban can be a critical hit for your business. You must always abide by the program policies and follow the rules. If you don’t, you will regret it!

Here are three mistakes you should never make with Google AdSense – NOT EVEN ONCE – or you could end up with the dreaded AdSense ban.

NEVER CLICK ON YOUR OWN ADS! Do not encourage others to click on your ads, either! Don’t test it. Don’t try it. Don’t encourage anyone else to click ads on your behalf. Don’t tell your Mom how you make money. Don’t let your drunk best friend go slap-happy on those ads, either. Your well-intentioned friends and family can and will cause an AdSense ban if they commit click-fraud on your behalf. Never, under any circumstances, EVER click on your own ads or encourage anyone else to do so. Just don’t do it. I cannot say that enough. DO NOT CLICK ON YOUR OWN ADS.

DO NOT OVERWHELM YOUR SITE WITH ADS. Remember, Content is King! Google only approves quality websites for their Google AdSense program. If your website is gaudy and plastered with advertisements, you will be removed from the program. AdSense has very strict guidelines for advertising placement. Among these guidelines, you’ll find rules like these:

You cannot place ads in a location or style that encourages accidental clicks. For example, you cannot place ads in the navigation menu, download links, drop-down menus or other deceptive locations.
You cannot call unnatural attention to the ads with flashy animations, arrows, or sticky locations.
You cannot place ads under a misleading header or label.
You cannot align images with ads in any way that may confuse your users.
You cannot place ads in a layout where ads push content below the fold.
You cannot place ads near flash games because frantic gameplay may result in accidental clicks.
You cannot place ads on thank you, exit, login or error pages.

In 2016, AdSense removed a policy that limited publishers to three ads per page. The new policies are designed to protect the user experience while encouraging publishers to create compelling, quality web content. Your first and primary focus should always be creating a valuable, content-heavy website.

NEVER USE ADSENSE ON A SITE WITH PROHIBITED CONTENT. Google AdSense does not allow publishers to use their ad program on websites that include certain types of content. If you’re blogging in one of these niches, you cannot monetize your site with Google AdSense. Doing so will result in a ban, which could block you from using the website on other sites in the future.

Prohibit topics include:

Adult content, such as pornography or content that promotes weapons, alcohol, tobacco or drugs
Dangerous or derogatory content, such as discriminating, hateful or threatening content.
Drug-related content
Gambling content
Prescription or healthcare content
Hacking or cracking content
Horror or shock-value content that includes gruesome, gory or violent material
Illegal content

AND THAT’S NOT ALL…

Of course, these aren’t the only things that can result in a total AdSense ban… but they are the most common. If you’ve had a bad experience with Google AdSense, share it in the comments!

Got an AdSense ban? Check out these AdSense alternatives!

How to Earn Money Online with Google AdSense

Monetization

Wondering how to earn money online with Google AdSense? It’s easier than you might think. On this specific page, we’re going to teach you what Google AdSense is… and then we’ll show you how to sign up, get approved and install the code on your website.

What is Google AdSense?

Google AdSense is the best, easiest and most effective way to monetize your website. It’s the program that allows bloggers and website administrators to use Google advertisements on their websites.

When users click on the ads, the website owner gets paid for that click. It’s usually only a few cents per click. As your traffic grows, your clicks will increase and this can result in serious cash for the blogger!

Of course, there are some downsides to this. It takes a while to produce enough content and generate enough traffic to earn a substantial amount of money from Google AdSense. It took roughly two years for Low Income Relief to generate a livable income from Google AdSense.

You have to lay the groundwork before you apply for Google AdSense.

There’s a reason we’ve tucked the instructions for this in Module 7 of our FREE How to Make Money Online with a Niche Blog course. That’s because you have to lay a strong foundation for your website and content before you even apply for Google AdSense!

Before your application for Google AdSense will be approved, you have to demonstrate that you run a quality website. Generally, I recommend that people publish at least a half-dozen quality posts before they apply for Google AdSense. However, in some countries, Google requires that your website be active for at least six months before it will even be considered for an application.

If you use Google AdSense, you are also required to have a privacy policy on your website. Here’s some information about our favorite privacy policy generator, which will help you create and publish one of these quickly.

Are you ready? Apply!

Applying for Google AdSense is as simple as going to their website at google.com/adsense. The application process is simple and takes only a few minutes.

However, your approval can take up to 24 hours to process. Be patient and keep an eye out for that exciting email!

Once your approved, get your AdSense ads installed and running!

There are two ways to get the ads on your website. You can use Google’s easy Auto Ads function or you can place the code yourself. I use a combination of both.

Auto Ads are easy and effective.

The easiest way to set up Google AdSense on your website is to use Auto Ads. This system automatically places ads on your website in the best available spots. It only displays ads when the system determines they are likely to perform well and provide a good user experience. To use auto ads, you only need to install once piece of ad code in the header of your website. You can use toggles in the AdSense settings to determine whether this code shows in-text ads, anchor ads, vignette ads, matched content, in-feed ads and other formats. It’s simple and it works.

However, I’ve found that my ads still perform better when I install the code myself. I only use Auto Ads for in-feed ads, matched content, anchor ads and vignette ads.

In-feed ads are advertisements that appear within a feed, such as a list of products or articles.
Matched content includes a mix of ads and related articles from your website. This is only available for websites that meet certain eligibility criteria.
Anchor ads are the little mobile ads that stick to the edge of a user’s screen. They can be dismissed easily and are only shown on high-end mobile devices.
Vignette ads are full-screen mobile ads that appear between page loads on your website. They can also be easily dismissed.

Adding Auto Ads to your website is easier than you might think.

First, you need to decide which ads to show. First, sign into Google AdSense. Next, select “My Ads” from the left navigation panel and then click “Auto Ads.” Select “Choose your global settings.” Once you are finished, “save.”

Now, you need to copy the code. Select “copy code” on the page titled “place code on your page.”

The final step is placing the code in the header of your website. If you’re using one of our recommended themes, this is so easy! First, log into your website, select “appearance” and then “theme options.” Scroll to the “header code” box and paste your Auto Ads code in the box. You’re done!

Manually inserting ad code may result in better ad performance.

The reality is that while Auto Ads are convenient, my experience shows that my revenue drops when I don’t place my ads myself. By carefully spacing my ads and including a mix of images and text-only advertisements, I have found the optimal setup for maximizing my site’s revenue while creating a pleasant user experience. Every time I remove my personally placed ads and try an automated solution, my revenue plummets.

For text and display ads, I manually place the code with a helpful plugin called Ad Inserter. This plugin allows you to simply copy and paste the ad code into a box and select where you want that box to appear. Using this plugin, I can ensure that my ads are shown after a certain number of paragraphs and I can ensure that the system only counts paragraphs with a certain minimum word count. This helps ensure that my ads are spaced well and create a pleasant user experience while also providing me with ample revenue opportunities.

Setting up manual ads on your website is easy but requires a few steps.

First, you’ll need to create the ads. Log in to Google AdSense. Select “my ads” from the left sidebar and then choose “ad units.” Select “new ad unit” and then choose “text and display ads.” Name your ad unit. Make sure the size is listed as “responsive.” Then click “save and get code.”

Next, you’ll need to copy the ad code that appears.

Complete the process by placing the ad code on your website. If you’re using the Ad Inserter plugin, this is easy! Just log into your website, select “Settings” from the sidebar and click on “Ad Inserter.” Paste your ad code into the first available block! Use the automatic insertion options to configure where the ad will appear on your website.

Although you technically can use the same ad code repeatedly on the same page, I always create a new ad unit for each Ad Inserter block so that I can analyze their performance in Google Analytics. It may not sound important now but it will be later!

I recommend placing ads after the third, sixth, and twelfth paragraphs. Since my posts tend to be 2,000 words or longer, I continue placing ads after every sixth paragraph throughout the post. To place ads like this, you’ll select “after paragraph” in the automatic insertion drop-down box. You’ll enter the paragraph number after paragraph(s) and then enter the minimum number of paragraphs and minimum number of words in paragraphs in the last settings box. Click “save all settings.”

Any questions? Let me know in the comments.

Wait! Don’t get BANNED for these three common AdSense mistakes!!!!

How to Choose the Keywords to Target for SEO

Content, SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is built on keywords. When Google and other search engines rank websites according to relevancy, a lot of their criteria focuses on the presence of keywords and keyword synonyms. If you target, or focus on, the same keywords that your readers are searching for, you have a greater chance of showing up in their search results.

Fortunately, choosing the right keywords isn’t a mystery. We’ve found three excellent free SEO tools that will help you choose the right keywords for each blog post.

What is SEO?

In our introduction to SEO, we explained how Google and other search engines crawl the web with bots known as spiders. These bots search web pages and index them according to relevancy using complex algorithms. Keywords (including keyword synonyms) are one of the most important things that the Google spiders are looking for.

How do you know which Google keywords you should target?

The great thing about blogging is that each post can target a different keyword. If you’re really ambitious, you can even target multiple keywords in the same blog post! However, I recommend focusing on one keyword or phrase per post to avoid keyword stuffing.

When I started blogging, everyone recommended using the Google Adwords Keyword Planner to figure out your SEO keywords. However, that’s no longer considered a best practice for several reasons. First, Google completely redesigned the tool and secured it in such a way that you have to pay for ads in order to access it. Worse still, some expert content marketers have found that the information in the Adwords Planner is inconsistent with data shown in Google Trends and other tools. So it’s probably best to avoid using the Google Adwords Keyword Planner for SEO research.

We’ve found the three best free SEO tools.

Instead of using the Google keywords tool, there are a few other proven free SEO tools you can use.

Google Trends is a free tool that can be used to help identify Google keywords. Simply search your topic on Google Trends and the system will show you a history of interest over time, interest by region and related topics and queries. Although Google Trends is helpful for analyzing when a certain keyword is popular and identifying a list of related keywords, it does not show you how many times that particular term is searched for.

Moz Keyword Explorer is my favorite keyword tool. Search a keyword you are writing about and the system will reveal the monthly search volume for that keyword as well as alternative keyword suggestions. The system also shows the anticipated difficulty of ranking for that keyword and the organic click-through rate. Those two metrics are factored into the priority score, which is a visual representation of how desirable that keyword is. A keyword with a low level of difficulty and a high click-through rate will receive a high priority score. The closer the priority is to 100, the better it is to use!

The free version will give you 10 free queries per month. This definitely doesn’t seem like much but it’s the best keyword search tool I’ve found. For $99, you can sign up for a Premium Plan that allows you up to 150 keyword searches. I highly recommend it!

KW Finder is another one of my favorites. This tool identifies long tail keywords, which are several words long and usually easier to rank for than short phrases. For example, “dairy-free chocolate recipes” has less competition than just “recipes.” Makes sense, right?

KW Finder will help you identify how frequently a certain keyword is searched, the approximate difficulty for ranking for that word and a long list of alternate suggestions. The interface will also show you which sites are currently showing on the search engine results page for this particular keyword.

I’m a big fan of pursuing long tail keywords, so I highly recommend using KW Finder. The free version allows you to conduct five free searches per day. For $49 per month, you can upgrade to the Basic version which allows up to 100 searches per 24 hours.

How do I know which keyword is best?

Remember, the best keywords are the ones that are searched often and have little competition. Sometimes, a slight variation in word order or phrasing can make a tremendous difference. The goal is to rank high on Google to gather that search traffic, so meet your readers with the keywords they are using.

Now that you’ve identified the perfect keyword, let’s put it to work. Click here to find out exactly what you should do with that keyword now that you’ve found it.

How to Register a Domain Name

-Getting Started-, Domains

If you’re worried about how to register a domain name, relax. It’s easier and cheaper than you might think!

I have personally registered many domain names with multiple companies. Since there are tons of websites you can use to register your domain, I’m going to lead with the one company you should NEVER use to register a domain… and then I’ll tell you all about the company that I think is the best ever.

How to Register a Domain Name and Regret It

Do NOT under any circumstances register a domain with GoDaddy! Just don’t do it. I know their 99 cent domain offer is tempting but it’s a trap. I promise.

I registered my domains with GoDaddy for many years. Since I registered my domains with them, I decided to host with them, too. It seemed convenient… but it turned into an absolute nightmare.

First of all, GoDaddy will sell your information to everyone if you don’t pay extra to protect your privacy. Shortly after I registered my domain, I started getting spam calls and texts nonstop. Dozens of them, every day, at all hours. The worst were the robocalls that claimed to be from Google and Bing. I couldn’t escape the nonstop onslaught of calls I was receiving because it was all automated. Since I didn’t have any other options, I ended up changing my phone number… after I transferred my domains to Google Domains.

As a host, GoDaddy is equally awful. If you ever have a basic tech support problem, they will try to upsell you on anything and everything. I was once told that my current hosting plan was being phased out and wouldn’t be available so I needed to “upgrade” to a nearly-identical plan at the same cost. I was told I would have to pay $75 or more for even basic tech support assistance. It was horrid. That’s why I switched to WPEngine.

If you want to experience the nightmare that is GoDaddy for yourself, you’re welcome to click over to their website at GoDaddy.com. I’m not going to give you step-by-step instructions on how to ruin your life, though.

How to Register a Domain and Love It

I absolutely love Google Domains. It’s easy to use and it’s intuitive. Unlike GoDaddy, Google Domains includes the privacy by default for no extra charge!

I cannot overstate how awesome that is.

To register a domain at Google Domains, the process is so simple.

Step One: Go to https://domains.google.

Step Two: Search for the domain name you want.

Step Three: Follow the Prompts

Once you’ve chosen your domain name, Google will prompt you to complete the purchase.

Congratulations!

You just bought your domain. Now you need to find someone to host it.

Why do I need to host a website?

A domain name is the address that people type into their browser. However, this address is deconstructed by the computer into an IP Address, which is just a long number separated by dots. It’s easier for humans to remember the domain name than the IP address, so we buy domain names for our websites.

Web hosting gives the domain something to point to. When you set up your web hosting, you will also point your domain name to the hosting company’s computers. This will ensure that the domain name is translated to the right IP address so that people can reach your address.

Is this painful for you, too? I sympathize. I don’t like the technical side of this, either… but I’m going to do my best to walk you through it so we can move on to the fun stuff.

Click here to see my hosting recommendations!

What is SEO?

Blogging 101

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the essential not-so-secret secret to successful website building. Basically, search engine optimization refers to the technique of building your website and your posts so that they rank high in Google search results.

Search engines like Google use web crawlers, also known as bots or spiders, to organize the millions of websites available on the Internet. They analyze these websites extensively to determine each page’s rank and relevancy.

The pages that are the most relevant appear at the top of a Google search and the pages that are not as relevant are rarely seen by anyone. Think about it. When was the last time you scrolled past the first page of a Google search? What about the 10th page?

Here is an excellent explanation from Google’s own Matt Cutts:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is basically a set of techniques to help Google identify what your website is about. This helps your page rank well in relevant Google searches, which creates free organic traffic to your website.

Good SEO is basically free advertising.

If you succeed with SEO, your website will essentially advertise itself in Google search results.

On LowIncomeRelief.com, over 80 percent of my traffic comes from searches on Google and other search engines. I don’t pay for ads on Google. My site just ranks really, really well for its related keywords.

This is absolutely fantastic because it means that I don’t have to pay for much advertising at all. Google connects readers looking for this information directly with my website, which is absolutely full of well-researched, quality information on the topic. The readers get their answers, my website gets traffic and Google and I both have the opportunity to profit from the ad revenue. Everyone wins!

(Well, everyone except for the other people who are trying to blog on this subject…)

If you ask Google just about any question related to using your food stamps benefits at a restaurant, they’re going to send you to the Low Income Relief page about the Restaurant Meals Program.

Check out this nifty screenshot from a related Google search.

As you can see, Low Income Relief has the coveted top spot for this search term. The first three links on this page go directly to my website. I have to scroll past the map and restaurant directory before I see the next competing website.

That’s exactly why it’s the second most popular landing page on my website!

Quality SEO is mostly a matter of common sense.

Good news, guys. There are no magical fairies or unicorn farts involved in ranking well with Google. It isn’t a mystery. It’s not a secret club. It’s something that anyone can do.

In fact, good quality SEO is mostly a matter of common sense. It’s pretty obvious you need to use the keywords you want to rank for, right?

The biggest challenge that most people face with SEO isn’t using the techniques that help you rank well. In fact, the biggest problem most people have is that your SEO can only be as good as the quality of content you are providing. You need to remember that content trumps SEO every. single. time.

For more information on how to properly optimize your blog (and why you should never, ever, ever pay anyone else to do it), please click here!