Google has released its first official plugin for WordPress, Google Publisher. Currently in beta, the plugin makes it easier to use Google AdSense and Webmaster Tools with WordPress. At the time of writing, the plugin had 3,149 downloads and a rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars.
In case you’re unfamiliar with these products:
- AdSense provides a free and flexible way to earn money from your websites using ads.
- Webmaster Tools provide you with the data, tools and diagnostics for a Google-friendly site.
To get Google Publisher up and running on your WP Engine-hosted WordPress site, add the plugin and activate it. Our system may ask you to set a restore point for your site. If you’d like to set one, follow the link to the User Portal and run one on your site.
You’ll then need to sign into your Google account within the Google Publisher plugin settings.
To verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools, simply click the “Manage Site” button. You’ll be taken to the Webmaster Tools site where you’ll be able to check your site’s health for potential issues detected by Google, understand your search traffic, learn how users are finding your site, and optimize your site for Google. Pretty neat, huh?
To use the AdSense products, you’ll need to have an AdSense account. If you don’t already, the plugin will take you to the Google AdSense site where you can apply.
Once you’ve got your AdSense account you’ll be able to add advertisements to your site. You can create different ad placements for each page template.
WordPress and security expert Jason Cosper gave the plugin a test-run for us and confirmed it was compatible with WP Engine.
However, he noted that once you’ve activated the plugin, it may tell you it’s running into a cache issue. To rectify this, go to “WP Engine” in your WordPress dashboard and, under the General Settings heading, click the “Purge All Caches” button.
Jason also noted that the plugin is in beta and is only at version 0.1.0, so “it should only improve.” We look forward to seeing what Google includes in future versions of its Publisher plugin.
Will you try out the Google Publisher Plugin (beta)?
I’m not sure I’d try it. Right now it doesn’t offer anything of much value, unless you are a complete novice and do not know how to use Adsense in widget areas. The Webmaster Tools feature, from what I can tell, is nothing more than what is in WordPress SEO by Yoast. Hopefully future updates do include deeper integration into Webmaster Tools, Adsense and Analytics all in one.
Same here! Not about to jump on it yet. Excited to see though what they would have in couple updates. It would be awesome to have Google+ authorship and integration of demographic tracking from Google Analytics!
Looks really cool. AdSense especially. I’m going to check this out and possibly fork a version to verify other webmaster tools also.
Genesis with Simple hooks and All-in-one Webmaster has been a pretty unbeatable combo.
Awesome! Thanks for the comment, Kyle 🙂
I installed it on one site. It was easy to use. Then I tried to install it on a second site but can’t get it to activate. I keep getting an error 404. I haven’t found a way to get help from Google.
Hey Steve, let’s have a look at this in a support live chat. Please hop over to my.wpengine.com/support and we’ll get you sorted out!
-AG
That’s why we love WordPress. Everything is becoming automated for WordPress sites. Now, this plugin is surely a work reducer for site owners, easy site verification and management, so cool.
I think this is worth trying as much like the Facebook plugin for WordPress one from Google can be trusted and it’s another step in integrating your WordPress site particularly for AdWords. Definitely in beta though as I couldn’t get it work on my site initially.
Thanks for your feedback Paul. Hope you were able to get it working in the end. It’ll be interesting to see where they go with future versions. Kirby
I get:
Oops. Something went wrong. Please try again.
The most likely reason is that you are using a WordPress cache plugin. If this is the case, please follow the plugin’s instructions to clear the cache and then try again.
I have deactivated all the other plugins, cleared the cahces… still the same error message. Any ideas to fix this?
Same here. The dreaded “Oops” message comes and goes. At first it looked like it was going to work, and then it said the site was running too slow, but then I tried again and it gave me the Cache issue. Then I cleared the cache a few times and tried to manage the ads a few times, but still got the same message about clearing the cache. Why so slow and spotty?
Thanks a lot Wp Engine for this awosum plugin.Everything is becoming automated for WordPress sites.