Registering your site in Google Search Console, formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, is one of the most important steps for optimizing and improving the SEO of your WordPress site. Since this tool was previously called Webmaster Tools, you may have heard the term “registering a site in Google Webmaster Tools” before.
Google Search Console provides specific tools to help website owners and administrators monitor and maintain their site’s presence, SEO, and rankings in Google.
In this guide, we will show you how to register your site in Google Search Console.
Table Of Contents
- 1 What is Google Search Console?
- 2 How to Submit WordPress Site to Google Search Console
- 2.1 What is the difference between the Domain Name and URL Prefix methods?
- 2.2 Verifying Ownership of Your Website On URL Prefix method
- 2.3 The Best Way to Add the Verification Code
- 2.4 Troubleshooting Verification Issues in URL Prefix Method
- 2.5 Verifying Ownership of Your Website On Domain Name method
- 2.6 Troubleshooting Verification Issues in Domain Name Method
- 3 Adding an XML Sitemap to Google Search Console
What is Google Search Console?
The new Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google to help website owners monitor their site’s presence in Google search results.
This tool helps you track your site’s ranking, errors, WordPress security issues, and other factors that may affect your website’s search performance.
If you are serious about growing your website, you should add it to Search Console (or Google Webmaster Tools) from day one.
Now, let’s see how to register a site in Google Search Console. if you are looking for “Add Google analytics code to WordPress Without Editing Files” we have a Separate Articles About that.
Google Search Console is one of the most important tools that SEO specialists and webmasters must be fully familiar with. Therefore, learning how to use Google Search Console is an essential part of SEO.
How to Submit WordPress Site to Google Search Console
this is how you can Submit WordPress Site to Google Search Console:
- First, go to the Google Search Console website and click the “Start Now” button.
- Next, log in using your Gmail account.
- Once logged in, you will be asked to enter your website’s URL.
- There are two methods for verification: Domain Name or URL Prefix. we will walk you through using the URL Prefix method first as it is easier. then web teach you how to use domain name method.
- Keep in mind that Google treats HTTP and HTTPS as different protocols. It also considers https://www.example.com and https://example.com as separate websites. so you need to redirect http to https wordpress.
What is the difference between the Domain Name and URL Prefix methods?
If your website includes multiple subdomains or different sections, such as:
shop.domain.com,
and you want to see the overall report in one place, use the Domain Name method.
However, if you prefer to view reports separately for each site, use the URL Prefix method.
Verifying Ownership of Your Website On URL Prefix method
Enter your website address in https://domain.com and replace domain.com with your actual domain (make sure you activated https in your website and already redirected http to https wordpress. you can read the article on how to do it.)
Then, there are several ways to do this, but the easiest method is using the HTML tag.
- Click on HTML Tag to expand it and copy the provided code.
- Now, you need to add this meta tag to your WordPress site so that Google can verify your ownership.
Many WordPress tutorials suggest editing your theme’s header.php file and adding the verification code inside the <body> tag. However, we do not recommend this method because if you update or change your theme, the HTML tag will be lost.
Google periodically checks the HTML tag, and if it cannot find the verification tag, your access to the site’s data in Search Console will be disabled.
The Best Way to Add the Verification Code
To ensure Google always recognizes your website ownership, follow these steps:
- Install and activate the Koolak Custom Code plugin or alternates like insert header footer.
- After activation, go to Custom Code.
- Paste the copied HTML tag inside the “Meta Tags & Code Injection in Header” box.
- Click “Save” to apply the changes.
Now, return to Google Search Console and click the “Verify” button.
Google Search Console will now check for the HTML tag in your website’s code and display a success message.
Troubleshooting Verification Issues in URL Prefix Method
If you do not see the success message, the solution is to clear your WordPress cache. This ensures Google fetches the latest version of your website.
At this point, you have successfully registered your site in Google Search Console. Click on “Go to Property” to visit your Google Search Console dashboard.
Here, you can view reports about your website’s performance.
Verifying Ownership of Your Website On Domain Name method
click on Domain Name method and enter your website domain like domain.com. in the next step it will show you a TXT record like
google-site-verification=fabcbsbdsbdsbdbsbdsbdsbsdbdbsdsrViuMvn7GjQ_Alli-_EgMfU
Copy the text and go to you hosting provider panel (CPanel, Plesk, Direct Admin and ETC) and find DNS management or DNS Zone Editor or Zone Editor
Find your domain and add a TXT record in the manager.
paste the google verification record inside value section and save it.
go back to google search console and click on verify.
Troubleshooting Verification Issues in Domain Name Method
if google does not recognize and verify your website even after some hours, you may set the txt record wrong, its always the best to send an support ticket to your hosting provider.
if your hosting provider doesn’t have Zone Editor or DNS management Option, you can always search for how to add txt record in your hosting provider, like How to add Text record to godaddy.
Adding an XML Sitemap to Google Search Console
Before doing anything else, let’s provide Google with more information about your website. This helps Google crawl and index your site more efficiently.
What is an XML Sitemap?
An XML Sitemap is a file that lists all the content on your website in XML format, allowing search engines like Google to easily discover and index your pages.
You can access your sitemap by adding /sitemap_index.xml to your website’s URL, if you installed plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math, they Will enrich your sitemap for better seo,
for example:
How to Submit Your Sitemap to Google Search Console
- Go to your Google Search Console dashboard.
- From the left-hand menu, click on “Sitemaps”.
- In the “Add a new sitemap” section, enter the last part of your sitemap URL (e.g.,
sitemap_index.xml). - Click “Submit”.
Google will now add your sitemap to your Search Console account. it may show you it couldn’t fetch after some seconds but ignore it and come back after 1-2 hours to see the results.
Congratulations! You have successfully registered your site in Google Search Console.