Yes! We All Need Google Webmasters!

Some business owners wonder if they need to worry about Google Analytics, SEO, and tracking all that data. Well, even if you’re a casual blogger, getting confirmed as an official website on Google can do nothing but help your traffic, and that’s a good thing. If you’re a company who needs more revenue from online traffic, getting verified is a MUST. See below for a step-by-step easy guide to getting your URL verified by the most important search engine around.

 If they see you, traffic will come.

How many visitors to your website do you have in one day? With Google’s tracking software, you can tell who has been to your site, who is a new visitor, how long they stay on your website (bounce rate) and whether they typed in your site’s URL or did a Google Search.

Step 1

Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/ and notice how user-friendly and welcoming their homepage is. Really! I must say that Google has a plethora of training videos, tutorials, and support. They want businesses to get more traffic because it ultimately helps them. So do not be afraid. Sign in with your existing Google account.

Step 2

“Welcome to Search Console”

Now that you have signed in, it is time to tell Google what website you would like to verify. Type in the URL and click “ADD PROPERTY.” Now, before you continue, let me save you some steps. Type in all the variations of your website URL that may be utilized in a search. For instance, jamisonediting.com could be any of the following: www.jamisonediting.com; http://www.jamisonediting.com; https://jamisonediting.com; https://www.jamisonediting.com. In order to “see” your site, Google will need all these alternative URL addresses, because different people type in different things in the search bar. So save yourself a lot of time and do this now. You’ll understand why later. 😊

Step 3

Once you submit your URL’s, you must insert some code into your website, like a geotag, that Google can find. This part can get tricky, so although Google recommends downloading and uploading files (see above screenshot), I have found that the “alternate” method is much easier (below). That’s the one I am going to explain now.

When you click on “alternate method” you will have several choices. I like the HTML tag choice. When you click on that, you will see that Google gives you a long string of code and asks you to copy and paste it into your site. Make sure that you paste ONLY the part that I have highlighted. Paste the code into your Home page at the top of the page. Sometimes, it takes a couple tries to get Google to successfully verify it. Make sure you are in the HTML coding “view” of your page so you can actually see the code going in.

After you have finished, click verify and then you should get a green “successful” message from Google. Now, it is all up to you. Write that content! Contact us if you need help with the process. Please feel free to comment with questions or thoughts.