Chrome Doesn't Delete Old Extension Folders

There's something very annoying about Chrome. It now keeps all the old versions of your extensions and apps. I remember that Chrome used to only keep the current version and the previous version, just like it handles Chrome releases.

If you've installed many extensions and apps, it's likely that the Extensions folder from your Chrome profile uses many hundreds of megabytes. Some apps are pretty big now: for example, the latest version of Polycraft uses 76.6 MB. It's obvious that a single application could use 1 GB after a few updates.

Here's another example: the LastPass extensions. I've checked my profile folder and Chrome keeps 11 versions of this extension since October 2013. Total disk usage: 107 MB, instead of 9.6 MB for the latest version.

Obviously, the old versions are useless and this is a bug. There's a bug report from a Google employee here and it mentions that "the Google+ Photos app is a fairly large app (56MB) which updates frequently (weekly?). It does not appear that older versions get deleted. For the G+ photos app which takes 56MB, I had over 700MB of old versions on my drive."

Until Google fixes this bug, you can manually delete the old versions. Go to your profile folder and open the Extensions folder. Every extension and app has its own folder with a cryptic name (the extension ID), so you can open each one and delete all the subfolders except for the most recent one. For example, LastPass's folder is namedhdokiejnpimakedhajhdlcegeplioahd and it has a subfolder for each version. You can sort them by name or by date and keep the most recent version (3.0.22_0).

Introducing the new policy FAQs, now available in the AdSense Help Center

As part of our ongoing efforts to increase transparency around our policies, we've recently launched a policy FAQs section in our Help Center to address some of the commonly asked questions that we receive from our publishers.

Some example questions in this new section include:

Part 1: Site content

Would an image of a girl in a bikini be considered adult content?

Part 2: Ad implementation

When blending ads to match in with my site, how do I make sure that the ads don’t mimic the format of the content without having gaudy ads?

Part 3: Mobile-related

Is placing a 300 x 250 ad unit on top of a high-end mobile optimized page considered a policy violation?

Part 4: Appeals and violation reporting

My account got disabled and my appeal was denied. Is there any way I can start over?

Our AdSense policies are in place to ensure that Google’s display and search networks provide a safe and positive experience for our users, advertisers, and publishers.  We hope that you find these new FAQs helpful and we thank you for helping us maintain a compliant network.

Posted by Eri Shikamura - Inside AdSense Team

Google Publisher Plugin beta: Bringing our publisher products to WordPress

We’ve heard from many publishers using WordPress that they’re looking for an easier way to work with Google products within the platform. Today, we’re excited to share the beta release of our official Google Publisher Plugin, which adds new functionality to publishers’ WordPress websites. If you own your own domain and power it with WordPress, this new plugin will give you access to a few Google services -- and all within WordPress.

Please keep in mind that because this is a beta release, we’re still fine-tuning the plugin to make sure it works well on the many WordPress sites out there. We’d love for you to try it now and share your feedback on how it works for your site.

This first version of the Google Publisher Plugin currently supports two Google products:

• Google AdSense: Earn money by placing ads on your website. The plugin links your WordPress site to your AdSense account and makes it easier to place ads on your site -- without needing to manually modify any HTML code.
• Google Webmaster Tools: Webmaster Tools provides you with detailed reports about your pages' visibility on Google. The plugin allows you to verify your site on Webmaster Tools with just one click.

Visit the WordPress.org plugin directory to download the new plugin and give it a try. For more information about the plugin and how to use it, please visit our Help Center. We look forward to hearing your feedback!

Posted by Michael Smith - Product Manager

20(14) Publisher Stories: Doodle’s success on schedule

January is typically a time for new year’s resolutions and setting yourself up right for the year ahead. The same often applies to your websites, too. As we know many of you are thinking about what you want to achieve with your site in 2014, we’re kicking off a new success story series here on the blog. 

Every Friday, we’ll meet a publisher from around the world who has grown their business with Google. Take inspiration from their stories, learn about how they’ve successfully integrated Google tools into their strategies and hear about their plans for the future. To keep the momentum going with our new year’s resolutions, we’ll hear from a new publisher every week for the next 14 weeks. So let’s get started and meet Malte Schiebelmann fromDoodle.com.

As the largest scheduling service in the world, Doodle is a free service that helps people manage their time. The company started in 2007 and today it has over 15 million monthly users.

Doodle started working with Google early on, using AdSense and then DoubleClick Ad Exchange to monetize their service and grow their business. Malte tells us that their partnership with Google has been “essential in helping Doodle increase our revenue”. Since then, they’ve continued to partner with Google, regularly using other products like DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) along the way. 

According to Malte, aside from the monetization opportunities they bring, Google products are “low maintenance and easy to use”. They give him lots of handy features to help him make decisions on changes to the site. Looking to the future, he’s looking forward to helping many more users save precious time, all the while continuing to partner with Google.

Have a Google success story you’d like to share? Tell us about it. 

Posted by Suzy Headon - Inside AdSense Team

Santa’s sleigh is ready for lift-off

The countdown is over. Santa and his elves have been preparing around the clock for the big day, opening up new pieces of Santa’s Village throughout the month. Santa’s been skydiving, the elves catapulted presents, and Santa even sent custom voice messages to friends and family. 

The elves are now reporting that the sleigh is ready for takeoff! 

Join Santa as he delivers presents around the globe. Whether you’re in Sydney or South Dakota, hop in the driver’s seat by checking out Santa’s Dash(er) Board. See where Santa’s been, where he’s going, and his real-time jolly status ("mmm, those cookies were delicious!”). Don’t forget to check out the photos and local info for places he visits on the route. 

For the next 24 hours, tune in on your desktop, tablet, or phone to the Santa Tracker website. Still worried you’ll miss a minute of Santa’s big day? The developer elves have been hard at work so you can:

• Stay updated on Santa’s real-time location with the Santa Tracker app for Android
• Light up your TV by casting from the Android app
• Keep tabs on Santa across the web with the Santa Tracker Chrome extension
• View the journey in 3D in the Tour Guide feature of Google Earth and Google Earth mobile

And follow Google Maps on Google+, Facebook and Twitter to get up-to-the-minute details on Santa’s journey around the world.

With more than 300,000 kilometers to go, Santa’s got a lot of the map to cover. So set out those cookies and a glass of milk and get ready to #tracksanta! 

Posted by Brian McClendon, Vice President, Google Maps