Google: Verifying Site Ownership

Owned by Kat Harlton
Sept 14, 2021
1 min read

Verification is the process of proving that you own the property that you claim to own. Search Console needs to verify ownership because verified owners have access to sensitive Google Search data for a site, and can affect a site's presence and behavior on Google Search and other Google properties.

For more info see: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9008080?hl=en

STEPS:

  1. Choose the HTML tag method on the Ownership verification page for your property.

  2. Copy the tag from the Search Console verification wizard into Website > Website Settings > General > Custom Meta Tags. Example:
    <head>
      <title>Example.com homepage</title>
      <meta name="google-site-verification" content="......." />
    </head>
    This tag is unique to you; it cannot be used to identify anyone else, and is associated with your Gmail account.

  3. Confirm that the tag is present in your live page by visiting the home page and looking for the tag in the page source code. (Press Control + F then search for "google-site-verification" in the page source to find the tag.)

  4. Complete verification by clicking Verify in the verification details page.

  5. If verification fails, see Potential errors below to troubleshoot the issue.