How To Verify A Blog In Google Search Console

Google Search Console


Google Search Console (GSC), formerly known as Google Webmaster’s tool, is a free, important tool that helps to optimize the website and its pages in a controlled manner*. 

Any issues or errors (broken links, crawl errors etc.) due to which the performance of the website is affected will be displayed in the GSC. Thus, making it easier for an SEO analyst to understand reasons, rectify errors and bring more traffic to the website. In simple words, GSC is a medium between the SEO analyst and Google.

Steps To Verify Ownership Of A Website Through GSC

The first thing to do as part of verifying through GSC is to verify the ownership of the website. 
 
Google prescribes 5 methods to verify ownership. Those are

  1. HTML file verification method: Download an HTML file that Google providesà Upload it to the root directory of your website àclick on verify button. Your ownership will be verified.
  2. HTML meta tag: Copy a meta tag that Google provides and paste it to your website's <head> section. Then come back to Search Console and click on verify button.
  3.  Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a free tool to track website traffic detail, interaction, device used etc. By embedding Google analytics code into your website's control panel, the site can be verified. 
  4. Google tag manager: It is a free tool by Google. tags for various purposes can be added through tag manager and all aspects of the websites can be tracked.   
  5. Domain name provider: Login to your account on domain service provider and add the DNS code given by Google in the place given
(Among the above-mentioned 5 methods, Google recommends HTML file verification upload method.) 


Copy your website URLà open Google Search Console in a tab and sign in with Gmail idà click on Start Nowà you will see two options - Domain and  URL Prefix

Choose URL prefix from the two options displayed (because we are trying to verify a subdomain. Select Domain in case of verifying a domain)

Choose URL prefix from the two options displayed (because we are trying to verify a subdomain. Select Domain in case of verifying a domain)à paste copied website URL in the space given à click on continue à wait for the successful ownership auto verification pop-up. 


Google Search console ownership verification


It is a good idea to use the same Gmail id used for creating a blogspot blog and GSC verification of its pages. In such cases, it gets auto verified. In the case of two Gmail ids, Google will not auto verify pages, instead it will display the above mentioned five methods to verify pages.


Upon receiving the successful ownership auto verification pop-up, click on Go to propertyàstartàyou have entered GSC dashboard. Congrats!!

 Now,

Click on URL inspection tab displayed in the left menuà paste URL (blog address) and enter à URL is not on Google pos-upà Click on Test Live URL à Google will process the pageà Green Pop-up will come upon successful crawling (If the page is not crawlable due to various issues such as content duplication, Green box will not appear) à click on Request indexing –Google will index the page in due time. 

How To Verify A Page of A Website?

 If you have added a new page to your website or modified an existing page and you want Google to crawl it, follow these steps. 

Copy URL of the page needed to be indexed à Click on URL inspection tab of GSCàpaste URL in the space displayed and press enterà Click on Test Live URL à Google will process the pageà Green Pop-up will come upon successful crawling (If the page is not crawlable due to various issues such as content duplication, Green box will not appear) à click on Request indexing –Google will index the page in due time. 

Sitemap submitting process

A sitemap of a website provides all information about the website to search engines, making crawling and indexing easier. As part of SEO of a website, we submit an XML document to help Google understand the website easily. 

Follow these steps to submit your website's sitemap in GCS

Click on the website URL, type /sitemap.xml after .com and press enter buttonàa code will be displayedàcopy ONLY the sitemap.xml (example: www.google.com/sitemap.xml) from the URLàClick on the Sitemaps tab on GSCàpaste copied sitemap.xml and submitàsitemap will be submitted successfully. 


*Google will crawl and index a website and its pages even without verifying through GSC. But it will not be in a controlled manner. Meaning, the webmaster cannot control location, target audience, etc. Similarly, a website can be crawled and indexed if the website has links to another crawled website.


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