Verify Domain Google Webmaster Tools

Personally, I couldn't find this information in any other posts, or training, (doesn't mean it's not there, just that I couldn't find it), so I thought it would be helpful to mention it here.

This is for anyone wanting to know how to verify their domain with Google. The information was provided in response to a support ticket I raised with WA Site Support.

Are you in a rush?

If so, skip ahead to: This is the important bit, the response from WA Site Support further down the page.

But if, on the other hand, you have plenty of time on your hands and nothing else to do... the story unfolds, it was a rainy, blustery night and...

... I was in the process of setting up my sitemap for HovercraftHQ.com with Kyle's excellent training "Setting Up & Submitting a Sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools" open in one tab and my dashboard open in another and Google Webmaster open in yet another.

Everything was really jogging along quite nicely, until Google unexpectedly, (to me anyway), asked me to verify my domain. Ah... I thought, hit snag. So I paused Kyle's training. No problem I thought, I will just follow one or other of Google's on screen options for verifying the domain. I chose what looked like the easiest option for a not particularly techie person, (via domain registrar) and received the message "verification failed". Ah... I repeated the process, once, twice, three, four, five times. There is a saying about people who keep repeating the same thing, always expecting a different result.

Ahg... I thought. I looked at the Google help video, looked back at the remaining options and selected what looked to me like the next simplest option, via Google Analytics. Since I hadn't yet signed up for Google Analytics, but knew I would need to at some point, I hunted out Labman's video on "Google Analytics Set-up" which is really helpful. Everything going along swimmingly again, just need to look through the terms and conditions and scroll down to the "I Accept" button. Ah... it doesn't seem to be there, and my cursor can't scroll down the page any further. I went back to the beginning of the process and tried again and again, with the same result, Grrr...

I checked a Google forum and found that others over the years had experienced the same problem but, strangely, no mention of how to resolve it. Grrr... If only the T&C box had been set to open a bit higher up the page, then may be... Grrr...

I took another look at the Google Help video, in which everything was so simple Grrr...

Then I had an idea... I can always be relied upon to do the right thing, when all else fails.

I raised a support ticket with WA Support via Site Rubix, expecting that at least I would probably be able to get things sorted out the next day.

Imagine how pleased I was to receive a response from WA Support in what could only have been minutes later!! ..... and it was really simple!

So, if you are normally a laid back, extremely patient, mild mannered, jovial person, but find yourself turning into a deranged, fire breathing, monster, with the ability to kick a puppy through a ceiling fan, (metaphorically speaking, in reality there was no puppy and, for that matter, no ceiling fan), the following is for you:

This is the important bit, the response from WA Site Support:

How To Verify Your Domain with Google:

"You can use the FTP method to upload the file easily or use wp-admin All in One SEO > scroll down to the webmaster verification.

Ref: http://semperplugins.com/sections/webmaster-verification/ "

I chose the latter and followed the guidance at http://semperplugins.com/sections/webmaster-verification/

I found it really easy (and if I can...)

So my very grateful thanks goes to WA Site Support for saving the day!!

All the best,

Brandon