Google AdSense Approval Checklist for Independent Publishers

Getting accepted into Google AdSense is less about tricks and more about trust signals: a legitimate site with original teaching content, clear navigation, and transparent disclosures.

Policy-ready foundations

1. Privacy Policy — Explain cookies, analytics (Firebase / Google), newsletter data, and ads.
2. About & Contact — Verifiable humans behind the publication improve reviewer confidence.
3. Consistent navigation — Footer links to main sections should work on desktop and mobile.

Content quality signals

• Publish substantial articles (typically hundreds of words) that solve specific reader problems — not thin doorway pages.
• Avoid scraped or aggregated feeds disguised as articles.
• Keep titles aligned with on-page content (no clickbait mismatch).

Technical basics

• HTTPS everywhere on production (Firebase Hosting provides TLS).
• Reasonable Core Web Vitals on article templates — heavy scripts slow approval indirectly via UX.
• Provide ads.txt after you receive a publisher ID so buyers can verify authorised sellers.

Discover and search compatibility

Large hero images (roughly 1200 px wide minimum for strong Discover eligibility), descriptive headings, and structured metadata support sustainable traffic — which indirectly validates programme fit.

Expectations

Approval timelines vary. Improve weak pages first; resubmit only after meaningful fixes — not cosmetic tweaks.

This article is informational and reflects general publisher guidance, not a guarantee of approval.