How to Add Google AdSense to your WordPress site

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One of the most popular questions for new bloggers is how they earn an income via their blog, and Google AdSense is normally top of people’s monetisation list. There’s a multitude of ways, and if you’re interested in more monetisation options, click here for other tutorials and how-to’s.

However, you eventually want to monetise your blog, Google AdSense is a great way to start. There’s no entry criteria and you can start earning pretty much straight away. As your blog grows, you may want to look at other ad inserters. A popular one with bloggers is Mediavine. However, a lot of these other platforms require monthly views which aren’t easy to achieve when you first start out. So without further ado, let’s launch into getting your blog set up on Google Adsense and watch those first pennies start rolling in!

Step 1

The first step is to navigate to your Dashboard on WordPress. Hover over ‘Plugins’ and then click on ‘Add New.’

Step 2

In the plugin search bar, type in ‘Site Kit for Google.’

Step 3

Select ‘Install Now’, wait for the plugin to install, and then click ‘Activate.’

Step 4

Once activation is complete, you will be taken to a screen which will congratulate you on your installation. Click ‘Start Setup.’

Step 5

You will be taken through to the Google AdSense website. Click ‘Sign in with Google.’ If you don’t already have a Google account, you will need to create one.

Step 6

Once signed it, you will be shown different options for what Site Kit can access. Note: You need to select the bottom two options manually in order for you to sign up to AdSense. Click ‘Continue.’

Step 7

Once you’ve clicked ‘Continue,’ click ‘Proceed’ in order to verify site ownership.

Step 8

Wait whilst Google Adsense verifies your website and then click ‘Allow.’

Step 9

Click ‘Add site.’

Step 10

Once your site is added, click ‘Go to my Dashboard.’ You’ll be returned to your WordPress Dashboard on the Site Kit for Google plugin page.

Step 11

On the WordPress Dashboard which you’ve been taken to, click ‘Connect Service’ in the AdSense box.

Step 12

A box will pop up. Make sure that your Google Account is correct and click ‘Continue.’

Step 13

Select if you want Site Kit to place the AdSense code for you (if you are not confident with coding, I’d HIGHLY recommend selecting this option), and select ‘Continue.’

Step 14

Click ‘Add Site to AdSense.’

Step 15

Enter your website name.

Step 16

A message will pop up saying that AdSense will need to review your site. Click ‘Request Review.’ One of the things Google is looking for here as it scans your site is their snippet of code. It’s for this reason why it’s so much easier for Google to insert the code into your site itself (as in step 13) rather than doing it yourself if you aren’t sure. Adding code can be easy, but if you’re unsure, I’d take the short cut. Messing up code can take HOURS to resolve.

Step 17

Google will then tell you that it’s getting your site ready to show ads. This may take up to a couple of weeks to process. For this website, this only took me a few minutes, as I’ve had websites connected to my Google AdSense account in the past. However, first time round, it was a bit of a waiting game for Google AdSense to be live on my site.

In the meantime, click ‘Set up ads’ at the bottom of the notice so you’re ad ready when the ads do go live.

Step 18

You’ll be taken to a page where you will be able to preview your website with ad placements on the left, in both desktop and mobile view. On the right will be the below menu. Click on the toggle if you want Google to automatically insert ads across your site. You can also click ‘Ad formats’ and ‘Ad load’ for further settings on your ads.

Step 19

Google will show you a preview of where ads will appear on your site. If you don’t like the placement, or don’t want an ad to appear where it’s showing, click the little bin icon on the advert example.

Step 20

Back on the right hand menu, select ‘More features’ and select if you want GDPR/CCPA messages to be supplied through Google. Depending on where your audience or intended audience is, one or both of these may be a legal requirement. Remember, privacy isn’t as simple as turning these features on. You have a legal responsibility to ensure that your privacy policy and relevant messages are relevant to your website. To find out more about Privacy Policies and the legal side of having a blog, check out our Website Essentials posts.

Step 21

Finally, on the left hand menu, click ‘Blocking controls.’

Step 22

Select from the options displayed to determine what type of ads you want to appear on your site. I would highly recommend you going through the ‘Sensitive categories’ to ensure that any categories of products which you do not want to appear on your site are excluded. You can also browse ‘General categories’ and turn on/off different categories of products which you would or wouldn’t like to appear on your site.

We hope you’ve found this tutorial helpful, but if you have any questions or comments, feel free to sound off in the comments below!

Happy monetising!