Setting Up Search Console and Verifying Your Site

01What Is Search Console and What Is It For?

Google Search Console is a free tool that shows how your site appears in Google searches. Here you track which searches you appear for, how many impressions and clicks you get, which pages are in the index and any technical problems.

While Google Analytics shows what visitors do once they reach your site, Search Console covers the stage before they arrive, that is, the search result. Using the two together gives the full picture; for the analytics side, see our Google Analytics 4 setup guide.

Search Console does not directly raise your rankings, but you cannot fix problems you cannot see. Pages that are not indexed, mobile usability issues and security warnings show up here first.

02Domain or URL Prefix?

When adding a property you are offered two options. The type you choose determines which addresses are gathered in a single report and which verification methods you can use.

For most businesses, the right choice is the domain property. If part of the site opens with www and part without, or the blog is on a subdomain, you see everything in one report. And even if the site later moves from HTTP to HTTPS, you don't need to open a new property. You can additionally open a URL prefix property, for example to track only the /blog/ section separately; both property types can be used at the same time.

03Site Verification Steps with DNS

Sign in to Search Console with the business's Google account. From the Add property menu, select Domain and enter your domain name without https or www (such as example.com).

1. Copy the TXT record that Google shows, starting with google-site-verification=.
2. Log in to the panel of the company you bought the domain from, or of your DNS service (such as Cloudflare).
3. Add a new TXT record: enter @ in the name (host) field or leave it blank, and paste the copied text into the value field.
4. Save the record and wait a few minutes; propagation can take longer with some providers.
5. Return to Search Console and click Verify. If it fails, check that the record has propagated and try again.

dig TXT ornek.com +short

nslookup -type=TXT ornek.com
# ya da
Resolve-DnsName ornek.com -Type TXT

04Other Verification Methods

If you have no access to the DNS panel, you can open a URL prefix property and use one of the alternative methods. In that case, write the property address exactly the same as the site's main address; https://example.com/ and https://www.example.com/ are separate properties.

• HTML file: Upload the file Google gives you to the site's root folder.
• HTML tag: Add the provided meta tag to the head section of the home page.
• Google Analytics: If the GA tag managed with the same account is running on the site, verification takes one click.
• Google Tag Manager: This method also works if you have publish permission on the container.

<meta name="google-site-verification" content="BURAYA_GOOGLE_KODU">

05How Do You Submit a Sitemap?

A sitemap (sitemap.xml) is a file that tells Google the important addresses on your site and when they were last updated. On small sites Google can also discover pages through links, but a sitemap helps new and updated pages get found faster.

In Search Console, open the Sitemaps screen from the left menu, enter the sitemap.xml address and submit it. You are done when you see Success in the Status column and the number of discovered URLs. Adding the same address to robots.txt lets other search engines find the sitemap too.

• The sitemap should contain only canonical addresses that return a 200 response and that you want indexed.
• Remove redirected or noindex addresses from the sitemap.
• A single file can hold at most 50,000 addresses; use an index file for larger sites.

User-agent: *
Disallow:

Sitemap: https://ornek.com/sitemap.xml

06Reports to Check in the First Week

It may take a few days for reports to fill after verification. Once data starts coming in, the screens below give the clearest picture of your site's search health.

Performance report

Shows total clicks, impressions, average click-through rate and average position. In the Queries tab you see which searches you appear for, and you can improve the titles and descriptions of pages that get high impressions but few clicks.

Pages and URL Inspection

The Pages report lists indexed and non-indexed addresses with their reasons. To see the status of a single address, use the URL Inspection box at the top; for an important page you have just published, you can request indexing from here.

Core Web Vitals and HTTPS

The Core Web Vitals report groups pages as good, needs improvement and poor, based on real user data. The thresholds for good are 2.5 seconds for LCP, 200 milliseconds for INP and 0.1 for CLS. The HTTPS report shows addresses that are not served securely; for redirect rules, see our .htaccess redirects article.

07Common Errors and Fixes

Not every warning in the Pages report is an urgent problem. Redirected addresses, pages you deliberately set to noindex or duplicates with filter parameters normally stay out of the index. Give priority to the important pages you expect to bring traffic.

08User Permissions and Security

The property owner should always be the business itself. Give an agency or developer full or restricted user access from the Settings > Users and permissions screen; giving ownership makes it harder to take access back when the collaboration ends.

Search Console emails you when it detects malware or a manual action (manual penalty) on your site. To make sure these notifications reach the right person, keep the account email an address that is checked regularly. For visibility in local search, you can complement Search Console with the steps in setting up a Google Business Profile.