Last Updated on June 3, 2023

Two questions I often get asked are if Google AdSense makes money and if it is worth using AdSense on a blog. So, in this post, let me answer those two questions, in addition to telling you about how to set up AdSense, and what the alternatives are.

Using Adsense when blogging

How Does Google AdSense Work?

Once you start a blog I am sure you will be happy to make money from it, if you can do this with very little effort on your part, by using auto-generated ads.

What happens is that you can add one piece of code one time to your blog (very easy if you use WordPress) and then ads will automatically show up on your site.

The ads will normally be related to the content on your pages and the browsing history of the person who visits the site.

So, if you have a blog page about food because you are a food blogger, the chances are that the automatically generated ads will also in some way be related to food.

This is because the ads are generated based on the words in the text and are then matched with suitable related ads.

In addition, Google will show ads that are related to the content that a visitor was searching before landing on your site. This is because Google tracks the user’s activity using cookies to show them targeted ads.

What Is Google AdSense?

One of the most well-known auto-ads services is owned by Google and is called Google AdSense.

As one of the leading search engines in the world, Google has thousands of businesses paying them on their advertiser’s platform called Google AdWords.

If you have a blog and are happy to allow ads in your content, in return for a percentage of the ads income that Google get, you can easily start making money with AdSense.

Advantages of Using Google AdSense

The real advantage of using AdSense is its simplicity.

You can just add the code once and sit back and watch the pennies flowing in.

If you are looking to make just enough money, for example, to cover the costs of your hosting and domain name, you can quite easily achieve this effortlessly, as long as you have a few dozen or more pages of decent content.

A lot of advertisers pay Google to have their ads placed on blogs and websites just like yours, so you will have no problem getting ads onto your site with AdSense.

Disadvantages of Using Google AdSense

One of the major disadvantages of using AdSense is that the amount you make per click is really quite low compared to what it used to be.

Valeria and I used to make a very decent amount of money from Google using AdSense 5 – 10 years ago.

We could make USD$1000 quite easily in one month back then whilst sitting on the beach and leaving the sites to make auto-ads income with little effort.

In recent years, the same ads will make only a few hundred dollars, i.e. the percentages have become much more diluted.

It is much harder now to make a good income from Google AdSense, compared to a few years ago.

What Are the Alternatives to Google AdSense?

What has happened in the last few years is that a bunch of bloggers got together after being tired of the low commissions paid by Google, to form their own ads network.

One such network is Mediavine.

Mediavine is harder to get accepted for because they require you to have at least 50,000 sessions (you can find these stats in your Google Analytics).

For Google AdSense, there are no such limitations to joining their program in terms of needing already to have lots of web traffic.

Mediavine will also check the quality of your site to make sure it looks genuine and not in any way spammy.

The great benefit of Mediavina vs AdSense is that you will make a lot more money because the percentage Mediavine will give you is much more generous.

Tip: If you are likely to want to apply for Mediavine in the future, then you are advised not to use Google AdSense at all.

The issue is that, once you get penalized by AdSense (easily done in AdSense), this can go against you when you apply for Mediavine and some other similar ad networks.

How Much Does Google AdSense Pay?

There is no way to be able to give an exact amount on how much you can make from Google AdSense because every blog or website is different and everyone makes a different amount.

There are people making £50 (or USD$50) whilst there are some people making £££ thousands because they have multiple sites with AdSense ads on them, or because they have one site with thousands of pages on it.

So, to answer the question directly, there is no set amount and what you earn every month will vary (according to what other businesses are spending to have their ads show on sites or blogs like yours).

How Can I Start Using Google AdSense and Login

You can simply head across to the official Google AdSense website and just follow the instructions. It’s relatively easy.

How Can You Make Money with Google AdSense Earnings Without a Website?

One of the best ways to make money with Google AdSense without a website is to make AdSense income through videos.

If you have a YouTube channel, once you have a certain number of subscribers, YouTube will allow you then to connect automated ads onto your videos.

Google owns YouTube and they are of course the owners of Google AdSense, so it’s probably no surprise that automatically connecting the two is really simple.

Food blogger
Vlogging on YouTube is one way to make AdSense money without a website.

Is Google AdSense Worth It?

There are two ways to look at it really.

Easy and small – if you are simply looking to make just enough to pay for some basics such as for your hosting and domain name and want a hassle-free way to make that money, AdSense can be a great option.

Making a decent income from auto-ads – to make a decent income the easiest way (once you have enough traffic to get accepted) is to go with an ads company such as Mediavine or Monumetric.

So, basically, yes it is worth it for making very small amounts.

If you are more serious about making income from autogenerated ads then I recommend Mediavine or Monumetric or a similar service.

Google AdSense Revenue Calculator

If you are wondering where you can estimate your potential earnings with Adsense, via a Google AdSense revenue calculator, the free-to-use tool I recommend is from Smallseotools and can be found here.

How to Earn Money From Google at Home

I have included this question because I often get asked this from those of you who are looking to start working online from home.

There are many ways to make money online and I think this question gets asked more in reference to how to make money online than how to get paid directly from Google.

AdSense is basically the answer in terms of making money from Google directly.

If you are wondering how it’s possible to make a 5-figure income online then you can check out our post about it here.

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Paul & Valeria