OtherPeoplesPixels

Linking your Website to Your Google Webmaster Tools (After Aug. 2011)

For OPP-ers who are new to OPP, or have never set up Google Webmaster Tools before, the process has changed slightly.

Creating a GWT Account and getting your Meta Tag:

  • Sign in to your Google account or create one if you don't have one already. You may use any type of email address, not just Gmail. You will be greeted as such:

  • Click the “Add Site” button and type in your URL without the www.

  • Click continue, and you will be taken to a Verify Ownership Page, where it will likely say 'Verification Failed'. Don't worry. The GWT System may also provide you with a Recommendation.

  • Either copy and paste the meta-tag code from the Recommended Page, or click on the 'Alternate Methods' tab

  • Then click the 'Add a Meta Tag to your site's Home page' option and your personalized meta-tag will appear below

  • Copy this code from Google's page, in its entirety. It will look like: <meta … />

Adding your Meta Tag to your OPP website:

  • In an new window or tab, log into your OPP Control Panel
  • Click on the heading “Google Webmaster Tools”, under the 'Search/Traffic/Sharing' area of your Control Panel

  • Paste the copied code into the field ”<meta> tag”
  • Click “Update”
  • A message will confirm that you have added that code

Verifying your website and Adding your Sitemap to your GWT Account:

  • Return to your GWT account window
  • Click the “Verify” button
  • Google should respond that your site has been verified: “You've successfully verified http://...”
  • Click the “Site configuration” link on the left under “Dashboard”
  • Click the “Sitemaps” link that appears under “Site configuration”

  • Click the button labeled “Submit a Sitemap”
  • You'll be taken to another page – click the button 'Submit a Sitemap' on that page.

  • In the textbox that appears, enter the following exactly: sitemap.xml
  • Click the “Submit Sitemap” button to the right of the textbox
  • Yay, you're done!

See Also

help/cp/google-webmaster-tools-setup-2011.txt · Last modified: 2011/08/31 13:54 by debbie