Once Google had a publisher plugin for AdSense ad placement in WordPress sites. However, later this was discontinued and users were relying on third-party plugins like Ad Inserter or Advanced Ads. After a long wait, Google again came back with an official Site Kit plugin for using all Google services with single plugin. In this article, we will explain how to use Google Site Kit plugin to insert AdSense ads in WordPress sites.
Google Site Kit Plugin for WordPress
Though we focus on explaining about inserting AdSense ads, Google Site Kit is the all in one plugin for website owners to use all essential Google services right from WordPress dashboard.
- Allow the plugin to automatically place advertisements using Auto Ads setup.
- Connect Google Search Console to get key metrics about your site’s traffic.
- Get Analytics insights to view detailed analytics data along with setup A/B using Optimize.
- Use Google Tag Manager without updating the codes manually.
- Get the Google PageSpeed Insights score right inside the dashboard.
Remember, you can check and get the Search Console insights with PageSpeed score for any pages from your site within the admin dashboard.
Insert AdSense with Google Site Kit
You can use the plugin for getting approval from Google or use it for implementing auto ad placements from an existing AdSense account. After connecting your account with Site Kit, it will start showing ads if you have an already approved account. Otherwise, you need to wait till the time Google approves your site for showing ads on your site.
Installing Google Site Kit Plugin
The plugin is available in free WordPress repository which you can install like any other plugins from your admin dashboard.
- Login to your WordPress site’s admin dashboard and navigate to “Plugins > Add New” section.
- Search for “site kit” in the keyword text box to filter the plugins.
- Find “Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed” plugin by Google.
- Click on “Install” button and then “Activate” button to start using the plugin on your site.
Setup Site Kit Plugin
After successfully installing the plugin, it will do the quick compatibility check. It happens on the same plugin list page and you will see a notification like below. Click on the “Start Setup” button to start setting up the plugin.
The setup consists of three steps for verifying the site ownership, allow data access and connecting Search Console.
Verify Site Ownership
Click on “Sign in with Google” button to verify your site ownership.
Here, you need to use the same Google account used for Search Console.
Select all the items and click “Continue” to provide necessary access. Remember, you need to provide all the access to start using the plugin.
If you have already added and verified the site in Search Console account, the plugin will pass the ownership verification once you connect your account.
Allow Google Account Data Access
The next step is to provide access to your Google account which will help to collect and show data in your WordPress dashboard section. Click on “Allow” button to proceed further.
This will connect your WordPress site and Google Search Console account with necessary permissions. You will see a success message like below indicating all the steps are completed.
Site Kit Dashboard
Click on the “Go to my Dashboard” button or go to “Site Kit > Dashboard” menu. The dashboard section will show you the status of the connected accounts, details from Search Console and the speed suggestions from Google PageSpeed Insights tool.
Insert AdSense Ads with Site Kit
Now that you have finished the setup of the Site Kit plugin and connected to Google Search Console account. However, this is not sufficient to connect your AdSense account. First disable ad blockers if you are using on the browser. Otherwise, you will see an error message and it is not possible to connect your AdSense account with ad blocker enabled. After disabling ad blocker, refresh the page and click on the “Connect Service” link showing under “AdSense” box.
You will be prompted to login to your AdSense account, select the account and login with your details.
In next step, you need to provide permission to access to your AdSense data.
If you are already using AdSense, turn on the option for allowing Site Kit to place ads for you. If the site or account is not approved, you need to wait till the time of approval for showing ads though the setup process can be continued.
You will see a below message indicating you to enable Auto Ads in your AdSense account.
Setup in Google AdSense Account
Login to your AdSense account and go to “Ads” section and edit the site you want to enable auto ads. First, enable auto ads under “Ad settings” tab and then enable the required ad formats. You have options for anchor ads, vignette ads and in-page ads. Matched content ads are only allowed for approved sites and also Google retired this from March 2022. After that, this will be converted to an ad unit and all publishers will be able to use this ad format.
Click on “Apply to site” button to apply your setting. If you have newly added the site for approval, make sure it shows “Ready” indicating the site complies AdSense policies and approved by Google. If you are seeing “Getting Ready” message, wait till the time you get approval and the status changes to “Ready”.
Related: Top 7 SEO Plugins for WordPress.
Checking Ad Placement with Site Kit
What the plugin does is to insert the auto ads code in the header section of the site. You can see the code inserted by the plugin by looking at the source code of your site. You will see two blocks in the source code with the comment as “Google AdSense snippet added by Site Kit”:
- Meta tags mentioning your AdSense publisher ID as platform account and Google Site Kit website as platform domain.
- Insert auto ads script.
After the approval, your site will automatically start showing advertisements. Google Site Kit will collect your AdSense earning data which you can see from the WordPress admin dashboard without logging into your AdSense account.
