Google Search Console setup for a new website

Google Search Console is Google’s free report on your website. It tells you which pages Google has stored, which it has skipped and why, and what people typed into Google before they landed on you. Without it you are guessing.

Setup takes about 15 minutes. Do it on launch day.

Step 1: Add your site as a “Domain” property

1. Open search.google.com/search-console and sign in with a Google account you will keep. Use one that belongs to the business, not to a freelancer.
2. Click “Add property” and choose Domain.
3. Type your domain without https:// or www, for example yourdomain.com.

A Domain property covers every version of your address at once: with and without www, http and https, and any subdomain. The other option, “URL prefix”, covers one exact address only.

Step 2: Verify that you own it

Search Console shows a line of text called a TXT record. Add it to your domain settings, at the company where you manage your domain’s DNS. If someone else manages it, the record has to be added in their account.

Then click Verify. DNS changes can take a few minutes to a few hours.

Why use this method? It lives in your domain settings, not in your website’s files. A redesign or a new developer cannot remove it by accident.

Step 3: Submit your sitemap

A sitemap is a list of every page you want found, usually at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.

1. Open the address in your browser first. It should load and list your pages.
2. In Search Console, open Sitemaps.
3. Type sitemap.xml and click Submit.
4. Check that the status says Success.

If it says “Couldn’t fetch”, the address is wrong or the file is missing. Fix that first.

Step 4: Ask Google to visit your key pages

Google does not have to wait weeks to find a new page. Paste each important address into the bar at the top of Search Console, then click Request indexing. Do this for your homepage, your main service pages and your pricing page. Google limits the number of requests per day.

Step 5: Read the Pages report

Open Pages in Search Console. It lists what Google stored and what it did not, with a reason next to each page that was skipped. Check it on day 7, day 14 and day 30. Each reason tells you what to fix.

Add Bing while you are here

Bing Webmaster Tools can import your site from Search Console in a few clicks. That takes two minutes, and Bing feeds ChatGPT search and Microsoft Copilot. Chapter 4 of the checklist covers it.

This is one of 52 checks in the Business Website Launch Checklist, in the chapter Get Found on Google and Bing.