How to Add a Website to Google Search Console: Step by Step

What you need

• A Google account the site will belong to. Ideally a company account rather than an employee’s or contractor’s personal email: the property owner is whoever verified it.
• Access to your domain’s DNS — the registrar or hosting panel where domain records are edited. You need it for the most convenient verification method.
• If you don’t have DNS access — access to your site settings, so you can add a verification tag.
• Your sitemap address. It is often /sitemap.xml, but it’s best to check the exact address in your robots.txt file, on the Sitemap: line.

Step 1. Choose a property type

Search Console calls an added site a property. There are two types for websites:

• Domain property — the whole domain: with and without www, over http and https, with all subdomains. You enter just the domain name, e.g. example.com. It can only be verified with a DNS record.
• URL-prefix property — only addresses that start exactly as you entered them, including the protocol: https://www.example.com/. The version without www or over http is not included. On the other hand, it can be verified in several ways, including without DNS.

If you have DNS access, choose a Domain property: it gives you the full picture and doesn’t lose data when the site moves to https or switches its www variant. A URL-prefix property is handy for tracking a section separately, such as the /en/ language version. You can keep both types at the same time.

Step 2. Add the property

1. Open Google Search Console and sign in to the right Google account.
2. Click the property selector in the top left and choose Add property. On your first visit, the form opens automatically.
3. Choose the type and enter the address. For a Domain property — the domain only, without https://, www or a trailing slash. For a URL-prefix property — the full home page address exactly as it opens in the browser.
4. Click Continue: Search Console will offer a verification method.

Step 3. Verify ownership

DNS record — for a Domain property

1. Search Console shows a string like google-site-verification=…. Copy it in full.
2. In the panel where your domain’s DNS is managed, create a TXT record. In the name (host) field, point to the root domain — depending on the panel, that’s @ or an empty field. Paste the copied string as the value.
3. Save the record, go back to Search Console and click Verify.

DNS changes don’t propagate instantly. If verification fails the first time, wait and click Verify again: anything from a few minutes to a few hours is usually enough. You can also choose Verify later.

HTML tag — for a URL-prefix property

Search Console gives you a meta tag like <meta name="google-site-verification" content="…">. It needs to go in the <head> section of your home page. Most CMSs have a field for this in the template or SEO extension settings, so you don’t have to edit files by hand. Once saved, click Verify.

Other methods

A URL-prefix property can also be verified by uploading an HTML file to the site root, with the Google Analytics code or with a Google Tag Manager container. The last two are convenient if the tracking code or container is already on the site and your account has access to it. I covered installing them properly in the articles on installing Google Analytics 4 and on installing Google Tag Manager.

Step 4. Submit your sitemap

1. In the left-hand menu, open Indexing → Sitemaps.
2. Enter your sitemap address and click Submit.
3. After a while the status changes to Success, with the number of discovered URLs next to it.

A sitemap doesn’t guarantee that pages get into search, but it helps Google find new and updated pages faster. If your site has several languages, it’s convenient to submit a separate sitemap for each: that makes it easier to spot which version is slipping.

Step 5. Give colleagues access, not your password

If a marketer or contractor works on your site, don’t hand over your Google account. Open Settings → Users and permissions → Add user, enter their email and choose the permission level. Full permission covers all reports and page inspection; Restricted is for viewing data. Keep ownership with the company: then you can revoke access in one click, and your data history doesn’t leave with the contractor.

What to do in the first few days

• Don’t worry about empty reports. The first data appears a few days after you add the property.
• Check your home page. Paste its address into the search bar at the top of Search Console: the URL Inspection tool shows whether the page is indexed. For a new, important page you can click Request indexing there. The number of such requests per day is limited, so save them for key pages.
• After a week, open the Pages report in the Indexing section. It shows which URLs are indexed, which aren’t and why.
• Link Search Console to Google Analytics 4. Then Analytics shows reports on search queries and pages from organic search.

Common mistakes

• The domain is entered with https:// or www in the Domain property field. You only need the name: example.com.
• The TXT record is added in the wrong place. If your domain’s DNS isn’t managed by the registrar but by, say, Cloudflare or your host, records go wherever the domain’s nameservers point. Changes at the registrar have no effect in that case.
• The wrong version of the site is added. An http:// URL-prefix property for a site that has long run on https:// will be almost empty.
• The verification tag disappeared after a site update, and later an email arrives about lost ownership. Restore the tag or switch to DNS verification.
• The site is registered to a contractor. When the work ends, access to your data history goes with them. Your company should be the owner.

In short

1. DNS access — choose a Domain property; no DNS access — a URL-prefix property.
2. Add the property via Add property in the selector at the top left.
3. Verify ownership with a TXT record or an HTML tag, and don’t remove them afterwards.
4. Submit your sitemap under Indexing → Sitemaps.
5. Give colleagues access through Users and permissions, not your password.
6. After a few days, check your home page and the Pages report.

If you’d rather not deal with DNS and reports, we can set up Google Search Console for you: verify ownership, submit your sitemaps and explain in plain words what Google sees. And if you’d like to discuss Search Console data right in a conversation with AI, read how I connected GSC to Claude via MCP.