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10 Blogging Mistakes I Made Before Getting AdSense Approval

Before my site was finally approved by Google AdSense, I made many mistakes that kept my content quality low and delayed the approval process. Looking back, these mistakes were completely avoidable, and fixing them made a huge difference in how my site looked and performed. In this article, I will share the biggest blogging mistakes I made before getting AdSense approval so you can avoid them from the very beginning.

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1. Publishing very short, shallow posts

My first mistake was publishing very short posts that barely answered the topic. Many of them had only a few paragraphs, no structure, and almost no real examples. From Google’s perspective, this looked like “thin content,” which is one of the main reasons for low value content rejections. Now, I aim for detailed, well‑structured articles instead of quick, empty posts.

2. Writing about too many random topics

At the beginning, my blog had no clear direction. I wrote about travel, tech, random news, and personal thoughts all on the same site. This confusion made it hard for AdSense (and readers) to understand what my site was actually about. Once I chose a clearer niche and organized my posts into focused categories, the site started to look more professional and trustworthy.

3. Relying too much on AI‑generated text

I also made the mistake of relying heavily on AI‑generated content without proper editing. Some posts sounded generic, repetitive, or too similar to other content on the internet. This is risky for AdSense, because they want truly original value, not just rephrased information. Now, I only use AI as a helper and always add my own experiences, examples, and final edits.

4. Ignoring internal links and site structure

In the beginning, each post lived on its own island with almost no internal links. Users finished one article and then left the site, because there was nowhere obvious to go next. A weak internal structure also makes your site look incomplete. After I started linking related posts together and building clear category pages, my site became easier to navigate and more useful.

5. Not having essential trust pages

For a long time, I didn’t bother creating basic pages like About, Contact, Privacy Policy, or Terms of Service. To me, they felt boring and unnecessary, but to AdSense they are important trust signals. Without them, the site looks like an anonymous project that might disappear tomorrow. Adding these pages made my site look more legitimate to both readers and Google.

6. Using low‑quality or uncredited images

Another mistake was using random images from the internet without checking copyright or relevance. Some pictures were blurry, off‑topic, or looked obviously stocky and overused. This reduced the overall quality of my posts. Now, I either use properly licensed images (for example, from free stock sites) or create my own simple visuals that match the content.

7. Forgetting about mobile users

At first, I only checked my blog on a desktop screen and ignored the mobile experience. On phones, my fonts were too small, buttons were hard to tap, and some layouts were broken. Since a large part of traffic comes from mobile, this was a serious problem. After switching to a mobile‑responsive theme and testing every page on my phone, the site became much more user‑friendly.

8. Overloading pages with widgets and distractions

I thought adding many widgets (recent posts, tag clouds, social feeds, pop‑ups) would make my site look “professional.” In reality, it only made pages slow, cluttered, and confusing. Users had to fight through distractions to reach the actual content. Cleaning up my sidebar, removing unnecessary widgets, and simplifying the layout made my articles the main focus again.

9. Not updating or improving old posts

Once I published an article, I rarely went back to update it. As a result, many posts became outdated, incomplete, or inconsistent with my newer content. Google and users both prefer fresh, accurate information. Now, I regularly review old posts, expand them with new details, fix broken links, and improve formatting to keep the entire site at a higher standard.

Finally, one of my biggest mistakes was applying for AdSense when my site was clearly not ready. I had only a few posts, weak structure, and no real authority in my niche. Getting rejected for low value content was almost guaranteed. After that experience, I focused on building at least 15–30 solid posts, improving design, and fixing all the issues above before applying again.

By avoiding these mistakes from the start, you can save a lot of time and frustration on your journey to AdSense approval. Instead of rushing to monetize, focus first on building a site that you would genuinely enjoy visiting yourself. If your content is original, helpful, and easy to read, AdSense approval becomes a natural result rather than a constant struggle.

3hong