How to Add Google Search Console to WordPress?

One of the significant tasks of digital marketing is indexing your website in search engines and monitoring its performance. To maintain your website’s visibility on the search engine, Google Search Console is an accessible tool to get assistance. You can quickly add Google Search Console to WordPress to monitor your website.

With this robust tool, you can track a website’s performance, gain real-time insights for data-driven decisions, understand keyword trends and accessibility, and more. It will also help you analyze insightful data concerning consumer behavior.

You need to add this tool to make your website more user-centric. If you have a WordPress website, performing this task is simple. This blog will assist you to add Google Search Console to WordPress in 3 easy steps.

Let us get started with our blog!

Add Google Search Console to WordPress in 3 Steps

This 3-step tutorial will help you understand the entire process thoroughly. In this section, we will cover the following steps in detail.

• 
  
  Setup Google Search Console
  
• 
  
  Select Appropriate Verification Method
  
• 
  
  Submit Sitemap to Google Search Console
  

Let us start with our tutorial!

Setup Google Search Console

The first step to add Google Search Console to WordPress is to set up your GSC account by visiting the official website. Here are the steps that you need to follow while setting up your official Google Search Console account:

• Go to the official website of Google Search Console.
• Enter your Gmail ID and password to create or log in to your Google account from which you want to use GSC.

• Add your website to the GSC using the desired option on the screen. Choose from “Domain” or “URL Prefix” to add your website to GSC. The “URL Prefix” option is recommended for WordPress website users.

Select Appropriate Verification Method

After setting up the Google Search Console account, you will see five options to verify your website’s ownership.

• HTML File
• HTML Tag
• Google Analytics
• Google Tag Manager
• Domain Name Provider

In this section, we will learn how to add Google Search Console to WordPress using the HTML file method.

Use HTML File for Verification

• Download the HTML file from the Google Search Console account to verify website ownership.
• Now, upload the file to your website’s root directory using the FTP client or Hosting’s file manager services.
• After uploading the HTML file, click the verify button in the GSC account.

Use RankMath Plugin for Verification

If you are new and do not know how to upload an HTML file to a WordPress website, you can use a WP plugin such as RankMath to complete verification.

Let us see how!

• Firstly, install and activate the RankMath plugin from the WordPress directory.
• Then, head to the Webmaster Tools section under RankMath’s General Settings.

• To complete the verification, add the HTML tag code before the GSC. You can get the HTML tag code from your GSC account.

• Paste your tag here and hit the “Save Changes” button to complete the RankMath Google Verification process.
• Then, conclude the website verification and hit the “Verify” button in the GSC account.

With RankMath, you can easily verify your website with GSC and proceed to add Google Search Console to WordPress.

Use Google Analytics for Verification

If you now use Google Analytics on your website, or you intend to do so, you can use
Google Search Console to confirm it. You should set up Google Analytics first if youhaven’t already.

 Choose  as your method of verification.
 Select Verify

After you click Verify, Google Search Console will connect to your website using the Asynchronous Tracking Code.

Use Google Tag Manager for Verification

You can use Google Tag Manager to validate your WordPress website. However, for this strategy to work, you must make sure that the container snippet is present in your current website:

Click on verify, and Google Search Console will scan your website for the corresponding code. If the verification is successful, you’ll see the confirmation screen after a few seconds.

Use Domain Name Provider for verification.

To verify a Domain property in Google Search Console, you have to verify that you are, in fact, the owner of the domain and not just the URL.
That means you need to verify it with your DNS (Domain Name Service) provider. That would be whomever you bought your domain name and/or hosting services from.

To do that, input your domain name and click Continue:

This is the most advanced method compared to the previous ones. For DNS verification Google search console you need to edit your DNS records. If you check the available domain providers, you will see the most popular ones such as  NameSilo.com, GoDaddy.com, and others you can spot your domain registrar, select it, and click Start verification.

Your domain registrar’s official website will automatically open in a new tab and you will be able to complete the verification in no time.

If you can’t see your domain name registrar in the dropdown, choose the Any DNS Provider option and copy the TXT record.

Submit Sitemap to Google Search Console

After completing the site ownership verification, the next step to add Google Search Console to WordPress is to submit a sitemap. With a sitemap, Google can quickly understand your website’s structure, which is crucial for indexing.

You can submit your website’s sitemap to Google Search Console using the following method.

• Go to the RankMath and click the “Sitemap Settings” option to get your website’s sitemap.
• Here, you will see the Sitemap Index link under the General settings and copy the sitemap link.

• Please paste the link address into the Google Search Console account. Then, hit the submit button to notify Google about the sitemap.

It is the easiest method to add Google Search Console to WordPress. This method will help keep your website secure while entering its details into Google’s database.

Troubleshoot: Why Google Site Verification Failed on Website

A website may not pass Google Site Verification for several reasons. These are a few typical reasons:

1. ncorrect implementation: Validation failure may result from errors in adding the meta tag, uploading the HTML file to WordPress for Google verification, or changing the DNS.
2. Problems with Caching: Your website may not update instantly if it contains caching features. Try the verification again after clearing the cache on your website.
3. Incorrect verification method: Make sure you choose the appropriate verification option and adhere to Google’s detailed instructions for that approach.
4. Website outage: A validation failure may result if your website is momentarily unavailable or has server problems while the verification attempt is underway.
5. Incorrect Subdomain or Domain: Make sure the version of your website you are checking is accurate. Google considers yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com to be distinct websites.

How we fix ‘validation failed’ on Google Search Console.

1. Verify the code again: Make sure the file or verification code is positioned appropriately.
2. Empty your cache: If required, clear the cache on your browser and website.
3. Await DNS updates: If a DNS TXT record was used, wait for the modifications to take effect before attempting again.
4. Look for problems with the website: Verify that the page with the verification method is reachable.

After looking over those points, if these issues still persist, consider attempting the verification once more with Google Search Console or with another verification method.

Conclusion

After adding your website to Google Search Console, you can monitor its performance to ensure your content reaches the target audience. With GSC, you can monitor search queries, click-through rates, crawl and security errors, and more. Once you add Google Search Console to WordPress, you can improve its performance by rendering the on-page SEO or performing keyword tracking for better results.