AdSense Stuck on “Getting Ready”? Your Review May Not Have Started
Twenty-two days on "Getting ready" with nothing moving. The cause was an incomplete account task that blocks the review from starting — documented by Google, mentioned almost nowhere.
I applied to AdSense on 1 September. Twenty-two days later the status still read Getting ready, the dashboard still showed my ads.txt as missing, and the “last updated” date had not moved since the day I applied. Every guide I read said the same thing: this is normal, be patient, wait two to four weeks.
That advice was wrong in my case, and it cost me three weeks. The review had never started. It could not start, because of a setup task I did not know was blocking it.
The short answer
If your site has sat on “Getting ready” for more than about two weeks with no movement, open your AdSense home page and check whether it shows an onboarding checklist. If any step is marked Required — usually the Payments step, “Tell us about you” — your site is not in a queue. It has not been reviewed at all.
Google’s own documentation says so plainly: “If you request a review without completing the required account setup tasks, your site will not be reviewed and will remain in the ‘Getting ready’ status.”
What the dashboard was actually telling me
Here is what I was looking at for three weeks:
| Field | What it said |
|---|---|
| Approval status | Getting ready |
| Status details | — |
| Ads.txt status | Not found |
| Last updated | 1 September — the day I applied |
The detail I should have noticed sooner is the last one. The date never changed. Not once in twenty-two days. That is not what a review in progress looks like; that is a record nothing has touched.
The ads.txt red herring
Because the dashboard said “Not found”, I assumed that was the problem and spent real time on it. It was not the problem, and the reason is worth knowing because it will waste your time too.
I checked the file properly rather than trusting the dashboard:
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| HTTP status | 200 |
| Content type | text/plain |
| Publisher ID present | Yes, exact match |
| Served from cache | No |
| Blocked in robots.txt | No |
The file was perfect. The dashboard was showing a stale result.
There is a second reason not to panic about it: ads.txt has nothing to do with whether your site gets approved. It governs whether ad requests from your site are authorised once you are already serving ads. It affects revenue, not review.
And verification does not depend on it either. AdSense accepts any one of three methods — the AdSense code snippet, an ads.txt entry, or a meta tag. I had all three. Verification was never in question.
The thing that was actually blocking it
I found it by opening the AdSense home page rather than the Sites page. The URL redirected to /onboarding, which is itself the clue — a fully set-up account does not send you to onboarding.
The page showed three cards:
| Card | State |
|---|---|
| Payments — “Tell us about you” | Required. Not done. |
| Ads — “See how ads look on your site” | Optional |
| Sites — “Thanks for connecting the site” | Done |
One incomplete step, sitting quietly on a page I had stopped visiting because the interesting information was on the Sites page.
Google’s help documentation for site statuses says it directly, under “Getting ready”:
“If your account isn’t active yet, you might have other tasks to complete before your site gets reviewed. For instance, you might first need to set up your payments information to initiate the review process.”
So the sequence is not the one most people assume. It is not apply, then wait in a queue. It is complete every required account task, and only then does a review begin. Until that happens the status reads “Getting ready” indefinitely, with no error, no warning, and nothing in Status details.
What happened after I completed it
The home page changed from “Let’s get you started” to “Nice work, you’ve completed all the steps”, and all three cards turned green. The Sites page still reads “Getting ready” — but now that means what people think it means.
How to check yours, in about thirty seconds
- Open your AdSense home page, not the Sites page. If the URL redirects to something ending in
/onboarding, you have unfinished setup. - Look for a checklist. A fully configured account shows a reporting dashboard. An incomplete one shows “Let’s get you started” with cards.
- Find anything marked “Required”. Usually Payments, labelled “Tell us about you”. Optional items do not block anything.
- Complete it. Use your real legal name and address exactly as they appear on your government ID — Google later posts a verification PIN to that address, and mails it once per attempt.
- Then check the Last updated date on the Sites page. Once it starts moving, the review is genuinely running.
What the usual advice gets wrong
I read a lot of articles during those three weeks. Nearly all of them offered the same four suggestions, and each one has a problem.
“It’s normal, just wait two to four weeks”
True for a review that has started. Useless if yours has not, and there is nothing on the Sites page that distinguishes the two cases. This is the advice that cost me the most time.
“Check your verification code is on the site”
Reasonable, and worth doing once. But verification is satisfied by any one of three methods, so if your meta tag or ads.txt entry is in place, a missing code snippet is not your blocker.
“Check your ads.txt”
The status you are checking against is stamped at the last crawl and can be weeks out of date. Verify the file yourself by loading yoursite.com/ads.txt in a browser. If your publisher ID is there, the dashboard is simply behind.
“Delete the site and add it again”
Do not. Google’s documentation warns explicitly: “Make sure you don’t remove your site and resubmit it because this can delay the process.” It is the most common panic reaction and it makes things worse.
What I still cannot tell you
Whether my site gets approved, and when. It is in review now, which is more than was true a week ago, but approval is Google’s decision and I have not received it.
I also cannot tell you this is your problem. If your AdSense home page shows a proper dashboard with no outstanding required tasks, your review has started and waiting really is the answer. What I can tell you is that this specific failure exists, produces no error message, and is not mentioned in most of the advice you will find.
Frequently asked questions
How long should AdSense “Getting ready” take?
Google says a review usually takes a few days and can take two to four weeks. But that clock only runs once every required account setup task is complete. If yours are not, the status stays “Getting ready” indefinitely and no review takes place.
Does “Getting ready” mean my site was rejected?
No. Rejection shows as “Needs attention”, with details of what to fix. “Getting ready” means checks are running — or would be, once your account setup is finished.
Will “Ads.txt: Not found” stop me being approved?
No. Ads.txt governs whether ad requests are authorised once you are serving ads; it affects revenue rather than review. The status also reflects the last crawl, so it can show “Not found” when your file is correct. Check the file yourself rather than trusting the dashboard.
Should I delete and re-add my site?
No. Google’s documentation specifically warns that removing and resubmitting can delay the process.
Why does the “Last updated” date never change?
Because nothing has happened to the record. That is the clearest signal available that your review has not begun. Once a review is genuinely running, the date moves.
What does the Payments step actually ask for?
Your name and address. Use your real legal name and address as they appear on your government ID, because Google later posts a verification PIN to that address and sends it only once per attempt.
Sources. Status definitions and the quoted guidance are from Google’s own documentation: Check the status of your AdSense sites and account setup tasks. The timeline, dashboard states and checks described here are from my own account.