Troubleshooting Google AdSense Verification Failure in a React Application

Question

I am experiencing an issue where Google AdSense cannot verify my site. I have ensured that the ad unit is correctly placed within my React application and is not hidden by CSS or overlapped by other elements. The ads are intended to be displayed on the homepage, but the verification process continues to fail with the message: "We couldn't verify your site.

Here is the relevant part of my React component where I load the AdSense script and define the ad unit:

// Use client
"use client";
import React, { useEffect, useState, useRef } from 'react';
import Link from 'next/link';





interface ParticleProps {
  x: number;
  y: number;
  size: number;
  speedX: number;
  speedY: number;
  opacity: number;
}

class Particle implements ParticleProps {
  x: number;
  y: number;
  size: number;
  speedX: number;
  speedY: number;
  opacity: number;
  lifetime: number;

  constructor(canvasWidth: number, canvasHeight: number) {
    this.x = Math.random() * canvasWidth;
    this.y = Math.random() * canvasHeight;
    this.size = Math.random() * 7 + 1;
    this.speedX = Math.random() * 0.5 - 0.25;
    this.speedY = Math.random() * 0.5 - 0.25;
    this.opacity = 0;
    this.lifetime = Math.random() * 4000 + 3000;
  }

  update() {
    this.x += this.speedX;
    this.y += this.speedY;
    if (this.size > 0.2) this.size -= 0.02;
    if (this.opacity < 1) this.opacity += 0.02;
    this.lifetime -= 16.67;
  }

  isAlive() {
    return this.lifetime > 0;
  }

  draw(ctx: CanvasRenderingContext2D) {
    ctx.fillStyle = `rgba(255, 255, 255, ${this.opacity})`;
    ctx.beginPath();
    ctx.arc(this.x, this.y, this.size, 0, Math.PI * 2);
    ctx.fill();
  }

  drawString(ctx: CanvasRenderingContext2D, otherParticle: Particle) {
    const dx = otherParticle.x - this.x;
    const dy = otherParticle.y - this.y;
    const distance = Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
    if (distance < 150) {
      const opacity = ((150 - distance) / 150) * this.opacity * otherParticle.opacity;
      ctx.strokeStyle = `rgba(255, 255, 255, ${opacity})`;
      ctx.lineWidth = this.size / 2;
      ctx.beginPath();
      ctx.moveTo(this.x, this.y);
      ctx.lineTo(otherParticle.x, otherParticle.y);
      ctx.stroke();
    }
  }
}

const ParticlesBackground: React.FC = () => {
  const canvasRef = useRef<HTMLCanvasElement>(null);
  const particlesArray: Particle[] = [];

  useEffect(() => {
    const canvas = canvasRef.current;
    if (!canvas) return;
    const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
    if (!ctx) return;

    canvas.width = window.innerWidth;
    canvas.height = window.innerHeight;

    const addParticle = () => {
      if (particlesArray.length < 200) {
        particlesArray.push(new Particle(canvas.width, canvas.height));
      }
    };

    const handleParticles = () => {
      addParticle();
      for (let i = 0; i < particlesArray.length; i++) {
        particlesArray[i].update();
        particlesArray[i].draw(ctx);
  
        for (let j = i + 1; j < particlesArray.length; j++) {
          particlesArray[i].drawString(ctx, particlesArray[j]);
        }
  
        if (
          particlesArray[i].size <= 0.2 ||
          particlesArray[i].x > canvas.width ||
          particlesArray[i].x < 0 ||
          particlesArray[i].y > canvas.height ||
          particlesArray[i].y < 0
        ) {
          particlesArray.splice(i, 1);
          i--;
        }
      }
    };

    const animate = () => {
      ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
      handleParticles();
      requestAnimationFrame(animate);
    };

    animate();

    const handleResize = () => {
      canvas.width = window.innerWidth;
      canvas.height = window.innerHeight;
    };

    window.addEventListener('resize', handleResize);

    return () => {
      window.removeEventListener('resize', handleResize);
    };
  }, []);

  return <canvas ref={canvasRef} style={{ position: 'absolute', top: 0, left: 0, zIndex: -1 }} />;
};

const HomePage = () => {
  const [applicationCount, setApplicationCount] = useState(0);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Load the Google AdSense script dynamically
    const script = document.createElement('script');
    script.src = "https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js";
    script.async = true;
    script.crossOrigin = "anonymous";
    script.setAttribute('data-ad-client', 'ca-pub-XXXXXX'); //hidden for privacy
    document.head.appendChild(script);
    const initialCount = parseInt(localStorage.getItem('appCount') || '692276');
    setApplicationCount(initialCount);

    const interval = setInterval(() => {
      setApplicationCount(prevCount => {
        // Define the average increment rate
        const averageIncrement = 1;

        // Generate a random increment, which sometimes can be 0 or 1, but averages out to 1
        const randomIncrement = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2); // Random number between 0 and 2

        const newCount = prevCount + randomIncrement;
        localStorage.setItem('appCount', newCount.toString());
        return newCount;
      });
    }, 150); // Update every 100 milliseconds (0.1 seconds)

    return () => {
      // Remove the script from the document when the component unmounts
      document.head.removeChild(script);
    };
  }, []);

  

  const handleLoginRedirect = () => {
    window.location.href = '/readyToBegin';
  };

  return (

    
     
    
    <div style={{
      position: 'relative',
      width: '100%',
      height: '100vh',
      overflow: 'hidden'
    }}>
      <ParticlesBackground />

      {/* AdSense Ad Unit */}
      {/* Make sure this <ins> element is not hidden or overlapped by other elements */}
      <ins className="adsbygoogle"
          style={{
            display: 'block', // Ensure it is not none
            width: '320px', // Example width, adjust as necessary
            height: '100px', // Example height, adjust as necessary
          }}
          data-ad-client="ca-pub-XXXXXX" //hidden for privacy
          data-ad-slot="XXXX" // Replace with actual ad slot ID
          data-ad-format="auto"
          data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>

      
      <div style={{
        position: 'absolute',
        top: '40%',
        left: '50%',
        transform: 'translate(-50%, -50%)',
        zIndex: 9,
        background: 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7)',
        width: 'fit-content',
        padding: '10px 20px',
        borderRadius: '10px',
      }}>
        <h1 style={{
          color: 'white',
          textAlign: 'center',
          fontSize: '8em',
          fontFamily: "Times New Roman, serif",
        }}>AppLift</h1>

        

        <div style={{
          display: 'flex',
          flexDirection: 'column',
          alignItems: 'center', // Center items horizontally
          justifyContent: 'center', // Center items vertically
          gap: '10px', // Reduce the gap between items
        }}>
          <div style={{ display: 'flex', alignItems: 'center', gap: '20px' }}>
            <button
              onMouseOver={(e) => (e.target as HTMLElement).style.background = '#4D90FE'}
              onMouseOut={(e) => (e.target as HTMLElement).style.background = '#007BFF'}
              onClick={handleLoginRedirect}
              style={{
                fontSize: '1.5em',
                padding: '10px 20px',
                borderRadius: '10px',
                border: 'none',
                background: '#007BFF',
                color: 'white',
                cursor: 'pointer',
                boxShadow: '0 4px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2)',
                transition: 'all 0.3s ease',
                fontFamily: 'Arial, sans-serif'
              }}>
              Get Started
            </button>

            <Link href="/howItWorks" legacyBehavior>
              <a style={{ color: '#3366cc', textDecoration: 'none', fontSize: '1.2em' }}>How does it work?</a>
            </Link>
          </div>

          <div style={{ color: 'white', textAlign: 'center', margin: '10px' }}>
            {applicationCount} job applications submitted using AppLift
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

export default HomePage;

I have checked the following:

The element is correctly positioned and not hidden or covered by any other element. No CSS rules are setting the display property to none. There is no JavaScript that is hiding the element dynamically. The site is publicly accessible and not blocked by robots.txt. Despite these checks, the verification fails. I have replaced the data-ad-client and data-ad-slot values with placeholders for privacy.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue or can provide insights into what might be going wrong or what else I should check?

Thank you in advance for your help!