How To: Monetize Your Wiki with Google's AdSense

A popular method of monetizing Wikis, and websites in general, is by adding Google's AdSense advertising units, which opens up the very common question: How do I add AdSense units to my Wiki? As far as I'm aware there is no *official* Google extension to allow the displaying of AdSense units (If you know of one please do leave a link in the comments to this post!) but there are several extensions available that do the job:

• Extension:AdSense (Currently contains vulnerabilities and not recommended)
• Extension:Google AdSense 2 (Recommended) [For MediaWiki Version 1.14 or newer]

To download Extension:Google Adsense 2 click here and download the compatible package for your MediaWiki version from the drop-down box. Once you've downloaded the package, unzip it and upload it to your Wiki's /extensions folder. Once uploaded copy the following code to the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:

require_once( "$IP/extensions/GoogleAdSense/GoogleAdSense.php" );
$wgGoogleAdSenseClient = 'replace this with the client name';
$wgGoogleAdSenseSlot = 'replace this with the slot name';
$wgGoogleAdSenseID = 'replace this with your ID';

If installed correctly, the extension should appear on the Special:Version page on your Wiki.

Customizing MediaWiki: Random questions answered

What exactly is the LocalSettings.php file?

The LocalSettings.php file is the main configuration file for MediaWiki Wikis and is created during installation of the MediaWiki software.

How do I edit the LocalSettings file?

To edit the LocalSettings.php file you'll need a good PHP editor, however, do NOT edit this file with any text editor that adds byte order marks to files as you'll be more likely to break your Wiki before you customize it, in simple English (As this is what this Blog's all about after all... Don't edit the file with Notepad!) I personally use jEdit, it's free, versatile and gets the job done, however, there is also a list of PHP editors on Wikipedia.

How do I find and install extensions to the MediaWiki software?

Extensions can be found here by category on MediaWiki.org. A typical extension installation usually involves downloading the extension package and adding it to your /extensions folder followed by adding this code to your LocalSetting.php file:

require_once( "$IP/extensions/folder_name/extension_name.php" );

Generally speaking, most popular extensions are fairly well documented and have pretty specific installation instructions if the extension cannot be installed using the typical method mentioned above. Once installed correctly the extension will display under the "Installed extensions" section of the Special:Version page on your wiki.

How do you prevent an anonymous user's IP address from showing up next to the Log in / create account link?

This can be disabled by adding this code to your LocalSettings.php file:

$wgShowIPinHeader = false;

How do you prevent the view counter from showing up on pages?

You can completely remove the counters by adding:

$wgDisableCounters = true;

To your LocalSettings file.