3 Major Reasons Why You’re Not Making Money With Google Adsense

There are 3 major reasons why you’re not making money with Google Adsense, and today we shall be discussing how what the problem is and how to overcome it. But before that, let’s talk…

We need money to help us sustain our blog. Money is the only thing that can keep your blog running smoothly and more successfully, why? Because without money, you can’t buy that professional plug-ins, professional theme(s), hosting plan and those extra things your blog needs.

money-eye

Every successful blogger dream is to make money blogging – including me :). But how can you make money blogging when you don’t know how or where to start from? If you are a blogger and you’ve not made a dime from your blog, then I will advise you to read “4 Sure fire ways of making money with your blog” so you can know other ways of making money with your blog the smarter way.

Must Read: Adding A DropDown Menu To Your MobilePress

Back to the subject – making money with Google adsense looks like one of the hardest thing right? Because you have been in the blogging world for like 5 months now and you have not made even a 100 dollar from adsense program.

Top 3 Reasons Why You’re Not Making Money With Google Adsense

Put your mind at rest because today, you will know the main reasons why you’re not making money with your blog and show you how to correct it. So are you ready to receive the tips? If you’re ready, let’s start :).

You don’t have enough traffic

Believe it or not, if you are a Google adsense publisher and you only get about a 100 people coming to your blog/ website daily, it will take you about a year or so to get your first 100 dollar (fact). The bloggers and webmasters, who enjoy Google adsense today, are those that are getting nothing less than a 1000 and above as traffic per day.

Hey! Do not get me wrong – those that are getting 100 to 500 daily visitors can make a couple of bucks but not as much as expected. Except you want to cheat which I’m sure you’ll get caught before receiving the check :).

Must Read: 3 Killer Ways On How To Drive Quality Traffic To A New Blog

In the world of adsense, traffic plays a lot of roll so the first thing you should think of is learning how to drive quality traffic to your blog/ website. Don’t worry about getting traffic to your blog because I have written a lot of post about that so do check around :).

Your blog is too darn slow

I am sorry to be the one to break the sad news to you but if you are running a pretty slow blog, it will surely affect your adsense earning. Thank God the adsense team has put together what we known a “scorecard”. A scorecard shows you how optimized your site is for adsense. Here is how the score card looks…

score-card

If your site is running slow, your score card will tell you by using the indicator you see above and if your ads are not placed properly, it will also show you.

Must Read: Running A Slow Blog? Try This 5 Simple Steps To Speed That Slow Blog

Now here is my simple tip from me to you, always try as much to reduce your plugins to its minimum, make sure your database is well optimized, make sure your js, html and image file is well optimize. Doing that, your blog will definitely run smooth and faster.

Bad! Bad!! Ad placement

Do you know that where and how you place your ads and the colors you use matters a lot? Yes! When I visit some newbie blogs, I wonder if they are running a blog or they are running an advert house. The truth is, filling your blog with Google adsense will only slow down your blog and those many ads will annoy your readers as well. So instead of getting readership that will click your ads, you will only get people leaving your blog because it is just too bad.

Must Read: Adding Google Adsense Smartly To Improve Your Earning

I am going to give you some few tips which are working for me and I know they’ll work for you too :).

– Use the recommended ads on your blog

– add simple ads above your post, middle of your post, below your post and your sidebar widget… but whatever you do, do not add so many of them on your blog

– Blend your sidebar and your above post ads and make your below post ads loud

– Always keep trying new ways, again and again and again…

Take Home

Always remember that making money online using adsense is all about traffic and how you place your ads. So do digest what we discuss and I am sure your adsense will increase before you even know it :).

Let’s hear your side

It looks like I have said so much about so much, now it’s time to pass the ball to you guys.

Is your adsense working well for you? What other tip(s) would you like to share with us? Please do use the comment box below to share it with us…

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Do you have any questions, comments or thoughts you’d love to share with us? Then please do use the comment box below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Remember that your comments, questions and thoughts are highly welcomed and much appreciated. Do not forget to subscribe to our feed for your latest update on the go :).

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72 Comments

  1. Hello Babanature,

    These are top reasons for a blog not to make money from adsense. Site performance and ad placement are the main things..

    If loading time is not good of a website, user will not be happy to visit your site again or won’t be interested to view more pages. It also decrease adsense revenue when number of page views are less…

    Keyword of a web-page also matters. If good CPC paying keywords we ave got, then it will be great for us to earn money through adsense. 🙂

    Thanks for sharing this article..

  2. Babnature, you are damn right about making money with Adsense. The name of the game when it comes to Adsense is traffic. The more traffic you have the more likely you would make.

    However, traffic alone does not completely determine how much you earn with Adsense; keyword price also plays a major role. All keywords are not priced the same, you make more money if you know those highly priced keywords and build your blog and your posts around them. It is easier to make more money with little traffic if you are using the right keywords.

    I have tried to make money with Adsense and eventually removed my Adsense bloc after struggling with them for months. I am experimenting with affiliate banners at the moment. I still have the plan to try Adsense in the future, perhaps when my traffics improves tremendously.

    1. Hello Efoghor,
      You know, Since i have started blogging, i haven’t done anything based on keywords. It is true that some banners are higher than some but you still won’t make money if you don’t have impressions or clicks, right? So traffic plays the role here… you can’t be getting 50-90 visitors per day and be expecting 1000 euro per month, that’s impossible no matter the keywords you use :).
      Affiliate is one good way to make money as well, i’ve made some bucks with affiliate but not as many as i am making with adsense but i hope to hit the affiliate world by storm :).
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment, do have a nice weekend start 🙂

      1. Did i get you right? you mean you have not done anything based on keywords?By implication you do not engage in keyword research? please clear the air.

        1. Hello Ebima,
          Yes! i do not do keyword research. i believe writing good content that the people can relate to is better than doing keyword. I am talking to people and not to bot and crawlers. I am not a keyword person :).
          Remember this; once you start writing for your people and you get as much interactions, Google will rank you automatically…
          Thanks for the comment and do have a blessed weekend 🙂

      2. I kind of think the emphasis on Keyword research is overrated. I honestly don’t waste my time researching keywords. I tried it for one day and it was a complete pain in the back-side.

        It’s good to favor bots, but humans who would be reading the article need more attention. I think if you keep delivering great contents, you will start getting love from people. What I crave for is direct traffic, I doubt’ Linda Inkeji would be wasting her time researching keywords when there is a bottle of Baileys to be popped.. hahahah!

        I am not saying Keyword research is bad, but you know, in life, everything needs balancing.. 😉

        1. I write so people can relate to it and find solution to their problem. Many of the popular blogs and forum out there are not using keywords.
          You do not need keywords to rank on Google first page. What you need is good writing and what people needs 🙂

          You are absolutely right Nosa, if keyword is a must, linda ikeji would never be naija top blogger :D. Thanks and God bless

  3. Great post Babanature,

    To me Google Adsense is simple logic, it is impossible to make money from adsense when you have very few pageviews and traffic and sometimes organic traffic matters a lot if you want to make money from adsense.

    So working on one’s blog traffic matters alot if you want to hit that amount that can sustain you and your blog.

    Thanks for sharing

    1. That’s right, Oluwadamilare.
      Traffic is one thing that makes ones adsense earning increased but it might not be the main matter, adsense also requires better and unique placements.
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment, do have a beautiful weekend start.

  4. Hi Babanature,

    Yes indeed, these are main basic reasons for not making enough money with Google Adsense. 🙂

    Not that I make too much of it, but I do know – more the traffic – more the money, and no one needs rocket science to know this simple fact either! In the same way, if your blog is too slow, it’s going to keep people away because no one has that much of time to wait for your post to open, which again leads to less traffic.

    Oh yes…you need to keep playing with the advts and where you place them on your blog. I keep doing once in a while after checking their performance every month or so, and you should change if something isn’t working for you, based on your stats. The end of the post ones generally do better than the other, and the rest you already mentioned. I agree, most newcomers stuff their blogs with too many advts., which itself keeps normal visitors away and it looks an advt. company more than anything else – and then wonder why they aren’t making any money. Your advice would do them good . 🙂

    Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week 🙂

    1. Hello Harleena,
      Many new bloggers believe that keyword in adsense is more important than traffic But i laugh because as simple as it looks, without traffic, you have no earnings no matter how hard or keywords you use :).

      If you keep changing your ads placement, then you’re doing a pretty good job, because the best way to make money is by changing. But i’ll confess one thing to you, The ad placement below my post is converting beautifully and it might take a while before changing it :).

      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment. do have a beautiful week ahead…

  5. Hey mate,

    Why is blogs not making money? Because they had their placement wrong and low traffic.

    If you have less than 1,000 traffic a day, don’t expect high earnings if you are running a general blog. You can easily earn more even if you have 200+ traffic a day if you got a very specific micro niche blog though.

    Basically, people love to compare with big timers. Famous bloggers make money because they have tenth of thousands of traffic a day. That’s how Adsense actually works. Don’t forget, popular sites gets more CPM ads.

    1. Hello Reginald,
      You are definitely right. The popular a blogs get, the better its ads get… But what defines a popular blog is the traffic the blog gets right? So traffic is simply the main source to our adense earnings 🙂
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment and do have a wonderful weekend 🙂

  6. Making money with Adense becomes becomes realistic if your blog can generate enough traffic, your blog cannot be getting less than 5000 traffic daily and you want to make good money from adsense, there is the possibility of no one clicking your ads in a 1000 visitor per day.

    1. Hello Emebu,
      Your readers do not need to click your ads before your get credited, As long as you have thousands of people visiting your blog, you will definitely get some good earnings. Remember that there is something we called “Pay Per Impression”, so thousands can make a change…
      Thanks for stopping by and do have a wonderful weekend start 🙂

  7. Hi Baba !
    For a blog to start making money through adsense or any other advertising related earnings, traffic is must. 1000 visitors isn’t enough for publishing programs like media.net.. I have no idea about adsense as i don’t use it . After achieving my goals of getting 1000’s of UV visitors per day , i’ll signup for adsense .

    Thanks for sharing the information,
    Pramod

    1. That’s nice Pramod,
      If you’re getting 5000 impressions perday, then you can apply for media.net. I have friends who uses media.net but for me, i am using infolinks and adsense at the moment 🙂
      Thanks for the comment and do have a great weekend start…

  8. Ad placement is certainly a very important aspect, if you’re looking to earn more and without harassing your visitors. I think sidebar and below the post is the right place as your visitors won’t get disturbed while reading your post. Once he/she read your post, automatically see your below post ad and could probably click on it.. if its attract the reader.

    1. Hello Aahna,
      You are absolutely right. Ad placement matters a lot as well, the best thing we can do is always test and test and test till we find the main spot. Thanks for the comment and do have a beautiful weekend ahead…

  9. hi Babanature,
    wow man hats off you have written a great post .i agree with your every major point specially You don’t have enough traffic .you have mention all the correct points and i think all blogger should read it . keep it up

  10. Yes traffic is the key. The more traffic the more money. But what I am not sure of is what if one goes for paid traffic like Facebook trsffic or othe social media. Is it against Adsense policies?

    1. Hello Kevin,
      If you run a paid ad campaign in adsense enabled blog, you will be ban by the adsense team except the ads are place in your side bar. but if the adsense are place in a strategic ways, you might get ban

  11. Hi Babanature,
    Yes, the first two are main reason for not earning enough with adsense and some bloggers are not placing ads on right spot. Thanks for sharing it.

  12. Great article indeed many people have not made up to $100 from adsense since they started blogging and, I’m sure this post of yours will help them to figure out the reason behind that. Thanks for sharing this with the community.

    1. Hello Sagar,
      Sure, it will definitely help people that have not made money yet from adsense.
      Thanks for the comment and do have a wonderful weekend ahead…

  13. Well no doubt keywords plays a major role in getting good amount from the clicks. Although good paying keywords should be used.

    The tips you’ve mentioned are really helpful.

    thanks

    1. I don’t believe in keywords and i am getting clicks, so keywords is not all there is to adsense :). thanks for the comment and do have a brilliant weekend 🙂

  14. Should or shouldn’t I comment on this post? I’m somehow skeptical when it comes to adsense.

    Anyway, than was an eye opener post with respect to how one could make some cool cash with Adsense.

    1. Ahhh… Emmanuel, i can see that adsense have disabled you from their network. Well glad that there are a lot of alternate right :).
      Thanks for the comment and do have a lovely weekend start 🙂

  15. Sometimes making money with Adsense is easier said than done. most people are quick to give tips on how to do it but practically its harder than said. From my experience with Adsense is that if you want to be successful you need to generate traffic but creating consistent content – a simple trick – find a way to write 20 posts a day and even with no good ad placement or backlinks and you will make money

  16. Will keep all this in mind before I apply for adsense. Traffic, site performance and ad placement….

    Through the comments I came to know about the keyword value for ads. Dont know much about it. Will be glad if you please shed some light on this topic too.. 🙂

    And thanks for this article!

    1. Most welcome Vinay,
      Glad you did learn something here today. To be honest with you, i do not use keywords so i wouldn’t know about that but amma do a search on that and share it with you.
      Thanks for the comment and do have a brilliant weekend ahead…

  17. The journey to earning much from adsense in one that requires alot of conscious effort to decipher.

    Most of the time, earnings are entirely based on traffic, Google uses alot of parameter in determining what one’s earnings should be. Thus far, what I have learnt is that Tech blogs tend to earn higher than other blogs like entertainment.

    The speed of your blog plays a very vital role also. Faster blogs tend to take higher positions on Google’s search query. A top position? Better conversion.

    I don’t think anyone can completely make any blogger earn higher but the points you have raised Babanature does make lot of sense. Anyone following the solution would definitely get better results.

    Have a nice day friend 🙂

    1. Hello Nosa,
      You are right when you said nobody can make any blogger earn higher, but learn me share something with you… When i was getting regular traffic (500 visitors per day), i was earning 200 euro per month, simply because of the way i was placing my ad block. But suddenly, my traffic spike up to 3000 perday and i starts receiving 1000 euro permonth. The reason my payment increased is because of the ad placement and the traffic i am receiving.
      The main thing about adsense is, Have huge traffic, know your ad placement and have a micro niche blogs to go with it :). That’s my secret of how i earn higher :).
      Thanks for the comment and do have a great weekend ahead 🙂

  18. Hey man,
    You’ve crafted a very mind blowing post here as always. Not making money from a site can be quite frustrating especially when so many efforts has been made.

    Google adsense is indeed one of the best and most easiest ways to make money from a site too but, it has to come with so much work and efforts.

    I’m sure this post will open our eyes the more.

    Thanks for sharing man.

    1. You’re right Theodore, Adsense is indeed the most easiest way to make money with our blog. and i must confess that i’m loving every day with them 🙂
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment. Do have a lovely weekend start…

  19. I am not much of a supporter of Adsense (I think that’s because all the trouble I went through to setup Adsense for my blog :D), and I don’t think it is worth the time (especially, since ad blocking extensions are gaining so much popularity – we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket, right?).

    I used to have Adsense for a while, then I removed it (I don’t quite remember why. Back then, I didn’t care much about making money. I just wanted a hobby to pass time, and I sure got one. Perhaps that is the reason why I removed it). I had more success with manual ad placement (I think I charged around $30 per month, and it worked well :D).

    Anyways, thanks for the tips, Babanature 🙂 Hope you have a great weekend!

    1. Hey Jeevan,
      Adsense is my blog main source of income, if i must say but i am not 100% focused on Google adsense alone. I use infolinks and as well as affiliate… but the truth is, once you start making money with adsense, you will indeed enjoy it.
      There is nothing like having different source of income, right?
      Thanks for the comment and do have a fulfilling weekend 🙂

  20. I am not making money from my blog but I am learning to do so.
    This information really help! I am now start making blog with my dot com domain so that I can start learn to optimize them.
    Thanks for sharing this 🙂

    1. Hello Pendar,
      Making money with our blog looks hard indeed but if we can focus and fight our way through the obstacles, making money will look lot easier :).
      Thanks for stopping by, do have a blessed weekend…

  21. Traffic and content is the thing which matter in the Adsense journey.

    Placement as well is very important, I don’t think having 3 ads units on your blog looks like a blog full of ads, is that ‘ve been used by many bloggers and I see they perform well.

    Only people interested in ads will click and only those clicks will bring you a high CPC, all other clicks will bring you earnings like 0,01-0,03.

    I’ve seen click of 1,60 Euro on a game site of mine. Sure thing I’ve seen it just once but CPC goes higher when that visitor convert into a lead for respective advertiser.

    You agree with me Babanature, on last point(CPC is high when click converts in sale to advertiser)?

    Kind regards,
    I. C. Daniel

    1. Hello Daniel,
      Three ad unit is best for any site and nobody will say that, that is too much because it is how i use it here :).
      You’re definitely right on your last point – you’ll definitely get increase in earnings when the ad converts.
      From what you said, it shows that you do know about ads :).
      Thanks for the comment and do have a lovely weekend rest…

  22. Hi,

    As you have said, A Placement plays a major role in earning from Adsense. I have experimented it with my blogs by placing ads in different position and can see some changes in CPC and click rate. We can term it as Ad Revenue Optimization, which is most need with every blogs to understand the capability to earn frm your blog.

    1. Hello Shathyan,
      Yeah, the best way to make money from adsense is always test and test and test again. Because at times putting your ads in one position for too long might stop converting, right?.
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment, do have a beautiful weekend rest :).

  23. Hey bro,
    I think reason #1 is the main cause of many bloggers not making money with adsense. Traffic, targeted traffic is key to making money online. Every other point weighs behind this. If we strive to get the right traffic and in considerable number, we stand a better chance to make money. We can then test different positions and optimize to get the best

    Thanks for sharing this knowledge with us bro

    1. Hey Enstine,
      Really, this is what i keep telling the upcoming bloggers who want to make money online. Without quality traffic, your blog is as good as deed because if you don’t have people visiting your site, you will not make money and if you don’t make money, you will lost the motivation to move forward.
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment, do have a wonderful weekend 🙂

  24. Earning more from adsense is about getting targeted traffic. It also important to evaluate how we get our traffic and how earning improve. If we figure this out then focusing on that particular traffic strategies will increase adsense earning for sure. The rest, of course it’s non stop learning process, analyze our ads is crucial (placement and amount).

    Great post my friend.

    1. Hey Okto,
      Traffic is the number one thing that will take our blog higher. without traffic, no affiliate sale, no adsense earnings, and no motivation :). As i always say; traffic is the life source of any blog.
      Thanks for stopping by buddy. Do have a lovely weekend there 🙂

    1. Hello Treathyl,
      If your blog is slow, you can reduce some of the widgets and the sizes of your images and that will definitely speed up things a little.
      Wow!!! this means that you don’t use adsense right? Well, that’s good – as long as you have other income streams.
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment. do have a wonderful weekend 🙂

      1. Oh I definitely use Ad Sense. I can tell cause when I check my earnings, there’s pennies in there! 🙂

  25. Great article Very detailed. I’m inspired.
    I’m thinking of starting a high quality food site and monetizing it with Adsense.
    Although adsense will be my primary source of income I also plan on using Chitika ads and getting affiliate commissions by promoting other people’s health and fitness products.

    Great blog by the way.

    Fantastic blog.

    1. Hello Sagar,
      Seriously, that’s a good idea. Affiliate marketing is one great way of making money from your blog because the rules there are limited. I have used chitika but did not have luck in it.
      Good luck with your new project :). Have a nice weekend

    1. Hello Atish,
      You do know that if you have all the recommended ads placed on your blog and you do not have traffic, you will not make a dime? that’s a fact. So the major factor is traffic then others follows.
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment. do have a wonderful weekend 🙂

  26. Hiii,
    you are right sir,all your information are great. and i am blogger.its post help me most.

    Thank you!

  27. Hi babanature…. Great post, i am really goning to do as you say in the traffic aspect, as i want to increase my blog readers, thanks for this informative post….. Sammie just update his blog

  28. Making money with Google Adsense is getting popular among the internet marketers.

    Agree with your views here 🙂

    Wrong ad placement and blog with low traffic would definitely struggle to make money from Google Adsense.

    Thanks for sharing the useful post with us Baba 🙂

    1. Hello Nirmala,
      You know, adsense is also one way to make money blogging, so it deserves the talk, right ? :).

      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment, do have a great week ahead…

  29. Hi Babanature,

    I want to align more with point #1. Traffic is definitely the number reason why earning with adsense can be a pain in the neck! Increase your traffic and you will see a surge in adsense earnings.

    1. Hello Chedrack,
      Yeah that true, as long as there is traffic flow, your earnings will surly increase. especially if your blog is getting traffic from a favorable country.
      Thanks for the comment and do have a lovely week and a faithful weekend…

  30. I’m going to be looking to ad adsense onto my next blog. Your articles have been very helpful so far.

    You’re saying we need to have a balance between ads and speed? Too many ads will slow down the site and bring revenue down with it?

    Al

  31. Wrong ad placment is one of the worst,also too many ads deter readers from clicking any ad,but in my opinion ,Google adsense is overated,that is my humble submission

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