Do you have your own website? Regardless of the site's content, there are a few steps you should take to make sure you have complete control over it.
One of those steps is verifying the domain on the various webmaster tools. At the very least, you should verify it with Google and Bing---and ideally, you'd also add it to Yandex, Baidu, and other country-specific services.
By verifying your domain with Google, you can gain access to private search data and it affects how Google crawls your site. You also get access to various settings that let you alter how your site displays in Google's search results. So, what's the process for verifying your domain?
How to Verify Your Domain on Google Search Console
There are a few different methods for verifying your domain on Google Search Console.
To begin, head to search.google.com/search-console and use your Google Account credentials to log in. In the upper left-hand corner of the window, click on Add Property and fill in your site's full domain, including the HTTP or HTTPS. Google will automatically prompt you to verify the domain.
There are five methods you can use:
- An HTML file
- An HTML tag
- A gtag.js tracking code from your Google Analytics account
- A Google tag manager container ID
- Using your domain name provider
For most people, methods two or five will be the most straightforward. Method two is easily accomplished using an SEO plugin like Yoast in WordPress (install the plugin and go to SEO > General > Webmaster Tools). If you opt to use method five, you'll need to enter your login credentials and grant the Search Console app access to your account.
To learn more about hosting a website, check out our comparison of Bluehost and HostGator.
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