Google AdSense is one of the first income streams many bloggers hear about, and for good reason. It’s simple to set up, doesn’t require you to sell anything, and once it’s running it can quietly earn in the background while you focus on your content.
What AdSense Does
At its core, Google AdSense allows adverts to appear on your blog. These adverts are automatically matched to your content and your readers by Google. You don’t choose the adverts yourself, and you don’t need to contact advertisers. Google handles all of that for you.
Once you apply for AdSense and your site is approved, you place a small piece of code on your blog. From that point on, adverts start appearing in the spaces you’ve chosen, such as within blog posts or in the sidebar. You earn money when visitors view or click on those adverts, depending on the type of advert shown.
Factors That Affect Earnings
How much you earn depends on several factors, and this is where expectations need to be realistic. AdSense income is influenced by the number of visitors you get, where those visitors are based, the topic of your blog, and how well your content matches advertiser demand. A blog about finance or business tends to earn more per click than a hobby blog, but any niche can earn something with enough traffic.
For most beginners, AdSense is not a fast or high-paying income stream at the start. With low traffic, earnings might be pennies or a few pounds a month. That’s normal. As your blog grows and your content brings in steady readers, those small amounts can gradually build. Some bloggers earn enough to cover hosting costs, while others with established blogs earn hundreds or more each month.
Why Bloggers Use AdSense
What makes AdSense appealing is that it doesn’t rely on constant promotion. You don’t need to launch products or push sales. It works alongside your content, which means older blog posts can continue earning long after they’re published. That makes it a useful foundation income, especially when combined with other methods.
Many bloggers choose to use AdSense alongside things like affiliate links, digital products, or even selling low-content books through Amazon KDP. Your blog becomes the central hub, with different income streams feeding into it. AdSense may not be the biggest earner on its own, but it often plays a steady supporting role.
AdSense Rewards Consistency
The key thing to remember is that AdSense rewards consistency and patience. It works best on blogs that are built properly, focused on helpful content, and allowed time to grow. If your blog is still new, think of AdSense as a long-term addition rather than a quick win.
If you want to build a blog that can support AdSense and other income streams properly, it helps to set things up the right way from the start. My course, Build & Monetise Your WordPress Blog, walks through how to create a solid blog foundation and turn it into something that can earn over time rather than relying on guesswork.
Understanding AdSense Terms
When people talk about earnings with Google AdSense, they often use abbreviations that can be confusing at first.
CPM means cost per mille, which is the amount you earn per 1,000 ad impressions. An impression is counted each time an advert is shown on your page, not when it is clicked. For many UK blogs, CPM can range from around £1 to £10, depending on the topic, traffic quality, and time of year.
RPM stands for revenue per mille and is the amount you earn per 1,000 page views. This is often more useful than CPM because it shows what your pages are actually earning overall. For example, if your RPM is £5, you would earn about £5 for every 1,000 page views across your site.
CPC means cost per click. This is what you earn when someone clicks an advert. CPC varies widely and can be anything from a few pence to several pounds, depending on the advertiser and your niche. Most blogs rely more on impressions than clicks for steady income.
Realistic Earnings
To put this into context, a blog with 10,000 monthly page views and an RPM of £4 might earn around £40 per month from AdSense. As traffic grows, these small amounts can add up, but AdSense is usually best seen as a baseline income rather than a main source on its own.
This is why many bloggers use AdSense alongside other income streams such as affiliate links, digital products, or services, with the blog acting as the central platform that everything links back to.
Don’t Click Your Own Adverts
One important rule with Google AdSense is that you must never click on your own adverts, even out of curiosity. Google is very strict about this, and clicking your own ads (or encouraging friends and family to do so) goes against their terms.
AdSense is designed to track genuine user behaviour, not artificial activity. Even a small number of self-clicks can flag your account, and in serious cases Google can suspend or permanently close it. If that happens, it’s very difficult to be approved again.
If you need to check how adverts look on your site, use Google’s preview tools or view your blog while logged out and in incognito mode, without interacting with the ads. It’s best to treat AdSense as something that runs quietly in the background rather than something you actively interfere with.
AdSense as Part of the Bigger Picture
Google AdSense isn’t a magic solution, but it is a reliable and well-established way to monetise a blog once traffic starts to build. For many bloggers, it’s the first step into earning online and a useful foundation that grows alongside their content.
If you approach AdSense with realistic expectations, patience, and a focus on creating helpful posts for real readers, it can play a steady role in your overall income mix. Over time, those small background earnings can support your blog while you develop other income streams that suit your goals and working style.
