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Connect a site to Search Console

tech.connect-search-console·version 1.0.0·draft1 to verify

Connect a site to Search Console

The company's site is a verified Search Console property owned by the company, with a sitemap submitted and the owner holding owner permission.

ArtūrsWeb Builderruns itProfile ›
Whenon request — a person asks to connect the company's website to Google Search Console — usually before or right after launch
Who actsthe agent acts after approval
Time20 min active; up to 1 h waiting for DNS propagation before verification can succeed
Countryany country
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When to use

The company's site is live (or about to be) and nobody has a verified Search Console property for it yet. Not for getting the site indexed better over time — that is growth.seo-monthly, which uses this property as its input. Not for a domain the company does not yet hold — register it first with tech.register-domain.

Before you start

  • The site answers on its final domain over HTTPS (a staging URL is the wrong property).
  • You know which Google account is the company's — not a founder's personal one.
  • You can edit DNS records in the zone (bc dns), and you know whether the whole domain or only one subdomain is in scope.

What a run requires1

  • Approval · S3 · ownerthe run stops until a named person records the decision

Any step can wait until a date and reopens by itself; every closed step leaves evidence (a note, a link, a number).

The trail7 steps

  1. Check prerequisitesagent

    Confirm the domain resolves, HTTPS works, and the zone is served by Brain Club nameservers. Note who the site is for.

    Done when the site opens over HTTPS and the zone location is known.

  2. Choose the property typeagent

    Prefer a Domain property (covers all subdomains and both protocols, verified by DNS). Use URL-prefix only when the site lives on a subdirectory of a domain the company does not control. Record the choice and the reason.

    Done when the property type and its reason are written down.

  3. Create and verify the propertyagentneeds approval · owner

    Approval · S3 · owner — the run stops until a named person records the decision

    In the company's Google account, create the property, choose DNS verification, and copy the TXT token. Publish the TXT record in the zone (bc dns — host @ or the named host, value = the token Google gives, TTL default). Trigger verification in Search Console.

    Done when Search Console shows the property as Verified.

    ⛔ The token is a live record, not a comment — deleting it later un-verifies the property. Never paste it with quotes or line breaks added by the editor. ⚠ verify current verification methods and record format in Search Console Help (support.google.com/webmasters) — Google changes this UI.

  4. Submit the sitemapagent

    Find the sitemap (usually /sitemap.xml); if the site has none, note it as a gap for growth.seo-monthly instead of inventing one. Submit the URL in Search Console.

    Done when the sitemap URL returns HTTP 200 and appears in the Sitemaps list with a status.

  5. Check the site is indexableagent

    Fetch https://<domain>/robots.txt — it must not disallow the sitemap or /. Check the homepage has no noindex left from staging. Request indexing for the homepage once.

    Done when robots.txt allows crawling and the homepage has no noindex.

  6. Grant accessagent

    Add the owner as Owner (or Delegate, per the account's structure) and any named staff as Full or Restricted, per the access list from Before you start.

    Done when the property's settings list every named person with the agreed role, and no personal accounts beyond the company account.

  7. Record and hand backagent

    Link the property to the goal/task it serves (bc tasks add or bc goals add — name, domain, property type, who has access). Add the property to the growth.seo-monthly routine. Send the owner a three-line summary: property, verification method, what is now tracked.

    Done when the property is linked to its goal/task, added to the growth.seo-monthly routine, and the owner has the three-line summary.

Checks — how we know it worked

  • Search Console shows Verified (read it back from the UI, not from the verification attempt log).
  • The TXT record is still present in the zone and its value matches the token character for character.
  • The sitemap status in Search Console is not "Couldn't fetch".
  • robots.txt fetched from the live domain allows the sitemap and the homepage.
  • The owner's access is at owner/delegate level, shown in the property's users list.

If it goes wrong

SymptomResponse
Verification fails, "could not find TXT record"Wait for DNS propagation (up to 1 h), then re-check the record value for quotes, spaces or a wrong host. Re-verify once.
Domain property option is greyed outDNS verification is not possible from that account or zone — fall back to URL-prefix with the HTML-file method, and note it in S7.
Sitemap shows "Couldn't fetch"Fetch the sitemap URL yourself: 404 means wrong URL, a block means robots.txt. Fix the cause, resubmit after 24 h.
Verification lost weeks laterThe TXT record was removed in a zone cleanup. Re-add the token from Search Console settings, then record the rule: this TXT is permanent.
No data in reports after daysNormal for a new property; confirm indexing started (site: search) and leave it to growth.seo-monthly to watch.

What each step leaves behind

  1. S1the site opens over HTTPS and the zone location is known.
  2. S2the property type and its reason are written down.
  3. S3Search Console shows the property as Verified.
  4. S4the sitemap URL returns HTTP 200 and appears in the Sitemaps list with a status.
  5. S5robots.txt allows crawling and the homepage has no noindex.
  6. S6the property's settings list every named person with the agreed role, and no personal accounts beyond the company account.
  7. S7the property is linked to its goal/task, added to the growth.seo-monthly routine, and the owner has the three-line summary.

Evidence to keep

Property type and URL · the TXT record value and zone it sits in · verification date and the Google account used · sitemap URL and its status · the access list from S6 · the owner's approval in S3 (who, when).

How this playbook improves

After every 10 runs ask: how long from ask to verified, and did verification ever need a second attempt — and why? Did any property lose verification because its TXT record was cleaned up? Was URL-prefix ever chosen where a domain property was possible? A new version changes the step behind the wait or the loss, and says so in its change note.