You will be able to add and verify a site in Search Console and give the right people access.
When Priya first opened Google Search Console, she found she already had access. Her old web designer had set it up three years earlier, using his own Google account, and added her as a user with limited permissions. He had since moved overseas, and nobody else could add people, change settings or see some of the reports. It took her a week of emails to get full control back.
Search Console is Google's free tool for site owners. It shows how Google crawls, indexes and displays your site, which searches bring people to it, and any problems Google has found. You have already met parts of it in this course. This lesson covers setting it up properly, so you own it and can give others the access they need.
In Search Console, each site you add is called a property. There are two kinds, and the choice affects what you see.
A domain property covers your whole domain: every subdomain, such as www and shop, and both the http and https versions. If your site is at www.example.sg and you also run shop.example.sg, a domain property for example.sg includes both. It gives you the most complete picture in one place.
A domain property is verified through your domain's DNS settings, the records that control where your domain points. Search Console gives you a short text record, and you add it at the company where you bought or manage your domain. If you can log in there, or someone in your business can, this route is usually straightforward. The record can take a little time to take effect.
A URL-prefix property covers only addresses that begin with the exact prefix you enter, including the protocol. A property for https://www.example.sg covers pages under that address, but not http://www.example.sg or shop.example.sg. It is narrower, but it offers more ways to verify: uploading a small HTML file to your site, adding an HTML tag to your homepage's code, or using an existing Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager account on the site, among others.
Choose a domain property if you can edit your DNS records. It is the more complete option, and you will not miss data from a subdomain or an old http address.
Choose a URL-prefix property if you cannot edit DNS, for example if your site runs on a platform that manages the domain for you and does not let you add records, or if the person who controls the domain is hard to reach. Use the prefix your site actually uses, usually the https version with or without www. Many website builders offer a simple way to add the HTML tag, often a box in the settings where you paste the code Search Console gives you.
Some people add both, which is fine. The domain property gives the full picture, and a URL-prefix property can be useful for focusing on one section.
Search Console has owners and users. Owners have full control, including adding and removing other people. Verified owners proved ownership themselves. Delegated owners were added by a verified owner. Users can have full permission, which lets them see all data and take some actions, or restricted permission, which lets them see most data but take fewer actions.
Make sure you, or someone who will stay with the business, are a verified owner, using an account the business controls. Priya's problem came from the opposite arrangement.
Add teammates, freelancers or an agency as users with the lowest permission they need. Someone who only reads reports needs restricted access. An agency that will submit sitemaps and request indexing needs full access. Very few people need to be owners.
When someone leaves, or an agency contract ends, remove their access. For a verified owner, Google's help pages explain that you should also remove their verification token, such as the HTML file or tag they used, or they may be able to verify again. Keep a short list of who has access and why.
Set Search Console up as early as you can, ideally before you make the fixes from earlier modules. Some reports take a few days to show data after a property is added, and having Search Console in place from the start means you can see the effect of your changes as they happen. Google uses Search Console to send messages about problems it finds, such as manual actions or security issues, and those only reach you if someone is watching.
If you already have a property set up by someone else, check who owns it before anything else.
Priya added a domain property for her site, verified it through a DNS record at her domain registrar, and made herself a verified owner with her business account. She added her part-time assistant as a restricted user and removed the old designer, along with his verification file.
Now do the same for your own site, choosing the property type that matches the access you have, and write down who can see it. The activity below sets out what to record.
Verify your site as a domain property if you can edit DNS, or as a URL-prefix property if not, and list who has access.
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