Google Publisher Plugin for WordPress

google publisher plugin

Google a few days ago announced the Google Publisher Plugin for WordPress.  The goal of the new WordPress plugin from Google is to make it easier and more efficient to integrate Google products into the WordPress platform.

The new plugin can be installed for those that run a self-hosted WordPress blog.  The Google Publisher Plugin for WordPress is not available for those that run WordPress.com though, which should give you another reason to switch to a self-hosted website if you have not thought about it before.

This first iteration of the Google Publisher Plugin supports 2 products by the search giant for seamless integration with WordPress:

Google AdSense

The Google Publisher Plugin allows webmasters and site owners to linkup a WordPress site directly with an AdSense account.  Thus making it easier to place Google ads on a WordPress site without needing to manually modify any HTML code which a lot of people seem to be allergic too.

Google Webmaster Tools

With the Google WordPress plugin you can verify a site on Google Webmaster Tools with just one click.  As opposed to needing to manually upload a verification file in a folder with your host.  Sometimes this can be annoying and I've had issues where I've uploaded the verification file and it didn't work.  Happy to see that Google now has a WP plugin to do this more easily in case of any issues.

Google Publisher Plugin

This is an extremely smart move on Google's part since WordPress powers about 19% percent of the web.  (This statistic is from the 2013 State of the Word.)  It's good for them to directly support the Google Publisher Plugin since so many people love and use WordPress everyday.  This shows that the world's most popular blogging and content management system is only getting stronger.

I'm sure the other benefit for Google besides making customers happy is data collection.  They will probably gain a lot of insight into how people interact with Google's products via their websites and use that data to improve their search engines.

The downside to this news is for other search engines that compete with Google and WordPress developers.  It will be interesting to see if other search engines adopt Google's lead with maintaining and developing a WP plugin.  I imagine that Bing would want to develop a plugin too.  WP developers that build plugins for Google integration and ad rotation placement may not be pleased with this announcement. It's Google stepping on WP developers toes a little bit.

Keep in mind that the Google Publisher Plugin for WordPress is currently in beta, meaning they have not worked out all the kinks and bugs.  They want people to test it out and report feedback on how it works on your site(s).  If you are interested in downloading the plugin visit the WordPress.org plugin directory and search for it.

Have any thoughts about the Google WordPress plugin?  Let me know below.

Google Webmaster Tools in Vietnamese

Yesterday I checked Google Webmaster Tools in Vietnamese for this site, AdamYamada.com!  No, this wasn't on purpose and in case you are wondering I can't speak or read Vietnamese.  Since I thought it was kind of weird Google thought I could read Vietnamese I did went any normal person would do, I took a screenshot.  Check out the screenshot of Google Wembaster Tools in Vietnamese.

google webmaster tools in vietnamese

It seems to have been a glitch on Google Webmaster Tools side which I was happy with.  I just logged out of my account and logged back in and then everything returned to good old English.  Some of you are probably laughing reading this and looking at the picture but I actually didn't think this was funny at first since I assumed someone had hacked my Google account.

Luckily that doesn't seem like it was the case and I am glad since Google Webmaster Tools has a lot of important data about all of my sites.  In addition it can tell you when your sites have been hacked or if there is malware on them that you need to be aware of.  So it's important to keep you Google account and Google Webmaster Tools account secure.   I'd recommend 2-step verification if you own a cellphone with a text messaging plan.

Trying to understand Google Webmaster Tools in Vietnamese wasn't as hard as you might think though.  Since I already know where most of the buttons are in the user interface in English it was sort of second nature.  Looking at the picture can you navigate and figure out what the buttons do?  If you are familiar using Google Webmaster Tools I bet you can.  It is still a bit confusing but should be somewhat doable.

Let's hear from other webmasters that use Google Webmaster Tools.  Have you every had a similar experience with Google Webmaster Tools showing up a different language?  What was the language?  How did it make you feel?  Worried, concerned, upset? Share below and let others know!

Don’t Buy a Spam Domain

Google Webmaster Tools just released another video about buying a spam domain with Matt Cutts.  I think this is a good question and is something that people who are interested in buying any domain name from a private party should be aware before buying.

Here is the question that Matt Cutts answers in the video;

Can I buy a domain name on the secondary market that has a lot of spam on it and still rank? How can I reset the SEO of that domain ? Thousands of root domains coming from spam.

Johan Tavard, Hua Hin, Thailand

In my opinion you should NEVER BUY any domain name that you know has previously been used for spamming purposes.  “You don't want to be the person left holding the bag” commented Matt Cutts in the video.  That is a pretty good analogy as you would have a lot of work to do get the domain off of Googles blacklisted domain list and not be recognized as a spam domain.

You can submit a reconsideration request to Google if you have purposefully (most of the the time people buy domains not knowing) bought a spam domain.  Cutts mentions in the video though it would be kind of a pain to take and document everything so can Google take a reconsideration request seriously from it's long list of blacklisted domains.  (If your current domain name has been marked as spam domain you can also file a Google reconsideration request.)

If Johan could get the spam domain in question for free, then I wouldn't see a problem with it.  He would have a lot of work to do though.  In the video Matt Cutts mentions that the domain in question Johan is interested in purchasing is $5,000 dollars!  I wonder what drugs that blackhat spammer was taking when he quoted that price?

I personally would never buy a domain that has been blacklisted, let alone one for that amount of money.  If you register a brand new domain name you are starting at the ground floor and it is easier to work to make the domain and site into what you want.  (Of course it is still a pain to get ranked and have good SEO on any site.)  Cutts says, “When you start out you are already in that hole” meaning it is going to be hard and a lot of work to get the domain unmarked from being a spam domain.

If you are really interested in the domain that has been used for spamming, I would recommend just waiting until the spammer drops the domain name.  Once it gets dropped and you can hand-register it Google will no longer be on Google's blacklisted domain list.

Anytime your purchase domain names on the secondary market from well-known company or private seller it always a good idea to check the DNS Blacklist to see if any of them are blacklisted domains.

 

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