How to verify a website in Google Search Console

Do you want an overview of how your site is doing in Google search? Are you interested in positions, clicks and impressions? In that case Google Search Console is exactly what you need! 

This free tool from Google gives you valuable data about your site's organic search. In a clear form, with the help of charts and comparisons, you will see how your site appears in search results, which keywords you appear for and how many people clicked through to your site from search. 

Take a look at this simple guide to verifying a site, including how you can do it yourself in practice if you install the Yoast extension on a WordPress site.

Signing in to Google Search Console

Open https://search.google.com/ and sign in. Then in the search field in the top left corner choose the option to add a new property

Choosing the property type

In the next step we have the option of verifying the whole domain, which is a somewhat more complicated process, or a URL prefix — that is, an exactly entered domain. I recommend clicking through to your domain in the browser and copying the URL from the address bar with the homepage displayed. It makes a difference whether it is with www or without, or https. If you enter the URL incorrectly, Google Search Console will not collect data for your site. If you have installed an SSL certificate and your site has changed from http to https, do not forget to verify the site in Google Search Console again.

Verifying ownership of the site

After entering your site's URL into Google Search Console you will be shown several ways of verifying ownership. Although verifying through Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager may seem simplest (if you are signed in under the same Google account), this method often does not work and the site has to be verified another way. At this point you need to contact your site administrator and either send them the HTML file (option 1) or the HTML tag, which they implement following the guide. If your site is built on WordPress, you can do it very easily yourself by following the steps below.

Verifying with an HTML tag and Yoast SEO

In that case you will need the verification code. In the ownership verification section, click the "HTML tag" option. You will be shown an HTML snippet containing a unique verification string. Select and copy the whole string of characters that follows the "content=" parameter.

In a new tab within the WordPress admin interface, install the Yoast SEO extension. After installing it — or if you already have it installed — click the "SEO" item in the left-hand menu (the grey menu) and the plugin's options will open as you can see in the image below. Then just choose "Webmaster Tools" and paste the verification code copied from Google Search Console into the "Google verification code" field. Save with the "Save changes" button.

Then go back to the Google Search Console interface and press Verify.

If your site was verified in Google Search Console in the past, historical data will be pulled in automatically. So you need not worry about losing valuable information about your site's performance in search. If you are verifying the site in Google Search Console for the first time, though, data collection starts only from the moment of verification. That is why it pays to connect your site to Google Search Console as soon as possible. Should you have a problem with verification, turn to your developer, who will certainly help you with it.