How to Integrate Google Adsense in 3.8

[Wayne Luke]

There are a few steps involved in integrating Google Adsense into your forums with vBulletin 3.8.

Before Downloading
- Log in to your member's area at http://members.vbulletin.com
- In the left column click on "Google Adsense"
- If you do not have an account, click on the link to create one and follow the steps.
- If you do have an account, click on the appropriate link and enter your google adsense login, zip/post code and the last 5 digits of your phone number.

Verify Access with Google
- Log into your Google AdSense account at http://adsense.google.com
- Click the 'Review account access' link.
- Click the 'grant access' link for vBulletin.
- Check that your status is Fully Activated at http://members.vbulletin.com/adsense.php

Upgrading to vBulletin 3.8.0
After associating your Google Adsense account, you can now download vBulletin 3.8.0 from your member's area. Follow the upgrade instructions in the online manual here: http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/upgrade

Placing Ads
Once you have upgraded to 3.8.0 after following the above steps, you can place ads by clicking on the Advertising block in the left navigation of your Admin CP. Choose Google Adsense (its the only choice at this time).

On the resulting screen, you can choose to place advertising in one of three options.

None - No advertising of course.
Low - Small text ads plus a ad for guests in the first post. Ads are below the navbar and above the footer.
High - Larger ads in the same locations. Also shows a block ad in the first post of every thread to guest users.

You can also choose whether you want text only or text and image based ads.

Please see the online documentation for more information:
http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/adsense_integration

For more precise control over advertising placement, to use Google Admanager or place other third party ads, you will need to use the Advertising Templates provided in the software. They can be accessed from the Style Manager.

[Wayne Luke]

Q. How do I change my publisher ID?
A. You can change your publisher ID in the vBulletin.com Member's Area by clicking on Google Adsense and following the instructions on the screen.

Q. I have different adsense accounts for different sites. Can I have a different Publisher ID for each license?
A. This is not supported at this time. You can only have one publisher ID per customer account.

Q. I downloaded 3.8.0 and upgraded before I integrated my Adsense account. How do I get ads to show?
A. After integration, redownload vBulletin 3.8.0 and then upload the following files:
admincp/deployads.php, includes/init.php, includes/adsense_templates.php, and includes/xml/cpnav_ads.xml.

Q. I don't want Google ads on my forum anymore how do I remove them?
A. Revert your Advertising Templates in the Admin CP under Styles & Templates -> Style Manager -> Edit Templates. Double click on Advertising Templates to see all locations.

Q. I only want to show Google Ads to specific groups. How to I do this?
A. After deploying Google Ads, you can use Template Conditionals in the Advertising Templates themselves to provide more control.

Q. I already have ads on my forums and want to maintain that program.
A. Deploying Google Ads on your site is voluntary and provides a quick way for people to provide ad units on a site in common locations. If you already have advertising templates modified and working, then you should leave them as is.

Q. How do I remove the ads from my forum?
A. Go to Advertising -> Google Adsense in your Admin Control Panel and select the None for the package. This will remove the ads from the advertising templates. If you have edited these templates, they will need to be reverted after selecting None as your package.

Q. Does vBulletin support revenue sharing?
A. Not at this time.