Setting Up A Google Webmaster Tools Account

Step 1

You will need a Google account. You’ll have one of these if you already have a gmail account or actively use any other form of Google tool. Alternatively, you could create a new Google Account if you wanted to.

Step 2

Visit http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools, and if you haven’t done so already register for a Google Webmaster Tools Account, and sign in.

Step 3

Once signed in, you’ll be able to add your web site address as shown, and click on the Add Site button. I’ve added dentalwebmarketing.co.uk, a new site specialising in Dental Web Design and Dental Web Marketing. But you’ll of course add your own site.

I’d like to point out that I am getting my site set up with Google Webmaster Tools long before it’s ready to start receiving traffic. The idea is you launch a new site as soon as you have built the first couple of pages. Don’t try to wait until the whole thing is finished before putting it up onto the web.

We often create a holding page with some content just so that Google can start to crawl the site and understand what exactly your business does.

Step 4

Having clicked on the Verify your site link, you must select a verification method (I selected an uploaded HTML file), and either upload that file or else add a special meta tag to the head of the site’s home page.

You can also select ‘Alternative Methods’ to verify ownership of your domain.

Step 6

After uploading the verification file to the web server, I clicked on the verify link. You will then see that the page has successfully verified. If you have problems verifying using the HTML Upload method try one of the Alternative Methods.

Google Webmasters Tools Video