A got an email this morning from Google AdSense, saying that they’ve started requiring publishers to verify their phone number.
In an effort to protect the accounts of Google AdSense publishers, we’ve starting using automated telephone number verification to ensure that your information is accurate and up-to-date. As a result, you should see a Required Action on your Payment History Page to ‘Please verify your phone number’ after you log in to your account. To initiate this process, click the ‘Please verify your phone number’ link and follow the instructions.
Keep in mind that you have 6 months to enter the verification code. If you have not entered your verification code within 4 months, we’ll start displaying Public Service Ads (PSAs) on your web pages. If you have not entered your verification code within 6 months, your account will be disabled and any unpaid earnings will be refunded to the appropriate advertisers. You can learn more about our phone number verification process at https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=32055 .
For additional questions about getting paid, please visit http://www.google.com/adsense/payments . If you prefer a video presentation of this information, we encourage you to watch our Payment demo (currently available in English only), located at http://www.google.com/adsensedemo4 .
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
So, I logged into AdSense, and sure enough, there was the required action. It’s really quite a simple process. Just go to the page (it’ll say the required action under My Accounts > Payment History), choose when you want Google to phone you, and click continue. It’s an automated phone system that will call you. If you choose “Now” (like I did), you’ll literary be phoned within seconds. It’ll tell you to enter the number shown on the page, and hit the “pound” button, and that’s it. Then, when you’re finished the call, hit the continue button on that page, and you’re finished verifying your phone number. The call takes less than 20 seconds.
You might want to verify your phone number soon, otherwise your AdSense account could be disabled if you forget “to do it later”.
Apparently, I also have to enter a PIN they mail to me to…
Update [January 29, 2008]: The AdSense team’s blog has a post on the matter, explaining that they now require verification once you reach $10, instead of $50. Check it out here.
