Site Verification with Google Search Console & Indexing Procedures
Are you seeking effective methods to manage your site's visibility in Google search results?
Consider utilizing Google Search Console! Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) facilitates the indexing of your site, allowing recent modifications to be reflected in search results more promptly. Additionally, you can access Analytics through Google Search Console to identify the keywords that visitors used to find your site.
Essential Recommendations:
Remove any site-wide or homepage password protection (if applicable).
If your domain is not hosted with Exabytes, please ensure that domain mapping is completed by adding CNAME and A records. It is advisable to verify with Google Search Console after a period of 72 hours.
Confirm that your site is live (not in a trial phase) prior to proceeding with verification.
To register for Google Search Console, create a Google account.
Domain Verification via Google Search Console
Google Search Console is responsible for verifying the primary domain of your site. The criteria for domain verification include:
The domain must be active and properly configured.
Any changes to the primary domain (whether it is a built-in or custom domain) will necessitate re-connection of the site to Google Search Console.
The secure SSL setting allows Google Search Console to verify both the http:// and https:// versions, designating the primary version within Google Search Console. This information is then utilized to allocate search traffic to your primary domain.
Please ensure to COPY and add the TXT record to your DNS manager, allowing 2-4 hours for propagation before clicking the VERIFY button. A prompt message will confirm the successful verification of the TXT record.
Keyword Analytics
Top keywords can be accessed in the Google Search Keywords Panel after linking to Google Search Console. Please note that it may take up to 72 hours for keyword analytics to become available.
Requesting Indexing for Your Site and Content
Google's bots will review your site and update Google search results with new content. For each indexing request, Google will first process the request, followed by crawling and indexing the page.
Note: Utilize the URL inspection tool to verify whether a page can be indexed and to check when Google last crawled the page. Switch to the New Search Console by clicking 'Use New Search Console' at the top of the dashboard. Ensure your site is verified before requesting indexing.
Indexing Your Site by Submitting a Sitemap
Step 1: Navigate to the Google Search Console Dashboard. Select the site you wish to index from the property menu in the top left corner. Step 2: Click on Sitemaps. Step 3: Under Add a new sitemap, enter sitemap.xml. Step 4: Click Submit to request Google to index your site.
Indexing Specific Pages Using the URL Inspection Tool
This option is particularly useful if:a. you have only a few pages on your siteb. you have added new pages that have yet to be indexed by Google.
Step 1: Access the Google Search Console Dashboard. Select the site you wish to index from the property menu in the top left corner.
Step 2: Click on URL inspection.
Step 4: Click on Request Indexing.
Step 5: Repeat for any additional page URLs.
Important Considerations:
During the verification process with Google Search Console, you may encounter a message indicating that certain parts of the URL are restricted by robots.txt. This warning appears because we request Google not to crawl these pages, as they are intended for internal use or may contain duplicate content that could negatively impact a site's SEO.
For further assistance, please refer to Search Console Help.