We’ve been waiting. And waiting. Finally, Google has released an official plugin for WordPress to allow site owners to utilize Google tools within the WordPress plugin universe.
Before you get too excited though, there are a couple of caveats. Firstly, the plugin is still in beta, so there will likely be issues as Google irons out the kinks. Secondly, the plugin currently only supports two Google services, Adsense and Webmaster Tools – which although exciting, doesn’t offer solutions for site owners who are looking to implement demographic tracking and other advanced features of Google Analytics that are not supported by current WordPress plugins.
The current services offered through the Google Publisher Plugin allow users to monetize their site without needing to manually change the code to support AdSense. The webmaster tools feature may prove to be even more impactful for your online marketing strategy as it provides you with (Google) search engine visibility details, and makes Google Webmaster Tools verification much simpler.
Installing the Google Publisher Plugin on your WordPress Site
The plugin does rely on a few system requirements, your PHP version needs to be at least 5.2.0 and your WordPress version needs to be updated to a minimum of 3.0 – as well as having the ability to install third-party WordPress plugins. In order to install the plugin, you can use the plugin search feature within the WordPress CMS and automatically install it, or you can download the Google Publisher Plugin from the plugin page, unzip it, and upload the contents of the unzipped folder to your WordPress site plugin directory (typically wp-content/plugins).
For users interested in installing the plugin, more information about the installation and services can be found at the Google Publisher Plugin support page.
