Build Log #7: Monetizing the Blog with Google AdSense

The blog is built. The domain is connected.

One thing remains. Monetization.

This post covers the entire process of connecting Google AdSense to the blog and starting to earn ad revenue.

Google AdSense is a service that places ads on your blog so you can earn money.

The concept is simple.

Advertisers want to promote their products and services. If they place ads where people visit, sales naturally increase. If my blog gets visitors, I'm essentially saying to Google:

"My blog has value for advertising. Place ads here and share the ad revenue with me."

Here's the full flow:

Advertiser pays Google → Google automatically places ads on my blog → Visitors see or click the ads → Google pays 68% of ad revenue to the blog owner

How Does Revenue Work?

Revenue is generated in two ways.

CPC (Cost Per Click) — Money is earned when a visitor clicks an ad. Each click typically ranges from a few cents to several dollars. Niches like finance, insurance, and tech tend to have higher click values, while general lifestyle content tends to be lower.

CPM (Cost Per Mille) — Money is earned when an ad is shown 1,000 times. Even without clicks, revenue is generated just from the ad being displayed.

Revenue Calculation Example

100 daily visitors × 2% click rate = 2 clicks 2 clicks × $0.40 per click = $0.80/day Monthly revenue = ~$24

Revenue scales proportionally with traffic. 1,000 daily visitors could mean $240/month. 10,000 visitors could mean $2,400/month.

Of course, this is a simplified calculation. Actual revenue depends on content topic, visitor location, ad placement, and many other factors.

Can Anyone Apply?

No. Google AdSense requires passing a review process.

Google evaluates whether your blog deserves to display ads. In simple terms, they check if you have quality content that provides value to visitors.

Requirements for Approval

Requirement	Description
Custom domain	.com, .net, etc. (not a free subdomain)
HTTPS	SSL certificate must be active
10+ quality articles	1,000+ words of informational content recommended
Essential pages	About, Contact, Privacy Policy pages required
Clean site structure	Navigation, categories, mobile optimization
3+ weeks of operation	Longer operation period is better

My Blog's Current Status

Requirement	Status
Custom domain (aicraftlog.com)	✅ Done
HTTPS	✅ Cloudflare auto-applied
10+ quality articles	⚠️ Currently 7 (need 3-4 more)
About page	✅ Done
Contact page	✅ Done
Privacy Policy page	✅ Done
3+ weeks of operation	✅ Done

Most requirements are met — just need a few more articles. But you can submit the application first and continue publishing while the review is in progress. In fact, posting new content during the review period sends a positive signal to Google.

Time to actually apply.

Go to https://adsense.google.com/start and click "Get started."

Step 2: Enter Your Site URL

Step 3: Enter Personal Information

Enter your name, address, and phone number.

Two important warnings here.

First, phone verification is mandatory. Starting in 2025, applications won't be processed without completing personal information registration. If you skip phone verification, you may end up in an infinite waiting loop with no rejection email ever sent.

Second, enter your address accurately. Google sends a PIN number by physical mail after approval. If the address is wrong, you can't receive the PIN, and your earnings will be suspended.

Google provides a code snippet that needs to go inside the <head> tag of your blog.

Copy this code, then ask Claude Code:

Insert the Google AdSense code into the <head> tag. Code: (paste the code provided by Google)

Once Claude Code inserts the code, deploy the changes:

git add . git commit -m "Add Google AdSense code" git push

Step 5: Verify Ownership

After deployment, click the "Verify" button on the AdSense screen.

Google checks your site for the AdSense code and confirms ownership.

Step 6: Wait for Review

Review submission is complete!

The review typically takes a few days up to 2-4 weeks. Once approved, you'll receive an email notification, and ads will automatically start appearing on your blog.

Improving Your Approval Chances

Submitting the application isn't the end. You can further optimize your blog to increase approval chances.

This guide has an excellent breakdown of AdSense approval requirements:

https://www.adpushup.com/blog/google-adsense-approval/

Let AI Handle It

Here's the key insight.

The guide contains dozens of requirements — site structure improvements, essential pages, SEO optimization, and more. You don't need to analyze and implement these one by one.

Copy the guide page and ask Claude Code:

Based on this information, please improve the blog to better meet Google AdSense approval requirements. (paste the guide content)

We're no longer in an era where humans manually analyze mountains of text requirements.

Hand it to AI, and just make the request. What matters now is how you command the AI.

What to Do While Waiting

Don't just sit around while waiting for the review. Use this time to strengthen your blog.

1. Keep writing — More content signals higher value to Google. Publishing new posts during the review sends a positive signal.

2. Register with Google Search Console — For Google to crawl your blog and show it in search results, you need to submit a sitemap to Search Console. I'll cover this in detail in the next post.

3. Never click your own ads — This violates AdSense policy. Clicking your own ads can result in permanent account suspension. Under no circumstances should you ever click your own ads.

Cost Breakdown (Updated)

With AdSense applied, here's the full cost of running this blog:

Item	Cost	Notes
Claude Pro (AI coding)	$20/month	Code generation + blog improvements
Domain (.com)	~$10/year	Purchased on Cloudflare
Cloudflare Pages (hosting)	Free	Build + deploy + HTTPS
GitHub (code storage)	Free	Public repository
Google AdSense	Free	No signup fee
Total	~$21/month	Including domain

Once ad revenue starts flowing, it can offset these costs and then some. Earnings become withdrawable once they reach $100.

Summary

Here's what we did in this post:

Understood AdSense revenue structure — Advertiser → Google → Blog owner (68% split)
Applied for AdSense — Account creation → Code insertion → Ownership verification → Waiting for review
Used AI to improve the blog — Fed the AdSense guide to Claude Code for automatic optimization

The core message is this:

AI handles analyzing requirements and modifying code. We just need to make the right request.

Coming Next

AdSense is submitted, but one thing remains.

When people search on Google, my blog needs to appear. No matter how great the content is, if it doesn't show up in search results, there are no visitors. No visitors means no revenue.

Next post: I'll explain how to use Google Search Console to get the blog indexed and visible in search results.

See you in Build Log #8.

I'm an embedded software developer building AI-powered web services with zero web experience. Follow the journey at aicraftlog.com.