Google Adsense is a contextual advertising network designed for online publishers to make money from their content. This means Google displays advertisement on your YouTube video, blog posts, news portal or other forms of online publication in a way that is extremely relevant to your audience.

Google maintains an advertising platform called Google Ads (formerly Adwords) that enables advertisers to reach their target audience effectively. They do have a very large portfolio of display ads, part of which is distributed through the Google Adsense program.

Through their acquisition of other ad companies over the years, Google has evolved into the giant of Internet ads. The AdSense program is one of the ways you can make money online. It can be extremely rewarding when it is done right.

The monetized content could be in the form of:

• Text: news websites, blogs, or any other website that publishes useful content regularly
• Video: as published on YouTube, another Google property

How do I sign-up for Google Adsense?

The first step would be to set up your source of content: blog or YouTube channel. We have written extensively about how to create a blog. Consider reading it for further details.

Once your blog or news website is set up, it needs to gain serious traction. You need to publish high quality and original content on a regular basis, to draw useful traffic. The website needs to be at least 6 months old, to qualify for Google Adsense.

You need a Google Account in other to participate in Adsense.

Once your website qualifies and has good traction, you can then sign-up for Adsense and apply to have your website reviewed. Once it is accepted, you would have access to the control panel where you can copy and apply the ad codes to your website.

The same principle applies to your YouTube channel. You need to have published some useful videos and built a significant number of subscribers, to qualify for having Adsense activated for your videos.

How do I display the advertisement?

Google offers extensive guides on how to do this. It gets easier if you are publishing on any of these platforms:

• Hosted WordPress: if you registered and host your blog running WordPress through a web host like Web4Africa, you would need a WordPress theme. Some WP themes are designed in a way that makes it easy to embed ad codes. They are built to be friendly like that. Consult the guide that comes with your WP theme for specific steps.
• Blogger / Blogspot: Google owns this platform and so embedding the codes for ads to appear doesn’t get any easier.
• YouTube videos: ads appear automatically when you qualify and expressly opt-in to the program. Google gives you some control over the frequency of the ads.

How do I make money from Adsense?

The importance of high-quality content cannot be over-emphasized. You need to publish good content to attract and sustain a good audience. The higher your number of readers/followers, the more money you are likely to make.

To make good money from Google Adsense, you need to publish good content and sustain an audience. Share on X

There are various forms of Google Adsense ads types you can use to monetize your website. They come in varying ad units and ad sizes. They are either plain text ads or rich media ads. The later can come with video, audio or some other form of content to encourage interaction with the website user.

The ads’ earning models are mainly divided into:

• Cost per click (CPC) ads: the website owner earns on legitimate clicks when a website visitor clicks on the ads.
• Cost per thousand visitors (CPA) ads: these types of ads pay based on the volume of visitors to the website.

To maximize your income potential, you can optimize the ad spaces on your website by managing their placements. Locate the ads where your readers likely to notice them but without annoying or overwhelming your readers. Focus on great user experience for your readers. More so, Google has a limit on the maximum number of ads you are allowed to display per page.

Ads placements on YouTube are more automated and do not involve any technical skills from you. You, however, must focus on releasing excellent content that attracts a lot of interaction (likes and comments) as well as an increased number of subscribers.

How do I get paid in Nigeria?

Google Adsense offers various payment options for publishers around the world. In Nigeria, you can get paid via any of the following methods once your earnings have qualified for withdrawal.

• Cheque: this method is slow and not advisable. The cheque can take a long time to be delivered and is high-risk it could be lost in transit. When delivered, your bank can take a long time to clear it and deposit the funds to your account after taking a hefty commission.
• Wire Transfer: international wire transfer is much more reliable. It is not only fast but also a secure method of receiving your payments.

You get paid when you have earned your first $100. Subsequently, you will be paid every month that your earning reaches and exceeds $100.

FAQ

• How much does Google Adsense pay per click in Nigeria?
  There is no definite answer to this. The amount paid would be varied by factors including:
  • the volume and quality of traffic to the website
  • the age of the website
  • the topic of the website; some keywords attract much higher values per click. Financial and technical topics would attract higher values than gossip, for example.
• Can I buy a Google Adsense account in Nigeria?
  You could but you shouldn’t. It is against Adsense’s terms of service and you risk losing the account and every unpaid earnings to an account suspension.

Conclusion

Google is very strict about maintaining the integrity of their ads network. They do not compromise when it comes to enforcing their Adsense terms and conditions. Trust is their currency. If you, as the website owner, try to cut corners, you will be found out eventually. Your Adsense account may be suspended indefinitely and your earnings withheld.