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Set up Google Search Console for your site

⏱ 30 min5 steps

Google keeps a record of the searches that show your website, and shares it for free in Google . You'll add your site, prove to Google that it's yours, then look at your first numbers a week later. You need your and your site builder's login, or the person who built your site. Proving it's yours trips up a lot of owners the first time. You're not doing it wrong, and the fixes cover the usual hold-ups.

Search Console A free Google tool that shows whether Google has found your site and what people searched to get there. All wordsURL The address of a page on the internet, like gethomebydark.com. You type it in the bar at the top of your browser. All words
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Steps

Step 1 of 50 done · about 30 min left

  1. Step 1 of 5, not done yet
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  1. Open Search Console

    Search Console is free. You use it in your web , signed in with a Google .

    1. Go to search.google.com/search-console in your browser.
    2. Sign in with the Google account you use for your business.
    browser The app you use to visit websites, like Safari or Chrome. All wordsaccount A sign-in with a company, like a domain, email or hosting. Whoever owns the account controls what's in it. All words
    That's not what I see
    I'm not sure which Google account to use.
    Use the one that runs your business, like the account that manages your . Keep your personal account out of it if you can.Google Business Profile Your free listing on Google Search and Google Maps, with your hours, photos, reviews and phone number. All words

  2. Add your website

    Check your site builder's help for Google Search Console first, as Google suggests. Wix and Squarespace can connect from inside the builder: you sign in with Google, and they add and prove the site for you. If yours does, follow its guide and skip to Step 5.

    Search Console calls each website a property. There are two kinds:

    • covers every version of your address, with or without www. You prove it's yours with a change at the company you bought your web address from, where your settings usually live.
    • URL prefix covers only addresses that start exactly the way you type it. You can prove it's yours with a short tag on your homepage, often through a setting in your site builder.

    If you can sign in where you bought your web address, pick Domain. If you can't, or your site builder's help tells you to use a tag, pick URL prefix.

    1. Open the menu at the top left, and click Add property. If Google asks what kind, pick Website property.
    2. Pick Domain or URL prefix.
    3. For Domain, type your address with nothing in front, like yourbusiness.com. For URL prefix, type the full address as it shows in your browser, like https://www.yourbusiness.com/.
    4. Carry on to the screen that shows how to verify.
    domain Your website's name on the internet, like gethomebydark.com. You rent it by the year from a company called a registrar. All wordsDNS The settings that tell the internet where your domain's website and email live. All words
    That's not what I see
    I don't know where my domain name was bought.
    Search your email for the yearly renewal bill for your web address. The company that sends it is where your domain lives. If you can't find it, pick URL prefix.
    The buttons don't match what this step says.
    Google changes these screens now and then, so button names may differ. Look for a way to add a new property or website, often in the menu at the top left.

  3. If someone else runs your site, ask them to help

    If a web designer, a nephew or an agency built your site, they may be the only one who can add the tag or change the DNS. This drafts a short message asking them to do it and to add you as an owner. If you run your own site, skip to Step 4.

    1. Open the or claude.ai and start a new chat.
    2. Copy the prompt below.
    Write a short, friendly message to the person who looks after my website. Ask them to set up Google Search Console for my site and verify it, then add my Google account as an owner, so I can see the numbers myself. Ask them to tell me which way they verified it, so nobody removes it by accident later. Leave a blank marked MY GOOGLE ACCOUNT for me to fill in. Keep it under 100 words, in plain words.
    1. Paste it into the chat and send it.
    2. Fill in your Google account and send the message to them from your own email or phone.
    prompt What you type to Claude. A good one says what you want, how to work and what never to do. All wordsClaude app Claude on your phone or computer, where you chat with it by typing. claude.ai is the same thing in a web browser. All words

    You should see:

    A short message asking for Search Console to be set up, with a blank marked MY GOOGLE ACCOUNT.

    That's not what I see
    Nobody looks after my site any more.
    Find out who you pay for it each year: the site builder or the domain company. Sign in there yourself, or ask their support team to help you get back in. Then carry on from Step 4.

  4. Prove the site is yours

    Google calls this verifying. Pick the route that fits where your site lives. Google's own help page, "Verify your site ownership", has the full details for each one.

    • Your site builder connects for you. Covered in Step 2. If your builder instead gives you a box for a Google tag, pick HTML tag in Search Console and paste the line there. Shopify has no setting, so use a Domain property, or ask whoever built your store to add the tag.
    • Domain property. Search Console shows a short line of text called a . Add it in the DNS settings at the company where you bought your web address. For some companies, Google offers to add it for you.
    • URL prefix with a tag. Pick HTML tag, copy the line Google shows you, and paste it into your site's header code setting.

    Paste the tag or record only into your site builder or domain company's settings. Don't paste it into a chat with Claude.

    1. Follow the route that fits your site.
    2. Back in Search Console, click Verify.
    3. Leave the tag or record in place for good. Google checks it now and then, and you lose access if it's gone.
    TXT record A line of text in your domain's DNS settings. Google reads it to check that the domain is yours. All words

    You should see:

    A message saying Ownership verified, or a message saying what Google couldn't find.

    That's not what I see
    Google says it couldn't find the record.
    A new record can take two or three days to show up. Wait a day or two, then open Search Console, pick your site and click **Verify** again.
    My site builder won't let me add the tag.
    Some site builders don't allow the , tag or DNS routes. Check your builder's help for "Search Console" first. If it has no way, go back to Step 2 and add a Domain property, which you verify at your domain company instead.file One document on your computer, like a letter or a photo. Files live inside folders. All words
    I have to stop and come back to this.
    Click **Verify later**. When you come back, pick the site in the menu at the top left, then click **Verify**.

  5. Look at your first numbers a week later

    Google starts collecting data as soon as you add the site. It takes a few days to show.

    1. Put a reminder in your calendar for a week from today: Look at Search Console.
    2. When it comes up, open Search Console, pick your site, and click Performance in the menu on the left.
    3. Look at the four numbers above the chart:
      • Clicks: how many times someone clicked through to your site from Google.
      • : how many times your site showed up in the results.
      • : the click-through rate, clicks divided by impressions.
      • : roughly how high up the results you sat, averaged over many searches.
    4. Scroll down to the table, which lists the searches that showed your site.

    Google leaves out searches that very few people made, to protect their privacy, so the table won't add up to the totals. When you have a few weeks of data, the lesson "Ask Claude about your search data" shows how to turn it into a list of changes.

    impressions How many times your site showed up in Google's search results, whether or not anyone clicked. All wordsclick-through rate Clicks divided by impressions. It says how often people who saw your site in the results chose it. All wordsaverage position Where your site's top link sat in Google's results, averaged over every search that showed it. Position 1 is the top. All words

    You should see:

    A chart with clicks and impressions, and a table of the searches that showed your site.

    That's not what I see
    It says there's no data yet.
    Google's help says data usually shows in two or three days, and up to a week for a new site. Give it a few more days.
    My numbers are tiny.
    That's common for a local business. Small numbers still show which searches find you. Keep going with the lesson "Ask Claude about your search data" once you have a few weeks.
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Your challenge

Get your site verified in Search Console this week, or send the message to whoever looks after your site. A week later, open the Performance report and write down your clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position next to the date.

Last checked 2026-10-20

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