It’s actually easier to do if you use an SEO plugin like YOAST which has a feature to put both the Google and Bing verification in the code for you, along with managing elements for social media (OG tags), and related. We used to roll our own in house solution from 2005-2013, but now have standardized on Yoast for the SEO header stuff. Works well.
Hello,
Thanks @Christopher for the help.
Ok,
I’ve usually just used the tag cause the website normally gets verified instantly then. But I do use Yoast. Where exactly do I find the verification code? what does it look like?
Thanks
from admin panel, SEO > dashboard
“Webmaster Tools
You can use the boxes below to verify with the different Webmaster Tools, if your site is already verified, you can just forget about these. Enter the verify meta values for:”
Google _________
Bing __________
Alexa __________
simply put in your code(s).
Cheers,
but i meant where exactly do i find the google verification code? Not on my wordpress site but from webmaster tools. And what does the code look like.
I’ve had some issues in the past with analytics code. Some plugins just require the Tracking code, some wants the whole script. Others want the script but excluding certain parts.
Oh sorry.
I got confused …. for the Google Publisher code which you have in your first query on this topic, you would put that in YOAST, under
admin > SEO > social > [tab:Google]
You may want to explore the different tabs, options, and such in the Yoast plugin, as all the info is there – just click around on each section to see what is there. Nothing will blow up, and nothing will change unless you set ‘save.’
For getting a Google Webmaster “site verification” which is totally different from the G+ publisher code, you would already have the code if you have Google Anayltics.
The Google Webmaster Verification Code (NOT the G+ publisher code, which is a URL), is just the numeric unique ID they give you. When you request the code in the Webmaster Tools panel, they give you a file, or a link .. all you need to put in Yoast for the Webmaster Verification is the code string which might look something like “asfjahafaaiyIYFigiyg” or similar.
AGAIN – FOR ANY READING THIS POST: Two different things:
1) Google Webmaster Site Verification: used to verify it’s your site with Google for things like submitting/managing sitemap(s), and Analytics.
2) Google+ Publisher Code is to connect the site to your G+ page and vice versa.
Both of these can be dropped into your pages via Yoast SEO plugin for WP (or other such plugins).
Thank you Christopher for your patience. I confuse myself sometimes to.
So just to see if I’m getting it right:
Google publisher code would be:
https://plus.google.com/+MyPageName
And i put this URL in SEO/Social/Google+ Tab
Google verification code would be:
something like google8800498ee000000e
(Or just the 8800498ee000000e?)
And this i enter into Google Webmaster Tools in Yoast Control panel
Google Analytics code would be:
something like UA-00000000-1
And that goes somewhere else …
And then for the next question. Would you recommend to get your site verfied with Google, Bing AND Alexa?
Hi, I think you have it correct on all points.
Also, when you enter the verification code, you have to from the other open window/tab hit “verify” with Google when doing that — so they will tell you if they didn’t verify your site or not.
YES!!! You should verify your site with Google and Bing and submit sitemaps. In the old days it actually hurt SEO to have Google ping your site in this way vs the classic robot crawl (seriously, the old robot crawl used to give better results in the old times). NOW, it’s imperative to use Google Webmaster Tools as it will tell you of “crawl errors” and “404 pages” (like you delete a story, then do new one, but forget to do redirect from old to new; or fire an author but don’t redirect the author page to the “about us” page), and also warnings about duplicate content, etc. All super valuable in seeing what Google is actually indexing, what they can’t index, or what they won’t index for errors of some kind.
Bing now has a similar thing, but still kind of wonky. I have seen couple of our sites get messages ‘you can submit a sitemap!’ — when the sitemap is already indexed and showing on another tab as indexed (sigh, Microsoft… can’t you ever get it together?). Bing is important as it also feeds Yahoo. So, kind of important for both.
Alexa … well, if you want to get some “guess metrics” about your site, which may not be remotely accurate; by “claiming” your site via an Alexa account you can get some additional metrics in your Alexa account. Alexa is kind of an attempt to guage the audience for websites, but it’s not actually loading stuff from your server stats, and so it’s really all estimated. So, taken with a grain of salt. Unless you’re trying to sell advertising, or working with investors, of just want to see if you’re more popular than your neighbors’ cat blogs, then… really a bit useless when you could simply make great content to grow audience and measure your data from the server site logs (which are more accurate than Google analytics, too, btw). Server logs … well… that’s a whole different story. 🙂
I’m still quite unsure what the site verification code actually looks like
something like google8800498ee000000e
(Or just the 8800498ee000000e?)
But, my site did get verified so something worked 😛
Thanks 🙂
Well, Google will give you a code when you go to verify, and then when you put the code in, they ask you to click to confirm your site once the code is on your site, so if you did it properly you obviously got it. If you look at your site source code now, it should show the verification code. This is why a lot of people just upload the file via FTP and then leave it in the http root of your site (I did this for some sites, put the code in Yoast for others) … either way works — arguably if it’s in the file in your root docs it may save some space in your pages — meaning, not sure it’s “necessary” to have the verification code actually “printed” in the head of every page of your site once you’re verified… you need only do it once …. sooo…. if you figured it out, awesome!!! Glad I could contribute a little bit. I have been helping out a little to give Radu and Marius more time to get next version done which I need to finish a site launch for Feb. and then move on to other stuff. 🙂
