Ad Sense Google Ads & WordPress

Today I’ll show you how to get your Ad Sense Google ads and how to easily add them to your WordPress posts. I’m going to use a WordPress short code, just like I did in the article called Post RSS Feeds in WordPress. To start off I’ll explain how to set up an Ad Sense Google account. If you just want the WordPress short cut for pasting Ad Sense Google Ads Click Here!

How to Set Up An Ad Sense Google Account

Before you can display Ad Sense advertisements, you have to be approved. The only sites that are not approved, or who lose their ability to post ads do the following:

• Post pornographic images
• Provide incentives to people for clicking the Ad Sense Ads
• Click on their own ads to trick Google

Warning: Never click on your own site ads, or tell others to do so. It is also best to not label the Ad Sense ads either. If you do either of these things, Google will find out and you’ll lose the ability to post Ad Sense Google ads.

To apply just follow these steps:

• Go to this address https://www.google.com/adsense/g-app-single-1
• Enter your website address
• Enter the language used on your site
• Check that you won’t ask people to click on your ads and that you won’t display pornographic photos
• Select whether your an Individual or Business
• Select your current country
• Enter your name, address and phone number
• Check that you can receive checks in your specified name
• Check to receive the Ad Sense Google newsletter (They provide valuable information)
• Check again that you won’t click on your own ads among other things
• Click the Submit Information button

You will probably be approved on the day that you submitted your application.
Logging on your Ad Sence Google Account

After you receive an email, notifying you of your approval, login to your Ad Sense account. You’ll be welcomed by a report, that shows your current:

• Page Impressions: The number of visitors that have seen an Ad Sense ad on your sites
• Clicks: The number of times someone clicked on one of the ads
• Click Through Ratio (CTR): The percentage of visitors versus those that clicked on an ad
• Page eCPM: The money you are expected to receive for every 1000 page impressions
• Estimated Earnings: The amount of money you are expected to receive

Getting your Ad Sense Ads

Your not going to make any money until you get some ads for your site. Just click on the tab labeled Ad Sense Setup. Here is my general impression for each Ad Sense type:

• Ad Sense for Content: These are the normal ads that you have probably seen. While I’ve tried every Ad Sense ad, these are the only ones I use regularly
• Ad Sense for Search: I never received much money from this and, because it confused my visitors, I removed it all together.
• Ad Sense for Feeds: This will place ads all through your RSS feeds. I don’t use it because it also irritated my visitors.
• Ad Sense for Domains: I’ve tried this as intended and again didn’t receive any money.
• Ad Sense for Mobile: Again I use neither of these because visitors complained

As you may have noticed, I pay attention to your complaints. I’ll talk later about ways to increase your clicks that may also irritate your site visitors.

Now, follow these steps to get your ads:

• Click on Ad Sense for Content
• I’ve received better results from Ad Units, so I’ll explain how to set those up
• Under Format, choose the size that works best for you (I think 468 x 60 works best for WordPress Posts)
• Under Color, do your best to match your sites background color
• If you don’t know what it is, check out the Wikipedia List of Colors
• Find the hex code (the 6 character code preceded by the #) that is the closest to your background
• You can also change the font and corner type
• I’d leave everything else as at default and click Continue
• Create a channel name for monitoring and click Continue
• Click Submit and Get Code
• Every page you copy and paste this code to will be replaced by an Ad Sense Google ad

Easily Paste Ads into WordPress

Your Ad Sense code looks something like this:

<script type=”text/javascript”><!–
google_ad_client = “pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”; <—- You’ll have numbers here
/* 468×60, created 8/8/10 */
google_ad_slot = “xxxxxxxxxx”; <—- You’ll have numbers here
google_ad_width = 468;
google_ad_height = 60;
//–>
</script>
<script type=”text/javascript”
src=”http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js”>
</script>

You want to copy the above:

• google_ad_client
• google_ad_slot
• google_ad_width
• google_ad_height

Then place it in the appropriate place in the following code, that you will paste in your functions.php file.

//This code is used to display google ads
function showads() {
return ‘<script type=”text/javascript”><!–
google_ad_client = “pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”; <—- You’ll have numbers here
google_ad_slot = “xxxxxxxxxx”; <—- You’ll have numbers here
google_ad_width = 468;
google_ad_height = 60;
//–>
</script>
<script type=”text/javascript”
src=”http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js”>
</script>
‘;
}
add_shortcode(‘adsense’, ‘showads’);

Placing the Code in Functions.php

• Open up your WordPress dashboard
• Click on Appearance in the left side bar
• Click on Editor in your left side bar under Appearance
• Click on functions.php in the right sidebar
• Copy and paste the above code in the functions.php file and click Update

Placing Ad Sense Google Ads in your Posts

Now all you have to do to place ads is to type adsense, surrounded by brackets [ ], directly in your posts. This is what they will look like:

That’s All Folks

If you have any questions on this post, or would like me to cover another subject, leave a comment below.

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