How to write source-backed WordPress drafts with Google Gemini

By Luis Rita · 16 October 2026

AI Blog Writer with Sources is a free WordPress plugin that turns a brief and the pages you trust into a cited draft, on your own AI key. This tutorial sets it up with Google’s Gemini models: getting a key, adding it to WordPress, choosing a model, and writing a first draft. It takes about ten minutes.

1. Get an API key

You need a Google API key, from Google AI Studio:

1. Sign in to Google AI Studio with your Google account.
2. Choose Get API key and create a key. Keys belong to a Google Cloud project; AI Studio can create one for you.
3. Copy the key.
4. For anything beyond testing, turn on billing for the project (see Data and privacy below), and consider a budget alert in Google Cloud.

Treat the key like a password: anyone who has it can spend your credits.

2. Add the key to WordPress

1. Install and activate AI Blog Writer with Sources from Plugins → Add New Plugin.
2. Open AI Blog Writer → Settings, choose Google as the AI provider, and click Save Changes.
3. Paste the key into the API key field and save again. It is encrypted before it is stored, and never shown again or sent to the browser.
4. Click Test connection. This sends only the key and a request for the list of models, no content.

To keep the key out of the database, define it in wp-config.php instead:

define( 'AIBCG_GOOGLE_API_KEY', 'your-key' );

3. Choose a model

Pick the model under Default model in Settings. The plugin offers:

Start with Gemini 3.6 Flash, the default: fast, inexpensive, and good at working from long source notes. Gemini 3.8 Flash is the newer Flash model at the same price, and Gemini 4 Argon Google’s flagship; we haven’t evaluated either with the plugin’s prompts yet. Google has announced price increases for Argon (1 December 2026) and both Flash models (1 January 2027); the plugin’s estimates follow them. Use Flash-Lite to keep costs lowest; preview models can change or be withdrawn at short notice. Which models you can use also depends on your Google account.

4. Write your first draft

1. Open AI Blog Writer → New article and give it a topic.
2. Paste three to five pages you would cite yourself under Source URLs.
3. Choose Guided to review the sources and the outline before anything is written.
4. Create the draft, then open it in the block editor. Each claim cites the source it came from.

The getting started guide walks through the brief in detail.

Costs and limits

Google bills your account for every request: the outline, the draft, and tools such as section rewrites. The plugin records the usage of each job and estimates its cost from the model’s list price, and Usage and cost shows the month’s estimate for the site. Set a monthly cost ceiling in Settings, and a spending limit with Google, so neither can surprise you; Google’s invoice is the final figure. See usage and cost ceilings.

Data and privacy

When a job runs, the plugin sends Google the brief, the writer profile, and the notes extracted from your selected sources. It never sends WordPress credentials, other database content, or visitor data. The free tier is not private. Google’s Gemini API terms allow content sent on the free tier to be used to improve Google’s products, and people may review it; on the paid tier it isn’t. Don’t send client material or unpublished work through a free-tier key. Read the current Gemini API terms before choosing. The full list of what is sent is in Privacy and external services.

If something goes wrong

• The key is rejected (provider_http_401): create a new key and save it again.
• Rate limit or quota (provider_http_429): check your balance and limits with Google.
• “Selected model is unavailable”: choose another model, save, and test again.

More fixes are on the troubleshooting page.