I haven't received the AdSense Pin yet. What to do next?

It is one of the frequent queries I get from my web circle: "I haven't received my AdSense Pin yet. I tried several times and Google says they sent it. It never reached me through post. I have my address and all details correct in the Google AdSense".

It has been a problematic area for Google AdSense to send the Pin and get the AdSense account verified. Google introduced this postal pin verification several years ago to make sure the account owner has provided the correct postal address and is not an anonymous person. However, in the past few years, I have seen numerous complaints from AdSense users that they never received the Pin that Google claims to have sent.

If you take a look at the Google AdSense forums, you will see that a lot of people are raising the same complaint. There is no solid evidence on why many people are not getting the Pin.

When does Google send you a Pin to verify your address

Google will send you a Pin by post only after you reach $10 minimum threshold. So, if your account has not yet reached that amount, don't even worry about the pin.

After you reach the $10 balance, Google will issue you a pin mailer within 1 week. According to Google, it will take another 4-5 weeks to reach you. So, if a pin is just generated for you, don't get panic. It may take about a month to reach you.

Pin never reached, even after 4-5 weeks

Okay, if you don't get the pin after 4-5 weeks, there must be something wrong. Your first troubleshooting option is, make sure you address is correct in your AdSense account. If needed, add landmarks and additional information to the address to make sure the postman/courier people can locate your address. Make sure you have entered the phone number, postal code and landmarks along with your address. 

Now, make a request to resend the pin, which can be done using the option you can find in the "Account Settings" section of your AdSense account. Google will allow you to request a new pin 4 weeks after you made your last request. 

You can request to resend pin a maximum of 2 times, after the initial issue of pin by Google. Since each request can be done only once in 4 weeks, it may take up to 3 months before you can run out of options to request pin. But don't worry, you have 6 months time to verify your address from the date of issuing the first pin. (If you don't get your AdSense account verified during this 6 months, Google will stop showing Ads from your account)

Verify your address using identity card and other official address proof

Google prefer to verify your address by sending a pin by mail, which is the most reliable way to verify an account. If a postman can reach your address that you used in the AdSense account, that confirms that you have provided a genuine address. However, in the worst scenario of you not receiving any of the 3 pins sent by Google, there are additional options.

If you request the pin 3 times but never received any of them, login to your AdSense account and look at the "Account Settings" section. You will see additional instructions from Google asking you to verify the account using through other channels. The additional options include submitting copy of official identity card to Google.

Here is the PIN troubleshooter form, which can be used to submit an official identification document like passport, drivers license etc to Google to verify your address without a pin. However, if you submit it before you run out of your 3 pin requests, it may not be accepted.

What kind of documents are acceptable for address verification

Google has not published any list of documents that are acceptable as address verification, other than saying 'official documents'. As a general practice, the following documents are acceptable as address proof in USA (where Google employees sit and review your documents)

1. Drivers license (this is the most common way of address verification in USA)

2. Rental agreement

3. House/apartment registration document

4. Passport

The following documents are usually considered secondary/support documents and should be used only if you don't have any of the above documents.

5. Bank statement

6. Election Id (India)

7. Unique Id (Aadhar card in India)

NOTE: The document you attach for address verification should have your name and address, exactly matching the information you have provided in yourAdSense account. 

Also, it is a good idea to upload more than one document, just to make it easier to convince the reviewer, especially if there is a slight mismatch in address.

Phone verification

Phone verification is available only for AdSense publishers from the following countries:

1. China
2. France
3. Germany
4. Italy
5. Spain
6. UK
7. USA
8. Canada

AdSense Ads are not displayed in the blog - how to solve?

"Why AdSense ads are not appearing on my site?" - this is a common question I see on the bloggers social groups and sometimes I try to skip this problem since it takes a lot of time to figure out the cause. For each blogger, the reason could be completely different. Anyway, today I decided to write an article with the common reasons and troubleshooting tips.

Before you do any troubleshooting, login to your AdSense account and make sure there are no warnings or notices from Google regarding ad serving on your blog.



When Ads are not displayed, many bloggers are completely clueless on how to resolve. Since there are no tools available to troubleshoot this, I usually do a manual check on the blog and try a few options to check what is wrong. Let me try to explain the primary reasons and the common troubleshooting tips:

1. Hosted AdSense account - This is one of the most common reasons the ads are not displayed in the blogs. If you have a hosted AdSense account and you are trying to use it on a non hosted account, Ads may not show up in your site. This could happen if you upgrade your blog from Blogger.com blog to a custom domain. Once you upgrade to a custom domain, your site is no longer part of a hosted platform and hence the ads will no longer show.

2. Asynchronous Ad script - Are you using asynchronous ad script? It is a new and more efficient way of ad serving and could be helpful in most cases to load the ads without affecting the page loading. However, the script is known to have compatibility issues with many other scripts. Some other scripts may be blocking your asynchronous script from showing ads. If you are using asynchronous ads, you may replace it with the normal AdSense scripts and try if it works.

3. New ad delay - Did you just create the ad units? In most cases, ads will start showing within 15 minutes after creating the new ad unit. However, in some cases, it can take up to 1 hour to show the ads. So, if you just created the ad units, don't get panic. Keep loading your page every 5 minutes and start troubleshooting only after 1 hour from the time you created the ad. Usually, this is the first step I try with most bloggers. When someone ask me to help with this problem, I will ask for 1 hour time and by that time the problem would have got resolved by itself :-)

4. Too many widgets and scripts - Are you using too many widgets and scripts in your page? Some of them could be blocking your ads. As a starting point, note down all the widgets and scripts you are using. Then remove them all. Check if the AdSense ads are appearing after giving sufficient warming up period. If ads start working, then add the widgets and scripts back, one at a time. Figure out which one is blocking the ads and stop using the same.

5. Ad scripts not inserted - It may sound strange but I have seen many people who complained about ads not showing really didn't have the ad script placed correctly. Most people use some widgets in their CMS to insert the ad units and it is highly possible that the AdSense widgets didn't do the work correctly. The best way to troubleshoot this is by checking the source. Right click on your web page and view the source. Now search for the AdSense script in the source code. Do you see the ad script used correctly in the page? If not, check the settings of your widget and your blog. Make sure you are using correct pub id and the script is used with the correct syntax.

6. Hidden by other elements - In some cases, I have seen bloggers are using ads in a manner it is hidden by other elements in the page due to the way the DIV and other container tags are used. Try moving your ad units around to different locations in the page and wait for few minutes to see if it works.

7. Two-step approval process - Google uses a two-step approval process for AdSense. When you apply, you will get an instant, quick first level approval. At this stage, you can start using the AdSense ads on your site. However, only blank ads will be served at this time. Once the ad units start serving impressions, it will go into a review queue and Google will eventually review your blog. Only after you get the second level approval, you will start seeing real ads.

8. Previously disabled ad serving - If your account was previously disabled or ad serving was stopped for some violations, it may take up to 48 ours for ads to start showing up again. 

9. Ad blockers - If you are not able to see any ads but other people are seeing ads on your site, it could be some antivirus, virus or ad blockers preventing you from seeing the ads. Check for any browser extensions or your antivirus to see if they are blocking ads.

10. PIN verification - If Google has issued you a PIN but you haven't received it and not entered it in the site, ads will no longer show on the site. Try to get the PIN verification done as quickly as possible. 

Other troubleshooting tips

1. Try different sizes of the ad units.

2. Try ad placement different locations in the page.

3. Try using your AdSense ads in some other blogs and see if it works in other sites.

4. Try using the AdSense script of someone else in your blog and see if it shows Ads.

Can we use 2 different AdSense account Ads in the same page?

It was a violation in the past to show Ads from multiple AdSense accounts in the same page. Google has changed the policies a while back and now you can use multiple AdSense account ads in the same page. However, the total number of Ad units you can display in a page remains the same, which is 3 content ad units, 3 link ad units and 2 search boxes.

This is what Google says in the program policies regarding using AdSense ads from different AdSense accounts in the same page:



According to the program policies, you can place Ads from multiple accounts in the same page, but each publisher will be responsible for ensuring that the page is in compliance with Google policies.

Share your blogging revenue with your partners by using their AdSense accounts

If you have partners or contributors for your blog and like to split the revenue between multiple people, there are couple of ways to achieve this:

1. Use "AdSense Host APIs" to split the revenue from each ad unit. This is the recommended way to split the revenue between multiple people in a blog or website. However, this require sophisticated implementation and special approval from Google. One of the criteria to apply for this program is to have 100,000 page views per day. Currently, IndiaStudyChannel.com is the only Indian website that is approved by Google to share revenue using this method.

2. Rotate AdSense accounts: This is one of the most common method used by webmasters to share revenue with the content contributors and partners. In this case, Ads from one of the contributors/partners will be used in rotation. The webmaster and contributors/partners will agree upon how much percentage of the Ad impressions each of them will get. Each AdSense account will earn only if they get clicks on their Ads. In case of custom designed websites, a custom implementation will be required to do this kind of rotation. Popular CMS platforms like WordPress have several pluggins that make it easier to do it.

3. In each page, use Ad units of all contributors. For example, if you have 3 contributors, you can use 1 content ad unit and 1 link unit of each, thus making each page have ad units from 3 different AdSense accounts. 

How much traffic is required to get AdSense approval?

One of the confusion many people have when they apply for AdSense is, how much traffic they need on their blogs to qualify for AdSense. I was prompted to write this article since some asked me this question just now. Since this is a question that I come across very often, I thought I would share my thoughts here for the benefit of everyone who are wondering about the traffic requirements for joining the AdSense program.

One of the common reasons that Google gives for rejecting the applications is, site doesn't comply with Google policies. Many people misunderstand this is all about traffic requirements. Read more about why Google reject applications with the reason site doesn't comply with Google policies.

How much traffic is required to apply for AdSense?

If you go through the AdSense program policies, you will find no mention of the traffic requirements. Google is keen on the quality of traffic to the websites using their Ads, but they don't strictly look at the number of visitors or page views. 

At the time of applying for AdSense application, you do not necessarily need any traffic. However, there should be a reasonable number of posts in your blog for Google to evaluate your site. There are no hard and fast rule on how many articles are required, but 20 to 25 articles are good to go. 

In some countries, Google recommend the blogs should be at least 6 months old before it can participate in AdSense program.

Traffic Sources

Google is very keen the quality of traffic sources. If you are getting a lot of traffic from traffic exchange programs or you are purchasing paid traffic, there is a good chance that you will get invalid clicks from those sources. Google doesn't want their advertisers to be affected with such invalid clicks and would disable such AdSense accounts that receive invalid clicks. You are strongly discouraged from participating in any third-party services such as paid-to-click, paid-to-surf, auto-surf, and click-exchange programs. Read this post from Google on this.

How many posts are required in a blog to apply for AdSense?

You have started a new blog and you started getting some traffic. It's cool but when is the right time to apply for AdSense and start earning some money? How many articles you need in your blog to be eligible to participate in Google AdSense program? 10 articles are enough? Or, 50? You won't find a definite answer in the program policies or the AdSense terms and conditions. Let's try to find an answer here.

How many articles are required to get AdSense approval?

Google has no where mentioned anything about the minimum number of posts required before you can apply for AdSense on a blog. Obviously, just having a lot of posts in your blog will not make you eligible to participate in this program. 

I have seen many people reporting they have hundreds of posts in their blog but their application was rejected. At the same time, many others have reported that they got the application approved with just 5 or 10 posts in their blog. 



As I said above, there are no hard and fast rule on how many articles are required on a blog to be eligible for AdSense. It just depends on how impressive your blog appears to the reviewer at Google. When you submit your blog for AdSense, a reviewer from Google will look at your website. If the reviewer is impressed with the quality of articles he sees, you would get approved, even if you have just a few articles. A reviewer will not read more than a few articles and so, make sure you do not have any low quality articles when you submit the application to Google.

In some countries like India and China, Google is recommending that your blog should be at least 6 month old. Read more on should blogs wait for 6 months before using AdSense.

If you have a new blog and want to apply for AdSense, I would recommend you wait until you have at least 20 to 25 high quality posts that would impress the reviewer from Google. 

Is it safe to access multiple AdSense accounts from same IP address?

Google has a very strict policy that one person cannot have more than one AdSense account. In countries like India, Google usually doesn't even allow multiple AdSense accounts from the same mailing address (there are exceptions). As per AdSense program policies, 2 members from the same family/same address can have separate accounts. However, as per the traditions in India, members of a family are strongly bonded and Google doesn't see any reason for 2 members of the same family to have different AdSense accounts!

I recently wrote few articles related to common AdSense queries:

1. How many articles are required before you can apply for AdSense on a blog.

2. How much traffic is required on a blog to use AdSense.

Today, let's try to find answers for another common question: Can we access 2 different AdSense accounts from the same IP address?

Login to multiple AdSense accounts from same IP address

I have been answering this question quite often in social media groups and personal messengers. The confusion here is, there is no hard and fast rule from Google regarding this. No where in the AdSense program policies Google talks about any limits on how many AdSense accounts can be used from the same IP address.

Here is my take on this:

Google doesn't have any limitations as such on how many AdSense accounts can be registered or accessed from same IP address. As long as it is not the same person applying for multiple AdSense accounts, any number of people can use AdSense from the same IP address.

I personally operate multiple AdSense accounts - my personal account as well as a few business accounts for different business entities I own/manage. I have been using some of these accounts for more than 10 years and Google never troubled me for the same.

In addition, I often login to several AdSense accounts of other people when they ask me to troubleshoot their issues. I never hesitated to take their login credentials and check their account from my IP address.

Also, sometimes I help friends and coworkers to register for new AdSense account from my office. They never had any issues in getting approval, provided they have a genuine blog.

Dynamic IPs and Network IPs

Here is a scenario. Most big companies have the same outgoing IP address for all the computers in their network. This means, hundreds of people from big companies may be using same IP address to login to their Google AdSense accounts. Google has no ways to verify if they are all coming from such a company network or a personal home IP address. 

In countries like India, majority of the people use dynamic IPs. This means, every time you connect to internet, you will get an IP address that was used by someone else in the past. 

For all the reasons explained above, accessing multiple AdSense accounts from same IP address will not be a risk for genuine publishers.

When it becomes a risk?

Let's look into another scenario. You want to cheat Google and want to create a few AdSense accounts. You may be successful initially and may get your AdSense applications approved. However, when you start using it, Google may look into the IP address as a factor to determine if you are using multiple accounts for yourself. If Google detects that multiple AdSense accounts are accessed from same IP address with other common factors like same mailing address and payee name, it will be easier for them to determine such fake accounts. 

Bottom line: There is no risk in using multiple AdSense accounts from same IP, as long as they are in compliance with Google AdSense program policies.

Should you worry about high CTR, CPC and RPM in your AdSense account

I have seen a lot of people raising concerns on high CPC and RPM in their AdSense earnings. I know everyone like higher CPC and higher revenue from their blogs but what people are concerned is possible click bombing. 

Since Google has been taking strict action against AdSense account owners for fake clicks, many people started using that to get their competitors in to trouble. There are several cases of click bombing reported and many genuine AdSense account owners lost their AdSense account because someone else repeatedly clicked on their Ads (with the intention of getting the AdSense account disabled by Google).

For the same reason, if the genuine AdSense account owners see unusual click rate in their AdSense reports, they start getting concerned about potential click bombing. I have seen numerous posts from people reporting that they see unusual data in their AdSense reports and ask how to deal with it. However, in most cases, such reports are normal and there were no need to be concerned.

Unusual stats on a small sample of data is normal

If you look at the daily earning report on an early morning, you might notice unusual data. There is nothing wrong but the small samples could always be like that. Let us analyze some of the common concerns:

High CPC: Many people report that they are seeing very high CPC today in their AdSense account. CPC is the Cost Per Click and it just depends on how much the advertiser is willing to pay per click for the Ad. In general, it is beyond your control. There is absolutely no need to be concerned about high CPC. If you are worried about low CPC, then read some AdSense tips to improve your AdSense CPC.

High CTR: High CTR is something that need to be concerned and could be a sign of click bombing, but not always. If you see high CTR, he question is, what is the reporting period you are looking at and what is the total number of clicks in the report.

If you have a small blog and if you are talking about just a few clicks per day, the CTR can vary a lot. For example, consider a very small blog which gets 100 visits per day. One day, there could be just one click (1% CTR) and another day there could 5 clicks (5% CTR). In this case, the CTR is significantly different each day.

But if you have a very popular blog with thousands of visitors each day, your average clicks per day wouldn't change significantly. If your CTR is 2% today, it would remain pretty much the same everyday. 

But if you look at a single day's report during the beginning of the day, it could vary significantly. For example, you may have certain type of content, which have very high chances of clicks due to relevant ads. And consider such content happen to be visited by people in USA more than any other countries, which matches the timezone of AdSense reporting timezone. If you look at your report in the beginning of the reporting day, you will see higher CTR since the content which has the higher CTR possibility is visited by the people during that time. 

You need to start worrying about high CTR only if:

- The high CTR trend continues for some time and not just for the beginning of the day.
- The CTR varies significantly (change from 2% to 2.5% is not a matter of concern, but change from 2% to 4% for a large sample is something that need to be worried)

If you have a small blog with a few hundred visitors per day, the CTR can vary significantly, which could be normal. But if you have a very popular blog with thousands of visitors per day, your CTR should remain pretty much consistent.

High RPM: RPM simply means how much is the average revenue for 1000 impressions. For most people, the RPM is $1 to $5, depending on the region, type of content, nature of the site etc. 

However, if you look at a very small sample of data, you could see unusual stats for the RPM. 

Just like the CTR, if you look at the stats when the day starts, most of the accounts will show such unusual reports. For example, consider someone click on the ad on the first impression on the day and assume it got 0.50$ CPC. Now, your stats for the day will look like this:

CPC: $0.50
CTR: 100%
RPM: $500

When it reaches 10 impressions (with no additional clicks), your stats will change to:

CPC: $0.50
CTR: 10%
RPM: $50

When it reaches 100 impressions (with no additional clicks), your stats will change to:

CPC: $0.50
CTR: 5%
RPM: $5

This is an example of how weird the stats can be if you look at a very small sample of data. You need to start getting nervous only if similar data is shown for larger samples.

Unusual data in your Google AdSense reports: When to start worried?

As I mentioned above, it is quite normal to see some unusual reports if you look at a very small sample or if you look at the reports for the same day. You need to start worrying about click bombing and invalid activity only if the trend continues for some time and only if you have at least 1 full day report, with this exception: If you see a unusually high number of clicks during a short period of time, it could be a sign of invalid activity. For example, if you are receiving average 100 clicks per day but you already received 50 clicks during the first few hours of the day, then it could be something that you need to be worried.

The most important piece of data to look at is the number of clicks during a short time and not the CTR or RPM along. If you suspect click bombing and see suspicious activity, follow the report very closely and see how fast the number of clicks go up.

The best way to deal with invalid activity is to keep your AdSense account in good standing. If you suspect click bombing, then it is important to protect your account.