Official Google Publisher Plugin for WordPress

Google has just come out with an official WordPress publisher plugin that will make it easier for webmasters to verify their websites and also integrate AdSense into their blogs hassle free, with the ability to chose where you want your ads to be placed. The plugin is still in BETA, but is fully functional, with the two following features:

1. Integrate AdSense Ads (Anywhere)
2. Verify Your Website Trough Webmaster Tools (1-Click)

The plugin will work only with self-hosted WordPress installations and won’t be functional on free blog hosting websites like WordPress.com [Source]

I have made a couple of snapshots to show you how exactly the plugin looks from the dashboard, and what is the AdSense feature like.

I am guessing we can expect to see tons more of options and service functions added to the list of these two as the times goes by. It seems that Google wants to take over the WordPress plugin repository as well, not surprised and not at all angry or anything. It’s a smart move and people are likely to prefer official plugins from 3rd party ones.

This is what you’ll see once you click the Manage Ads button in the admin dashboard, the plugin will analyze your blog for best places where to put the ads, and give you several options, like this:

I have clicked some of the positions to show you how it looks, as you can see the one I have clicked right on top of the posts is overlapping my featured images. I suppose it’s because of my own configuration to the theme, but it’s something that many of you might be displeased with. Either way, it makes it incredibly easy to add new ads and is linked with your AdSense publisher ID instantly.

This error you will get if you try and add more than 3 ads per one page, which as we all know is against AdSense rules.

Overall, a pretty neat and simple plugin so far. I cannot wait to see what else Google is going to come up with when new updates start rolling.