[WordPress Blog Setup Series ⑤] Writing Content — Preparing for AdSense Review
By now, we’ve bought a domain, connected hosting, installed WordPress, and entered the admin dashboard. The site’s skeleton is complete, but it’s still essentially an “empty house.” This part covers the content creation step, which is essential to passing Google AdSense review.
Why Does Content Matter So Much?
Google AdSense only approves sites that have a content-based web space to show ads on. Applying with an empty site or one still showing a “coming soon” page will result in a 100% rejection. In other words, even if your domain, hosting, and WordPress installation are all complete, you can’t pass AdSense review without actual content.
AdSense’s review criteria essentially boil down to “is this content valuable enough to display ads next to,” so it weighs having genuinely readable content far more heavily than overall site polish.
Minimum Standards to Meet
- Number of posts: At least 10–20 recommended
- Post length: Each post should be at least 500 characters/words (too-short posts can hurt your chances)
- Topic consistency: A site organized around a few clear categories does better in review than a completely scattered mix of topics
- Tidy design: Apply a single theme and organize content into categories
Things to Keep in Mind While Writing
- Posts based on personal experience or know-how tend to do well both for search traffic and for review. This series itself — documenting a real process I went through — is a good example. In fact, this kind of hands-on experience-based tutorial content is considered quite favorable for AdSense approval and revenue, and tends to bring in solid search traffic.
- Avoid copying or piecing together content from other sites.
- Using images and screenshots appropriately improves the overall quality of your posts.
- Setting up a clear category structure early makes it easier to maintain an organized site even as more posts get added.
- Adding a short paragraph early in a post explaining “why this topic” helps first-time readers understand better, and tends to increase time spent on the page.
- Teasing the next part in a series format increases repeat visits, which in turn helps with AdSense revenue.
Once You’ve Built Up Enough Content
Once you’ve accumulated a decent amount of content, the next step is to actually apply for Google AdSense. Applying before you have content will lead to rejection, so it’s important to follow this order.
Coming Up Next
Once your content is ready, it’s time to start the actual gateway to monetization: applying for Google AdSense. Part 6 covers the AdSense sign-up screen layout and the application process in detail.
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