How to add your website to Google Search Console

Google Search Console is Google’s free tool for seeing how it treats your website. It is not an ad and it does not cost anything. It shows which searches you appear for, which pages are indexed and which errors keep you out. Used well, it increases reach: more pages can show up, and the ones that already do become easier to understand.

If you have a website and it is not in Search Console, Google can still find you, but you cannot see the map. You do not know which queries bring clicks or which addresses are blocked. Adding the site is the step that turns a published website into one you can improve.

What you need before you start

• A Google account for the business, not a personal email you cannot share later.
• Access to the website: to upload a file, paste a tag, or open the domain DNS.
• The exact address you publish with, for example https://yoursite.com.

Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with that account.

Add the property

Google offers two types. A domain property covers the whole site — with and without www, http and https — and is verified with a DNS record. A URL-prefix property is simpler: you paste the exact address, such as https://www.yoursite.com, and verify with a file, a meta tag, Analytics or Tag Manager.

If you can open the DNS, choose domain: one setup, and no version of the URL gets left out. If someone else runs the site and you only have the panel, choose URL prefix with the address that shows in the browser, including www if you use it.

Verify that the site is yours

• DNS record (TXT): your host or domain registrar adds it. This is the method for a domain property.
• HTML file: download it in Search Console and upload it to the root of the site.
• HTML tag: a meta tag you paste into the head of the homepage. It has to stay there.
• Google Analytics or Tag Manager: works if the code is already on the site and you use the same Google account.

Until the status says the property is verified, you cannot see data or submit a sitemap. Verification does not publish anything on Google. It only proves you control the site.

Submit the sitemap

The sitemap is the list of URLs you want Google to know. On many sites it lives at /sitemap.xml. In Search Console, open Sitemaps, paste that address and submit it. It does not index the site instantly, but it tells Google where to start.

If you do not have a sitemap, create one before this step. A small site can list its pages by hand. A shop or a blog needs the sitemap to update itself when you publish.

Ask for indexing of what matters

In URL Inspection, paste the homepage, the services page and the pages that sell the most. If Google does not have them yet, use request indexing. You do not need to do this for every URL: the sitemap covers the rest. Use it for the pages the business depends on.

How this free tool increases reach

After a few days, the Performance report shows queries, clicks, impressions and average position. That is where you see whether people search your name, your city or your service. The Pages report says what is indexed and what is not, and why: not found, blocked, duplicate or excluded.

• You fix pages Google cannot read.
• You strengthen pages that already appear and barely get clicks.
• You find real searches from your city and write better titles and copy.
• You check that a new page enters the index, instead of assuming Google will notice it.

None of this has a fee. Search Console is free. Reach grows when you use what it shows: indexed pages, fixed errors and titles that match what people search. The tool does not write the site for you. It shows where the visit is being lost.

A short routine

• Every week: look at queries and pages with impressions and few clicks.
• Whenever you publish: confirm the URL is in the sitemap and, if it matters, request indexing.
• Every month: review pages that are not indexed and the reason.
• When you change domain or move to https: verify again and submit the new sitemap.

Once the site is verified and the sitemap is submitted, the next jump in reach is usually in the content, the speed and the business Google profile. Search Console shows where to look. If you want a team to set it up and keep it, the next step is a quote.