Google
February 20, 2025

How to Set up Google Search Console for ANY Website or CMS

How to Set up Google Search Console for ANY Website or CMS

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool that helps you measure your website performance in Google’s Search Engine Result Pages (SERPS). 

Not only is it an important tool to understand how your website has performed in Google searches over time, but also helps you submit your website to Google to get it indexed in the first place. As such, it is one of the most essential SEO tools you can use. 

But how do you link your website to it? How do you leverage all its features to your SEO advantage? Is there a huge learning curve? We answer all questions about setting up and using GSC effectively in our detailed guide.

Prerequisites to Set Up a Google Search Console Account

Before you can start using Google Search Console, you’ll need to verify that you are the rightful owner of the domain you want to use it for. Keep the following on standby before you start the process of connecting your website to it:

  1. A Google Account: You can’t access GSC without a Gmail account, so make one (if you are one of those rare few individuals who don’t have it already). It will be the account you use to manage and access your GSC dashboard.
  2. Domain Ownership: You’ll need to have backend access to your domain. If you bought it from a domain provider like Namecheap or Godaddy, you can find your domain in “Purchases” or “Products” under your respective accounts.
  1. Google Tag Manager (Optional): While not mandatory, setting up a Google Tag Manager account first can simplify the GSC setup and integration with other tools, such as Google Analytics.
✩ Pro Tip: Select the email you use for Google Search Console wisely. It’s highly recommended that you use a work email or an email you use with other SEO tools or Google services. If you manage multiple websites, keep them all under one GSC dashboard for convenience.

How to Set Up Google Search Console: Step-by-Step Guide

You can set up Google Search Console using two different methods. One requires that you use the Google Tag Manager to add GSC verification tags to the website, while the other requires that you or a web developer add the code to your website manually.

We will show you the step-by-step process to set up GSC using both methods. Feel free to use whichever is easiest for you. 

Method 1: Setting Up Google Search Console Without Google Tag Manager

1. Before you start, ensure you’re signed into the Google account you want to use for Google Search Console. 

Then, go to Google Search Console and click on “Start Now”.

2. You’ll be taken to a page that asks you to Select property type.

The choice here will depend on whether you want to track the whole website or just a subdomain. Here’s what each of these means:

  1. Domain Property: Tracks all URLs across subdomains and protocols. You will need to add the txt record provided by Google Search Console to verify your domain ownership, i.e do DNS verification.
  2. URL prefix Property: Tracks URLs for a specific protocol or subdomain of your website.

    This method can be useful for a large company that has diverse product offerings under one umbrella domain, such as Google itself. 

For instance, Google’s various subdomains such as mail.google.com (Gmail), drive.google.com (Google Drive), news.google.com (Google News), and maps.google.com (Google Maps) offer different Google products and receive millions of users each, so it makes sense to track data for each of them individually. 

✩ Pro Tip: If you’re setting up Google Search Console for your website for the first time, it’s highly recommended that you track data for the entire website and use the domain property verification method.  The only typical exception would be if you’re using Google Tag Manager or Google Analytics to set up GSC. Both of these are available for the URL prefix method only (more on that in the next section). In most other cases, it’s much simpler to just go with a DNS record.

  1. Select a verification method. The next steps will depend on the method you choose at this stage. We’ll guide you through each method and the available options for verification step-by-step.

A. Using the Domain Property Verification Method

This approach ensures complete domain-level verification, which covers all subdomains and protocol variations (e.g., http, https, www, non-www).

  1. There’s only one way to verify domain ownership for this method.

Start by entering your domain and selecting Continue.

You’ll now see this box with further instructions:

Copy the TXT record provided by GSC in instruction #4.

  1. Open your domain registrar (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap) and locate your DNS settings.

Then, paste the TXT record into your DNS settings. 

Note: If your website is hosted on a server other than your domain registrar’s, you’ll have to add the Txt record in your cPanel instead. 

For instance, we use FastComet’s shared hosting service for one website and can add the Txt records via cPanel’s Zone Editor.

The process will look largely the same for all hosting providers — and you have the option of asking their customer service for help if you’re stuck while navigating their platform.

  1. Once you have located the option to add the Txt record in your domain registrar or hosting cPanel,  select Add Record to add the GSC Txt record.

Then, select Txt record from Type and add the code you copied from GSC in the Record column there. 

  1. Return to GSC and click Verify after saving the changes. DNS changes can take a few minutes to propagate, so don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t work immediately. 

B) Using the URL prefix Property Method:

This method offers greater flexibility in terms of how you can verify domain ownership. 

You can still use DNS verification as above, even if you only want to monitor a specific protocol or subdomain of the website. 

Note: If you’re not using the URL prefix method entirely, click here to skip to the next section.

We recommend using DNS verification as the primary verification method unless you have Google Tag Manager or Google Analytics already configured for your website. 

Here’s a brief overview of the other options available:

1. HTML File Upload:

  1. If you select this option, Google Search Console will provide you with an HTML file that you will need to upload to your website. 
  1. You’ll need to upload this file to the root directory of your website.
     
    1. The root directory for a website is located on its hosting server, so you’ll need to have access to your cPanel. Once you’re inside your cPanel, find the File Manager icon. It’s usually located in the Files section.
    2. In the File Manager, look for a folder named public_html or www. This is typically the root directory for your website.
  1. Click on the public_html folder to view its contents, which include your website files, WordPress installation, and other subdirectories.

  1. This is where you can upload files, manage your website content, and make necessary changes.

    You’ll find Upload as one of the options here. In our cPanel, it’s located in the top left corner of the page, but the layout may look different for your hosting company. Click on it and upload the GSC HTML file here.
  2. Once done, return to GSC and click Verify. Google Search Console will confirm ownership if the chosen method is set up correctly.

2. HTML Tag  

In our opinion, HTML Tag method is relatively simpler than HTML file method. You also don’t need to have access to your domain account or cPanel if you use a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, and can just execute this directly from there.

  1. Once you select the HTML tag option for verification under the URL prefix method, you’ll get a meta tag from Google Search Console. 

You need to place it in your website home page’s HTML code in the <head> section.

b) Now you need to access your website’s HTML code. If you use a popular CMS like Joomla, Shopify, WordPress, or Drupal — the next steps are straightforward. Using cPanel File Manager will be necessary for static websites.

We’ll show you how to do this with WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Wix, Shopify, and static websites. 

  • For WordPress Users
  1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
  2. Navigate to Appearance > Theme File Editor.
  1. Open the header.php file of your active theme.
  1. Look for the closing </head> tag. Paste the copied meta tag right before this tag. Then, click Update File to save your changes.

Note: The steps to do it inside other popular CMSes also look largely the same. Only terminology may change for step #2. For example, in Joomla, you navigate from Extensions > Templates.


Similarly, in Drupal, you go to Structure > Block Layout for step #2, and locate the block that manages the header. That’s where your HTML tag from GSC goes.


  • For Wix Users
  1. Log in to your Wix account.
  2. Go to the Site menu and select Tracking & Analytics.
  3. Click on + New Tool, choose Custom, and paste the meta tag into the Header section.
  4. Save your changes.
  • For Joomla Users
  1. Log in to the Joomla admin panel.
  2. Navigate to Templates > Styles and select your active template.
  3. Click on the Edit button. In the editor, find the index.php file.
  4. Paste the meta tag inside the <head> section.
  5. Save the changes.
  • For Drupal Users
  1. Log in to your Drupal admin dashboard.
  2. Go to Structure > Block layout and find the block responsible for rendering the site’s header.
  3. Edit the block and paste the meta tag into the header section.
  • For Shopify Users
  1. Log in to your Shopify admin panel.
  2. Go to Online Store > Themes and click on Actions > Edit Code for your active theme.
  3. Open the theme.liquid file and paste the meta tag within the <head> section. Once done, save your changes.
  • For Static Websites
  1. Go to your CMS > File Manager > publichtml directory. If you’re not sure how to get to this directory, follow the steps to find the publichtml directory as described in the HTML upload method.
  2. Inside this directory, you should be able to find another subdirectory, known as the main html file. It’s usually called index.html or home.html.

Once you've located the index.html file (or the equivalent main HTML file), right-click on it and select View to see its contents without editing it. Select Edit or Code Edit from the context menu. This will open the file in a text editor within cPanel.

  1. Locate the <head> section in your main HTML file and add the copied meta tag from Google Search Console here. Make sure to paste it right before the closing </head> tag

c) Regardless of which CMS you use, the last step will look the same: 

Return to Google Search Console and click Verify after adding the meta tag. 

3. Google Analytics

To use your existing Google Analytics account to verify domain ownership for Google Search Console, you must meet some prerequisites. This method won’t work otherwise. 

Before you start, ensure that:

  • You set up Google Analytics (GA) for your website before this. 
  • The email account you used for Google Analytics is the same as the one you intend to use for GSC.
  • The Analytics code is correctly installed on your website.
  • The tracking code has “Edit” permissions enabled in GA4.

Once the prerequisites are in place, just click Verify and it will automatically verify domain ownership.

Method 2. Setting Up Google Search Console with Google Tag Manager

This method requires less technical know-how, so is recommended for those working without a web developer. 

Before you get started, make sure to have Google Tag Manager open in one tab and your GSC account in the other.

  1. Go to Google Search Console and click on Start Now. 
  1. You’ll be asked to choose between Domain Property Verification and URL prefix methods. Google Tag Manager verification is only available as an option for the latter. 

Enter your URL below the URL prefix method column, as shown below. Then, select Continue.

  1. Choose Google Tag Manager from the list of verification options on the next page.

If GTM was installed correctly on your website, Google Search Console will automatically detect the GTM container on your site during this process and verify domain ownership.

Click Verify to confirm. Once the verification is complete, you’ll get a confirmation message inside GSC.

Key Features of Google Search Console and How to Use Them

You’ve set up Google Search Console. Now what? 

To start leveraging it to your advantage for SEO, you’ll need to spend some time learning about the features and tools available inside Google Search Console. 

You won't need to worry about learning a lot since the interface is quite straightforward to use for even non-technical users. Familiarizing yourself with different tools should take a couple of sign-ins, and you should be good to go. 

Once you sign in for the first time and select the website you want to review, the first page you’re brought to is called the Overview report. It works as a home page for the dashboard and gives you a quick overview of everything, including indexing issues, search performance, mobile usability, and experience issues, etc.

In a true home page fashion, you can also navigate to other tools easily from the Overview page.

Let’s break down what each of these tabs is for so you can leverage it to perform better in Google search.

Performance Report

The Performance section offers in-depth analytics on your site’s visibility in search results, presenting key metrics such as Click-Through Rate (CTR), impressions, average position, and search queries

Just like the name suggests, the insights here allow you to understand your overall SEO performance. You can figure out which keywords drive traffic to your site, how your pages rank for specific search terms, and how you can perform better. 

Here are some tips for using this report effectively for SEO:

  • Analyze Impressions and CTR for important pages: Focus on pages with high impressions but low CTR. 

This mismatch could mean that the page ranks well but is not enticing clicks, perhaps due to an unappealing meta description or title. Adjusting titles to be more engaging and ensuring they reflect search intent can help you get more clicks to your website.

  • Study Keywords with an Average Position of 5-10: Such keywords can be pushed to the top spots with some push, so you can prioritize these in your SEO efforts to see more website traffic. 
  • Analyze Where Your Traffic is Coming from: Use filters to break down data by country, device, or date range to better understand your audience. 

For example, if you notice that mobile users have lower CTR, optimize page loading times or mobile UI for a better mobile experience. Similarly, you can focus on marketing more in locations where your audience primarily comes from.

URL Inspection Tool

Just below the Overview and Performance tab, you’ll find The URL Inspection tool. 

It provides insights into how Google views specific pages on your site. You can use it to check whether a URL is indexed, has any crawl errors or mobile usability issues, etc.

Here’s an example:

You can use this tool to test if a new page you added to the website has been indexed. If it’s not, you can click on Request Indexing to submit it for indexing.

Indexing Tools

Also known as the Coverage report, the Indexing report shows you the overall indexing and crawling status of different URLS on your websites. It also tells you why some web pages or videos may not have been crawled or indexed yet, so you can fix those issues.

This tab has four options below it:

  • Pages: shows you the indexing status of pages
  • Videos: shows you the indexing status of videos
  • Sitemaps: Once you have added new URLs to your site, you need to resubmit your updated sitemap to Google. This tells Google that there are new URLs to be indexed. 

The simplest way to create a new sitemap is to use a WordPress plugin like RankMath or Yoast. They automatically create sitemaps for you (and can also submit them directly to GSC if you have connected both tools).

In case you don't use WordPress, you can use an online tool like XML sitemaps to generate a new sitemap with a click of a button. Then, just download the XML file and submit it to the search console.

  • Removals: Want Google search engine to de-index URLs with outdated content? This is where you submit the request for it.

Once you start reviewing the Pages or Videos tab, you’ll find URLs grouped together based on the type of error they have. For instance, all pages that have been deliberately or accidentally excluded on your website using robot.txt, are highlighted under Excluded by no index tag category.

Here are other types of errors you’ll commonly come across in this report and what they mean:

  • Page with redirect: This page has a redirect that sends users or crawlers to a different URL. Ensure that the redirect is intentional and points to the correct destination.
  • Blocked due to other 4xx issues: The page encountered a 4xx client-side error other than a 404 (e.g., 401 Unauthorized or 410 Gone). Get a web developer to check the page’s availability or permissions.
  • Blocked due to access forbidden (403): The server is blocking Google’s crawler from accessing this page, typically due to permissions settings. Adjust access permissions to allow Google to crawl it.
  • Crawled - currently not indexed: Google has crawled this page, but it hasn’t indexed it. This might be because the page lacks valuable content, is a duplicate, or isn’t deemed relevant yet by Google. Optimizing content may improve indexing chances.
  • Discovered - currently not indexed: Google has identified this page but hasn’t yet crawled it. If the page is important, you can submit it directly through GSC’s URL Inspection tool or improve internal linking to increase its crawl priority.

Experience Tools

Experience tools tell you how well your website meets usability and performance standards. It considers experience-based metrics like page speed, mobile-friendliness, and core web vitals for each URL.

As page experience is an important ranking factor for Google Search, the SEO issues listed in this report shouldn’t be overlooked.

You’ll find three tabs under this group:

  • Page Experience: This shows you the overall usability and performance of your site, including mobile-friendliness, security, and loading quality.
  • Core Web Vitals: Evaluates key performance metrics like loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, crucial for providing a smooth and responsive user experience.

Note: If you have a small website that gets up to only a few hundred visitors a month, the tool may not have enough data to show for your website. In this case, it will direct you to the PageSpeed Insights tool to do a live test of your site.

There’s nothing to worry about, though. The PageSpeed Insights tool breaks down exactly what could be affecting your website performance — and how you can fix it.

  • HTTPS: Displays a report of the total number of web pages that use secure HTTPS protocols.

 

Shopping Tools

Shopping Tools can help you manage and optimize how your product listings appear in Google searches. This group of tools is designed for online stores and ecommerce websites, although other websites may still get some insights from it.

You’ll find two tabs in this group:

  • Product Snippets: This provides performance data for structured product information displayed directly in Google’s search results. It will tell you issues that persist so you can improve item appearance in the SERPs.
  • Merchant Listing: This tool is designed to assist online merchants in managing their product listings on Google Shopping. It identifies issues like missing product data or price errors so you can ensure your listings are accurate.

Enhancement Tools

Enhancement tools are designed to highlight issues with how FAQs, product reviews, and star ratings appear in the SERPs. 

There are three tabs in this group:

  • FAQ: Monitors your FAQ schema, so you can control how questions and answers from your site appear directly in search results.
  • Review Snippets: This one provides structured data insights for product or service reviews so you can ensure star ratings and review summaries appear correctly in search results. 
  • Sitelinks Searchbox: This one allows you to track and improve the search box that appears beneath your website's main link in search results. This feature lets users search your site directly from Google, increasing engagement and helping users find content more efficiently.

Note: Google is depreciating this feature soon. Sitelinks Searchbox will soon cease to appear in Google search results.

Security and Manual Actions

Security and Manual Action Tools can help you identify and resolve issues that may negatively impact your site’s search visibility.

This group has two tabs:

  • Manual actions: Using this tool, you can find out whether your website has violated Google's guidelines regarding unnatural links and spam. 

If a manual action has been issued by Google, the report will tell you how to resolve the issue. You will also be able to submit an appeal once you’ve made the required fixes.

  • Security Issues: You can use this report to identify vulnerabilities on your site, such as hacked content, malware, or phishing attempts, so you can protect your users right away. GSC will notify you if you have any security issues.

Links Tool

The Links tool breaks down your site’s internal and external linking structure. You can analyze how many URLs link to your content (backlinks) and identify your site's most linked-to pages.

The report is divided into four main sections:

  • External Links: Lists links from other websites pointing to your pages, highlighting your site’s top-linked pages and linking sites.
  • Internal Links: Shows links between pages within your site, helping you assess the strength of your internal linking strategy.
  • Top Linking Sites: Displays sites that link to your content the most, which can help evaluate referral traffic sources.
  • Top Linking Text: Reveals anchor text used by external sites, helping you understand how others describe your content.

Final Words

Setting up GSC is not enough — to make the most of it, you must understand how to understand and then leverage the data you get through it.

Start by monitoring the dashboard regularly to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs. Here’s a handy checklist to help you plan what you should be doing with GSC:

Monthly Checklist:

  • Review Performance and Coverage Reports.
  • Inspect URL issues flagged in URL Inspection Tool.
  • Check Core Web Vitals and Mobile Usability scores.

Quarterly Checklist:

  • Submit sitemaps to ensure page discovery.
  • Address any new manual actions or security issues.
  • Identify seasonal trends for content planning.

Not sure how to use GSC data to inform your SEO strategy? Consider our Google Search Console replacement tool - SEO Stack. It shows you exactly how you can increase revenue and search results with the insights from GSC, so you can focus more on SEO and less on interpreting the data.

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