Google Search Console is the free tool where Google tells you which searches your site appears for, which pages it has indexed and whether it has found problems. To use it, you first have to prove the site is yours. The setup screen asks you to choose between two kinds of property and then offers half a dozen ways to verify, and none of the explanations are written for someone who just runs a bakery.
For a small business site there are three sensible ways to connect WordPress to Google Search Console: your domain’s DNS, an SEO plugin, or Google’s own Site Kit plugin. Each is covered below, followed by the first reports worth opening. Analytics is a separate tool; if you want visitor numbers as well, see adding Google Analytics to WordPress.
First decision: Domain or URL-prefix property
When you add a site, Search Console offers two property types.
| Domain property | URL-prefix property | |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | The whole domain: with and without www, http and https, and any subdomains | Only addresses that start with exactly what you enter, such as https://www.example.com |
| How you verify | A DNS record at the company that manages your domain’s DNS | Several options, including an HTML tag that an SEO plugin can add for you |
| Best for | Owners who can reach their DNS settings | Owners who cannot, or want to verify entirely from inside WordPress |
If you can log in to wherever your domain’s DNS is managed, choose the Domain property. It shows everything in one place and does not depend on any plugin staying installed. If DNS is managed by someone else and getting access would take weeks, a URL-prefix property is a perfectly good start. You can add the other type later; having both is allowed.
Method 1: verify a Domain property by DNS
- Open Google Search Console, signed in with a Google account the business controls, not a staff member’s personal one.
- Choose to add a property, select Domain, and enter your domain without https:// or www, for example example.com.
- Search Console shows a TXT record beginning google-site-verification=. Copy it.
- Find where your DNS is managed. That is often your domain registrar or your hosting company, but if your site uses Cloudflare, it is Cloudflare. Your domain’s nameservers tell you which.
- In that DNS panel, add a new record of type TXT. Leave the host or name as the root of the domain (often written as @, or left blank, depending on the provider) and paste the copied text as the value.
- Save, go back to Search Console and press Verify.
DNS changes can take a while to be seen. If verification fails straight away, wait an hour or so and try again before assuming something is wrong. Leave the TXT record in place afterwards; Google checks it from time to time, and deleting it can remove your verified status.
Method 2: verify a URL-prefix property with your SEO plugin
This route never leaves WordPress, apart from Search Console itself.
- In Search Console, add a property, choose URL prefix and enter your site’s address exactly as it loads in the browser, including https:// and www if your site uses it.
- From the list of verification methods, choose HTML tag. Copy the code it shows.
- In WordPress, paste it into your SEO plugin. In Rank Math, the field is under General Settings, in the Webmaster Tools section. In Yoast SEO, look in the settings for site connections, where there is a field for Google. Both accept either the whole tag or the code inside it, depending on the version; follow the hint beside the field.
- Save the setting, clear any page cache, then go back to Search Console and press Verify.
The tag stays in your home page’s code for as long as that plugin and setting are in place. If you later switch SEO plugins, copy the verification into the new one before removing the old, or verify again by another method.
Method 3: Site Kit by Google
Site Kit is Google’s official WordPress plugin. It connects your site to Search Console, and optionally to other Google services, through a guided setup.
- Install and activate Site Kit by Google from the plugin directory.
- Start its setup and sign in with the Google account that should own the property.
- Allow the permissions it requests. Site Kit verifies the site and connects Search Console for you, using an existing property or, depending on what it finds, helping you set one up.
- When it finishes, Search Console figures appear in a Site Kit dashboard inside WordPress.
Site Kit is convenient if you want headline numbers without visiting Search Console. Some owners prefer not to add another plugin just for verification. Either way, the full reports live in Search Console itself, and that is where you will do any real checking.
When verification fails
- Wrong property address. For a URL-prefix property, http://example.com and https://www.example.com are different properties. Use the exact address your site settles on.
- Cache. A caching plugin or CDN may be serving a copy of the home page from before you added the tag. Clear the cache and verify again.
- Two SEO plugins or a theme setting. Another plugin may be outputting its own, older verification tag, or none. View the source of the home page and search for google-site-verification.
- The TXT record went on the wrong host name. A record added to www.example.com rather than the root domain will not verify a Domain property.
- DNS managed somewhere you did not expect. Records added at the registrar do nothing if the nameservers point to Cloudflare or your host. Our hosting and domain support page covers that kind of job if you cannot work out where DNS lives.
First reports after you connect WordPress to Google Search Console
Some reports take a few days to fill in for a new property. Once they do, these are the ones worth opening first:
- Performance (Search results). The searches your site appeared for, how often it was shown, how often it was clicked and its average position. Look at the Queries and Pages tabs.
- Sitemaps. Submit your sitemap here; submitting a WordPress sitemap covers the details.
- Pages (indexing). Which pages are indexed and the reasons others are not.
- URL Inspection. Paste any address from your site into the bar at the top to see whether it is indexed and when Google last crawled it.
- Security and Manual actions. Both should say no issues were detected. If the security report does not, our explanation of the Search Console security issues report helps.
Search Console is part of the SEO section of our complete WordPress guide. The overview of SEO basics for WordPress explains how these reports fit with the settings inside your site.
Giving others access
Do not share your Google password with a developer or marketer. In Search Console, open Settings → Users and permissions and add their email address with full or restricted permission. Remove them when the work ends. Search Console’s help pages explain what an owner can do that a user cannot.
Frequently asked questions
I verified the wrong version of my domain. Do I need to start again?
No. Add a new property for the correct address and verify it too. The old property does no harm, and you can remove it later from the property settings. If you can reach your DNS, adding a Domain property covers every version of the address at once.
Does verifying my site in Search Console affect how it ranks?
No. Verification only gives you access to the reports and tools. Google crawls and indexes sites whether or not they are verified. What Search Console gives you is information, such as which pages are indexed and which searches you appear for, that helps you decide what to improve.
Who should own the Search Console property?
The business, through a Google account it controls, such as one tied to a company email address. If a developer or agency set it up under their own account, ask them to add your account as an owner, then make sure you can see the property before they leave.
Can one Google account manage several websites?
Yes. Each site becomes its own property, and you switch between them from the menu at the top of Search Console. Verify each one separately. This is common for owners with more than one business, or with a separate domain for a second brand or a booking system.
A failed verification usually comes down to something small hiding in the page code or in a DNS panel nobody remembers logging in to. When you cannot find it, our WordPress support service can look at what your home page outputs and where your DNS is really managed.
Next in this series: How to Noindex a Page in WordPress
