After months of hard work, your website is up and running and it looks exactly how you envisioned it.
That’s great, but now you need to make sure that others will find your website too and access the quality information you share there.
Adding your site to Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) will not dictate whether your site will show up on the search engine results page. It can, however, help you understand how your site is performing and what you can do to improve your ranking in Google search results. Submitting your website to Google Search Console can also make it easier for the search engine giant to crawl your site and index it faster.
As you can see, there are many benefits to adding your site to Google Search Console. Let’s find out how to do it.
But first…
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What Is Google Search Console and Do I Need It?
Google Search Console (or Google Webmasters) is a free tool that can give you an in-depth look into how your site is performing. Not only that you get information on your keywords and content, but it also shows you how searches see your website in the search engine results. You can also use it to check data like links, crawl errors, and so on.
It truly is an essential tool that no marketer can do without. Because, more than anything, ranking high in the search engines is more about knowing how your site is doing than anything else. Trying different strategies without checking their results is like throwing darts in the dark: ineffective and possibly dangerous.
How to Add Your Site to Google Search Console
Here’s what you will need to verify your site with Google Search Console. First, you will need to prove that you own the site or that you are allowed to administer it. You will need either administrator access to your Google Analytics account or editing access to your WordPress website, for example.
1. Add a Property
Log into your Google Search Console account and click on Add a Property under the search drop-down menu.
2. Choose the Type of Property to Add
You can choose to add a URL-prefix property, a domain property, or a Google-hosted property. You can learn more about the different types here. But, to give you the gist of it, you need to remember that for the URL-prefix option, if your website supports multiple protocols (HTTP and HTTPS,) then you need to add a separate property for each protocol. A domain option doesn’t need to include HTTP or HTTPS.
Verification Methods
There are several ways to verify your site, but here’s a rundown of the easiest method.
To get the verification process started, click on the arrow next to the HTML tag. Copy the meta tag and paste it into your site’s homepage.
Click into your WordPress website and click on SEO from the left-hand side menu. Choose the General option and then click on the Webmaster Tools tab. There you will find a field where you can paste your Google verification code. Save the changes and then go back to your Google Search Console account and click verify.
Ups, Something Went Wrong
If the verification process fails, then you need to review your steps and make sure that you didn’t miss anything. If everything seems fine, then you can try another verification method, such as uploading an HTML file or verifying with your domain name provider or Google Tag Manager.
Do You Need Help?
Adding your website to Google Search Console is not difficult, but how you use the data it provides matters more.
At Australian Internet Advertising, we can help you review and analyse your website’s performance and create a strategy that will boost your ranking and ultimately grow your business.
Contact us now if you want to learn more about our services.
