How to Add Google AdSense to WordPress the EASY Way

If you want to monetize your WordPress blog with ads, Google AdSense is the best place to start because it has no traffic minimums.

Ad networks such as Mediavine and AdThrive are great and will definitely increase your earnings, but Mediavine requires at least 25,000 sessions per month and AdThrive requires over 100,000 pageviews per month.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy from my link I might make a small commission. This does not affect the price you pay. See the full affiliate disclosure here.

So how can you add Google AdSense to your WordPress site? Read on!

Table of Contents

Sign Up for Google AdSense

Google AdSense Eligibility Requirements

Before you sign up for Google AdSense, you must meet the following requirements:

You must be at least 18 years old.
Your blog must be self-hosted WordPress.ORG or on the paid Business Plan of WordPress.COM.
Your blog must feature original content created by you. See more of Google's criteria for AdSense-ready pages.
All of your content must comply with Google's AdSense program policies.

Make sure your site has a few blog posts and has been live for at least a few weeks before applying for Google AdSense. An empty blog or one that is poorly designed or has low-quality content will likely get rejected from the AdSense program.

Step 1: Visit www.google.com/adsense/

Go to the AdSense website and sign up to join.

Step 2: Add your site.

Once you've created an account, be sure to add your blog under “Sites.”

Step 3: Wait for approval.

It can take a few hours to a couple of days to get your site approved to display AdSense ads. You should receive an email when it's ready. Below is the email I received:

How to Paste the HTML Code to Your Site Without Knowing How to Edit Code

Upon approval, when you first open your AdSense dashboard, it will ask you to paste AdSense code into your site. See below:

You do not have to do this if you don't know how. Below is an easier way:

Step 1: Install Google's official Site Kit plugin (it's free).

Step 2: Go to Site Kit > AdSense and connect the two.

If it doesn't connect, that means your AdSense account is still being approved. Wait until you receive the confirmation email.

Step 3: Place ads on your site.

Once you see that your AdSense account is connected via Site Kit, you can customize your ads and start placing them on your site. For me, I decided to turn on Auto placement because Google will automatically place ads in certain spots on your site based on what it thinks will get the highest earnings.

If you want to place ads yourself, I recommend installing Ad Inserter, another free plugin. This will allow you to choose exactly where you'd like to place ads and on which pages and posts you'd like them to appear.

Step 4: Analyze, tweak, repeat.

Ad placement can be tricky, and you'll never know what works until you try it. Give it a month before you change the ad sizes or positions on your pages. You can track analytics right inside google.com/adsense OR you can use the Site Kit dashboard, which I find very easy to use.

How to Create Individual Ads and Place Them on Your Site

If you do not want to use Auto Ads from Google, and you want to create each ad individually and decide where it goes on your site, then here is an easy way to do that without editing code:

Step 1: Install the free Ad Inserter plugin.

Step 2: Create an Ad Unit inside AdSense dashboard.

Go to Ads > Overview and click the “By ad unit” tab.

Choose your ad unit. I recommend “Display ads” as it's recommended by AdSense.

Choose your ad size. I chose square.

Name your ad something that will help you distinguish it from the others.

Click “Create” and you'll get the HTML code for your ad. Copy this.

Step 3: Paste the code into Ad Inserter and customize placement.

ALTERNATIVE: You can also paste the code directly into each individual blog post or page via an HTML block, but the ad will show up ONLY on that particular post or page. It's best to use Ad Inserter so it will show up sitewide on every post/page.

How Much Money Can You Make on AdSense?

It depends on your pageviews, number of ads, type of ads, and ad placement. To give you an idea, though, here's a screenshot of how much I made in July 2017 with 33,200 pageviews:

Have You Added AdSense to Your WordPress Blog?

As you can see, adding AdSense to WordPress is SUPER easy with a couple of plugins. AdSense is a great place to start if you're looking to make money off of display ads on your blog.

Once you hit the 25,000 pageviews in 30 days mark, though, I HIGHLY recommend switching to Mediavine. My RPMs (revenue per 1,000 pageviews) skyrocketed after I made the switch from AdSense to Mediavine. Plus, the MV team works with you to optimize your earnings. I'll have to do a Mediavine review next; I love that ad network!