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AdSense API

Getting Started Guide

If you're reading this document, it means you're interested in adding AdSense functionality to your application or website. We're glad to have you on board! Integrating with the AdSense API should be quick and easy, and this document outlines the entire process.

To integrate the API and "go live" with your implementation, you must follow these steps:

  1. Confirm eligibility NEW!
  2. Does the API fit your business model?
  3. Terms and Conditions
  4. Process administrative tasks
  5. Integrate AdSense API into your application
  6. Submit your implementation for review
  7. Launch your implementation "live"

1. Confirm eligibility NEW!

Starting Sep 13, 2007 only websites with over 100,000 daily page views across user pages will be eligible to participate in the AdSense API program. We will strictly enforce this limit at the time you submit your implementation, so please apply only if you meet this criteria. For more information, see What does the page view requirement mean to me? If you aren't sure that your site will meet this requirement, please send us an email that includes any relevant statistics including number of users, number of user pages, and number of page views on those pages; our support team will be able to guide you further.

You must have an approved AdSense account. If you already use AdSense, you should use your current account; if your site doesn't have one yet, now is the time to apply for one via the AdSense home page.

2. Does the API fit your business model?

The API should be a good business fit for any website or product that wants to share advertising revenue with users that generate web content. Additionally, the API can allow a site to to earn revenue by referring users to AdSense and allowing its users to show Google Ads on their pages. Please review all of the documentation on this site to ensure that the AdSense API service meets your business model. The introduction provides a great overview of what the AdSense API offers from the technical end and is useful when planning your integration. In short, if you can do it through the AdSense website, you should be able to allow your users to do it on your site.

The AdSense API allows website owners to earn money in two ways: you can split advertising revenue with your users through our Revenue Sharing program, and you are eligible to earn additional Referral Bonuses for referring new AdSense participants. You should consider how you wish to split the advertising revenue on user pages, or if you will allow your users to retain all advertising revenue generated on their pages and earn your money solely from the referral bonuses.

We strongly recommend that you regularly communicate with our team via adsenseapi-support@google.com about your plans before and during your integration. Our friendly team has experience reviewing and guiding integrations and may be able to make the process a bit easier for you. The AdSense API team may determine that part of your site or planned implementation is not a good fit for the AdSense API program, and it's better to find this out sooner rather than later.

3. Terms and Conditions

Before partners can "go live" with their AdSense API implementation, all participants must agree and adhere to the following:

All policies will be strictly enforced. Partners who fail to comply with these policies will be prohibited from going live with their AdSense API implementation.

If you have any questions regarding our policies, please email adsenseapi-support@google.com

4. Process Administrative Tasks

Now that we know that the AdSense API is a good fit for you, let's proceed further.

These are the recommended steps to take before you start developing:

5. Integrate AdSense API into your application

If you think the API is a good fit for your company, and your site qualifies for the API, you can start developing by following the instructions in our Developer's Guide.

We recommend that you pay extra attention to the following details:

  • Do you explain what AdSense is and does?
  • Do you explain how AdSense is integrated into your site including how ad revenue is split?
  • Do you provide users with friendly error messages when API errors occur?
  • Do you make it easy for users to choose an existing AdSense account, or create a new account?
  • Do you make it easy for users to change the AdSense account they use?
  • Do your ads fit into the layout and color scheme of your different templates?
  • Are your ad sizes and placements optimized to provide maximum performance for you and your users?
  • Do you address expected API questions in your Help Center?
  • Do you meet the spirit of all of the Technical Requirements and Policy Requirements?

An excellent resource at this time is the AdSense API Google Group where a number of other experienced and new developers pose and answer questions; this group is also moderated by the knowledgeable developer support team at Google. You can contact adsenseapi-support@google.com with any questions about your overall integration or policy compliance, and our technical support team is available at adsenseapi-tech@google.com for any technical questions.

Please note that, although you may create your AdSense interface and implement ads in any language supported by AdSense, email support for AdSense API development is only available in English. For reference, our core AdSense API support team is currently located in Mountain View, CA.

6. Submit your implementation for review

Please ensure that your implementation meets both the Technical Requirements and Policy Requirements then follow the Review process located here. The time it takes to review your site will vary depending on how many sites are in line for a review before you since all applications are reviewed in the order in which they are received. You should budget at least two weeks for the review process if our team requires no changes to your implementation; if changes are required, your review may take longer. Once again, the review time will vary, but the entire process currently takes on the order of weeks as opposed to days.

7. Launch your implementation "live"

Before your service can launch, you must complete the following tasks:
  1. Submit your implementation for review by following the the Review Process.
  2. Once you have passed both reviews and are notified that your account has been promoted to be a live developer, accept the AdSense API Terms and Conditions by logging into your account.
  3. Change the WSDL location in your code and regenerate your stubs.

That's it! Your code should now be connected to our live database and your users should be able to create new accounts and generate ad code. Congratulations!