Before we can start to use Google Search Console to measure our websites SEO, we need to verify that we actually own our domain. This is important as some of the information in Google Search Console is private and we may not want other competitors seeing it.
While it's not been officially announced by Google (like most of the search algorithm), it's speculated that verifying ownership of your website may help your SEO efforts. I'm not sure whether this is the case or not, but it certainly won't harm any SEO so it's important to get it done!
Step 1
To verify our domain, we first need to head to Google Search Console and select 'Start Now'.
From here, we can enter our domain in the panel on the left hand side.
We should now see a box with some instructions pop-up, don't worry if they don't make sense, we'll walk through this together.
Step 2
Before we can create this TXT record, we need to find the DNS setting in our domain hosting (name provider).
Your domain name provider (registrar) is usually wherever you purchased your website domain (Typically not where you design your website).
Here's a list of common domain hosting providers to see if you recognise yours on the list.
Once you've found your domain host, we will need to log in and look for the DNS records.
This is usually found in the domains section and each domain you own will have their own DNS records.
Every domain hosting will have a different layout and use slightly different terminology, however, they all essentially work in the same way.
Typically, we are looking for something along the lines of 'manage', 'domain settings', 'DNS' or 'Configure'.
Here's what it looks like in GoDaddy:
If you're struggling how to find the DNS editor for your domain hosting, checkout our lesson called 'Managing your DNS'. We have a list of the most popular domain hosts in the UK and have attached instructions to each.
Step 3
We now need to create a new DNS record.
To do this, we will either need to click Add, and then select the TXT record type, or we will need to find the TXT record section and add a new record from there.
Once we've selected a TXT record, there should be 3-4 options: Type (TXT) - Name (or Host) - Value (or Points To) - TTL
The type, if you have the option, should be selected as TXT.
The Name (or Host) should be set to: @
The Value (or Points To) should be set to the code Google provide you with in step 1 that looks something like this:
google-site-verification=<<some number>>
TTL should be set to the shortest from: 30 mins, 3600 seconds, 1 hour, 4 hours or 12 hours. If none of these are available, just pick the shortest time frame.
That's all we need to do! If you check back in 10 minutes, you should see that google has successfully verified your domain.
*Note* DNS record edits can sometimes take up to 48 hours to take effect.