Anthony McGrath

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How to set up Google Search Console

Live guide · Checked 26 October 2026 · Updated 26 October 2026 · Checked every week against Google Search Console's own help pages

Verify your website with Google, submit your sitemap and start seeing which searches bring you visitors.

Time
15 minutes
You will need
  • A Google account
  • Access to your domain DNS (GoDaddy, Cloudflare and so on) or your website code
  • Your sitemap address (usually yoursite.co.uk/sitemap.xml)
Stuck?
Troubleshooting or ask me a question

Step by step

  1. Open Search Console

    Go to https://search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your business Google account.

  2. Choose a Domain property

    Click Add property and pick Domain (not URL prefix). Enter your domain without https or www, for example yoursite.co.uk. A Domain property covers every version of your site.

  3. Copy the TXT record

    Google shows a TXT record starting with google-site-verification=. Copy it.

  4. Add it to your DNS

    Log in where your domain is managed (for example Cloudflare or GoDaddy), open DNS, add a new TXT record with name @ and paste the value. Save it.

  5. Verify

    Go back to Search Console and click Verify. It is often instant, but DNS can take up to a few hours. If it fails, wait and try again.

  6. Submit your sitemap

    Open Sitemaps in the left menu, enter sitemap.xml (or your full sitemap address) and click Submit. The status should change to Success.

  7. Check page indexing

    Open Indexing > Pages to see which pages Google has indexed and why others are not. Fix anything marked as an error, such as 404s or redirects.

  8. Inspect your key pages

    Paste an important page address into the URL inspection bar at the top and click Request indexing for new or updated pages.

  9. Add your team

    In Settings > Users and permissions, add anyone who needs access, such as your marketer or developer. Give them Full rather than Owner unless needed.

  10. Link to Google Analytics

    In GA4 > Admin > Product links > Search Console links, link the property so you can see search data next to your website analytics.

Tips from 22 years of doing this

  • Data takes 2 to 3 days to appear after verifying.
  • Check the Performance report monthly for searches where you rank 5 to 15: they are the quickest wins.
  • Keep the DNS record in place, or you will lose verification.

Troubleshooting: questions and answers

Verification keeps failing.

DNS changes can take a few hours. Check the TXT record was added to the root (@) of the domain, not to www, and that you copied the whole value with no spaces at the ends. Then click Verify again.

My sitemap says "Couldn't fetch".

Open your sitemap address in a browser. If it loads, wait a day and resubmit, as this message often clears by itself. If it does not load, your website platform needs to generate one.

Pages show "Crawled - currently not indexed".

Google found the page but chose not to index it yet, often because it is thin or very similar to another page. Improve the content, link to it from other pages, then use URL inspection > Request indexing.

I see no data in Performance.

New properties take 2 to 3 days to show data, and very new sites may have few impressions. Check the date range at the top is set to the last 3 months.

Official help pages

Want this done for you?

I have set these up for over 500 businesses in 22 years. If you would rather spend your time on the business, I can set it up properly, check your tracking and get it working for you.

Get a free consultation

Still stuck, or have a question?

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