Google Webmaster Search Console will help you to manage Google's indexing of your site. You can take advantage of Google Webmaster's website optimization tools. In this tutorial, we will give you step-by-step instructions on how to verify your site and submit a Sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools.
How to verify your site in Google Search Console
If your site is not yet published to the web, you will have to do so first, because you will need the URL (web address) during the verification process.
Once published, write down your URL, in this example, that's https://charlottetownlife.com.
Head on over to Google Webmaster Tools to get started.
If you are signing up for Google Webmaster for the first time, on the Webmaster Tools homepage, you will see a welcome message and below it, a box to add your site's URL.
Choose the option URL Prefix:
Click Continue.
The verification screen will open up. You need to verify that you are the owner of the website you have just added.
1. Click on the Alternate methods tab.
2. Select HTML tag.
The verification screen will open up. You need to verify that you are the owner of the website you have just added.
1. Click on the Alternate methods tab.
2. Select HTML tag.
3. Your code should look like this:
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="jowpA240HMZUgFMDXmjtaSiaCxTQRhsox3bpnL-AdiQ" />
You only need the following portion: jowpA240HMZUgFMDXmjtaSiaCxTQRhsox3bpnL-AdiQ
Copy this part and keep it handy.
Now that you have the verification code, you need to add it to your website. Here are the steps to do it:
1. Go back to the Sitebuilder. (Keep Google Search Console open in a separate window.)
2. Go to Settings > Tracking.
3. In the Google Webmaster field box, paste the verification code into the space provided.
4. Click Save Changes.
5. In the Sitebuilder, click Publish.
6. Once you have added your code, go back to Google Search Console. Click the Verify button at the bottom of the page.
If you have verified your site correctly, you will see the message Ownership verified:
Click the Go to property link underneath the message. This will take you to the Site Dashboard page.
Submitting a sitemap to Google Search Console Tools
When you publish your site, the Sitebuilder generates a Sitemap for your site. This is not something you will notice when your site is published, because it happens behind the scenes. You can submit your sitemap to Google using Google Search Console Tools. This will give Google more information about your site. If you want to find out more about Sitemaps and why these are useful to Google, please see About Sitemaps.
The Sitemap for your published site will be the site's URL (web address), followed by /sitemap.xml.
In our example, the Sitemap will be https://charlottetownlife.com/sitemap.xml.
1. Log into your Google Search Console account.
2. Make sure you are on the Site Dashboard page.
3. Click Sitemaps. This will open up the Sitemaps screen.
To submit your Sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools :
1. Log into your Google Search Console account.
2. Make sure you are on the Site Dashboard page.
3. Click Sitemaps. This will open up the Sitemaps screen.
4. In Add new sitemap field enter sitemap.xml in the space provided:
5. Click Submit Sitemap. You will see a confirmation message:
Click GOT IT to close the window.
Congratulations! You have now successfully verified your site and submitted a Sitemap using Google Search Console. Once Google crawls your site, you will be able to log into your Google Search Console account to see data that will help you to optimize your site for Google.
Related Questions
Where do I get more information on how Google Webmaster works?
- Google Webmaster's Help page is packed with information. Here is the link: Google Webmaster Help.
Help! Google Webmaster gives me errors and I don't know what they mean!
- You can find detailed information on what those errors mean and how to fix them on these links: Crawl Errors and HTTP Status Codes.