Adding Adsense code into theme files for distribution

  • Hello,

    I need some help and expertise here… I’m currently studying the deep side of WordPress Theme development. I am about to release my first theme, and while I’m planning to make it free (not a commercial theme), I’d still like to get some revenue for my work.

    As a former blogger and part-time web designer, I own an active Google Adsense account. Now, I’d like to know if embedding some ad code from my own Adsense account into my template files would be legal.

    This means that, people installing my theme would get a small, non-annoying space on one of their templates where my ads are displayed. For me, this would serve as a motivation to keep distributing and enhancing my upcoming theme(s) for free.

    I’ve tried searching on the web for genuine articles talking about such activity and whether it’s allowed by Google and WordPress, but I didn’t find much. The closest I came to was this: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/1346295#Ads_on_the_same_page_or_site_as_another_publisher

    This quote below is from the link above from Google:

    If a website is in compliance with our program policies and the company or owner of the site has given you permission to display ads on their site, you may place your ad code along with the other publisher’s ad code on the same page. You will, however, need to contact your web hosting company or the owner of the website to obtain permission to display ads on their website.

    Considering this, it appears that my envisaged activity would be legal if I place a visible note informing my theme users of my activity, perhaps in the footer.

    Still, I want a WordPress expert to advise me on this… I really don’t want to do anything that would be against the rules of WordPress.

    Thanks!

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  • This won’t pass here on the Theme Repository.

    And besides adding your adsense codes to a free theme is like asking for trouble. You just don’t know the kind of sites it would be used on. Just one adult site using your ads would be enough to get you banned.

    Thread Starter Isaac Asante

    (@worldfootballx)

    Thanks for the clarification Ron… So you think selling the theme (depending on its quality) or relying on donation is the way to go?

    Is there another recommended monetizing method for WordPress theme developers (apart from the ones above)?

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