How to set up Google Search Console for a new site
Add a Domain property, verify it with a DNS TXT record, submit your sitemap, inspect the homepage, then read three reports in week one. The full setup.
LLaunchScaler·Published ·7 min read
To set up Google Search Console for a new site, sign in with a Google account, add a Domain property for your domain, verify it with the DNS TXT record Search Console gives you, submit your XML sitemap, and request indexing for your homepage. Then give it a week and read three reports: Sitemaps, Page indexing and Crawl Stats.
The hands-on work fits in the first 30 minutes after launch, though DNS verification can take longer to go through. Do it on launch day, because Google's help says data collection starts as soon as the property is added.
What do you need before you start?
You need a Google account, access to your domain's DNS settings (at your registrar, or at a DNS host such as Cloudflare if you moved your nameservers), the live URL of your XML sitemap, and a site that is publicly reachable. Search Console is free, and no code change is needed for DNS verification.
Check two things before you add anything:
Which host your site serves: https://example.com or https://www.example.com. The other should redirect to it. Run curl -sI https://www.example.com/ and look for a 301 or 308 with a location header.
Where your sitemap lives. Common locations are /sitemap.xml and /sitemap_index.xml, and WordPress core uses /wp-sitemap.xml. Open it in a browser to confirm it loads.
Step 1: How do you add a Domain property?
Open Search Console, click the property selector at the top left, choose Add property, and pick Domain. Enter the bare domain, example.com, with no https://, no and no path. A Domain property covers every subdomain and both protocols, so , , and any old URLs all land in one place.
Questions, answered
What people ask about this
01
How do I set up Google Search Console?
Sign in at search.google.com/search-console with a Google account, add a Domain property for your domain, verify it with the DNS TXT record Search Console gives you, submit your XML sitemap in the Sitemaps report, and request indexing for your homepage in URL Inspection.
Google's help lists the rules for what to type: only the root domain and optional subdomains, never a protocol or a path, and no www (if you type www.example.com, Search Console creates example.com and includes both). Each separate domain, such as example.co.uk, needs its own property.
The alternative is a URL-prefix property, which covers only one exact protocol and host. The Domain property vs URL-prefix guide compares them in full; for a new site, start with the Domain property.
Step 2: How do you verify with a DNS TXT record?
After you add the Domain property, Search Console shows a TXT record value that starts with google-site-verification=. Add it at your DNS host as a TXT record with the host or name field blank or @, save, then click Verify. If your registrar is listed in the dialog, choose it and Search Console can add the record for you after you sign in.
Copy the TXT value from the verification dialog.
Sign in to your DNS host and open the DNS records for the domain.
Add a record: type TXT, name @ (or blank), value the full google-site-verification=... string, default TTL.
Back in Search Console, click Verify. If it fails, click Verify later and try again after a while.
Leave the record in place permanently.
Google's help says manually added records can take up to two or three days to be served, so a failed first attempt is normal. You can check what your DNS host is serving with dig TXT example.com +short, or with the TXT tab of the Google Admin Toolbox. Removing the record later breaks verification: Search Console rechecks it periodically, and permissions expire after a grace period if it disappears.
Step 3: Should you also add a URL-prefix property?
Optionally, yes. Add a URL-prefix property for the exact host your site serves, such as https://example.com/, if you want reports that exclude every other host and protocol. Once the Domain property is verified, Google's help says child properties you add are verified automatically with the same method, so it takes no extra DNS work.
Make sure the prefix matches the host that returns 200, not the one that redirects. A URL-prefix property for https://www.example.com/ on a site that serves the bare domain shows almost nothing, and Google's help names the wrong URL, such as http instead of https, as a likely reason a new property stays empty.
While you're in Settings, add your teammates under Users and permissions. Owners can add Full users, who can view all data and take some actions, and Restricted users, who have view rights on most data.
Step 4: How do you submit your sitemap?
Open Indexing, then Sitemaps, paste your sitemap URL into "Add a new sitemap", and click Submit. You must be an owner to submit one. Then add the same URL to your robots.txt as Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml, so Bing and other crawlers find it too.
Google's help suggests testing the sitemap URL first: inspect it in URL Inspection, run a live test, and check that Page fetch is "Successful". After submission, the report shows a status for the last fetch:
Status
Meaning
Success
Loaded and processed with no errors; all URLs are queued for crawling.
Has errors
Fetched, but some entries could not be parsed. The rest are queued.
Couldn't fetch
Google could not retrieve the file. Check its URL, status code and any robots.txt block.
The Sitemap: line in robots.txt must be a full URL including https:// and the host; Google does not assume or check other variants. The sitemap submission guide covers building a clean sitemap and reading each error.
Step 5: Why inspect the homepage and request indexing?
Inspecting the homepage confirms Google can reach and index your site before you wait on anything else, and requesting indexing queues it for a crawl. Google's help calls requesting indexing of the homepage "the best first step" for a new site, because it should start Google crawling the rest.
Paste your homepage URL into the inspection bar at the top of Search Console.
It will probably say "URL is unknown to Google". Click Test live URL.
Confirm the live result says "URL is available to Google", with Crawl allowed? and Indexing allowed? both Yes.
Open View tested page and check the screenshot and HTML show your real content, not a blank app shell or a cookie wall.
Click Request indexing.
Repeat for your 5 to 10 most important pages: pricing, main features, and key articles.
Google's help says indexing typically takes "a day or so, but can take much longer," and that there is a daily limit on requests. Requesting the same URL again does not speed it up.
What should you check in Search Console in week one?
Read three reports once, about a week after setup: Sitemaps, to confirm Google read your sitemap; Page indexing, to see which URLs are indexed and why the rest aren't; and Crawl Stats, to confirm Google can reach your robots.txt, DNS and server without errors. Then inspect your key pages one at a time.
Report
Where
What to look for in week one
Sitemaps
Indexing > Sitemaps
Status Success and a discovered-page count close to what you expected.
Page indexing
Indexing > Pages
Indexed count starting to rise, and each "Why pages aren't indexed" reason explained.
Crawl Stats
Settings > Crawl stats
Host status without recent problems in robots.txt fetching, DNS resolution or server connectivity.
URL Inspection
The search bar
Your homepage and key pages moving to "URL is on Google".
Keep the reports in proportion for a small site. Google's help says a site with fewer than 500 pages probably doesn't need the Page indexing report and can check key pages with URL Inspection and a site: search, and that a site under a thousand pages shouldn't need the Crawl Stats report beyond host status. The page indexing report guide explains every reason if you do see rows you don't recognise.
The Settings page also holds the robots.txt report, which shows the robots.txt file Google fetched for each of your top hosts and any parse errors. The robots.txt checker guide compares it with other ways to test the file.
How do you add Bing Webmaster Tools from Search Console?
Once Search Console is verified, adding Bing takes a few clicks. Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools, choose Import from Google Search Console, allow access, select your site and click Import. Bing adds and verifies it automatically, imports your sitemaps, and keeps importing new ones it finds in your Search Console account.
Bing's help says it usually takes about 48 hours for data to appear after a site is added, and that you can import up to 100 sites at a time. Bing's index also feeds Microsoft Copilot, so this step covers more than Bing search. The Bing indexing guide covers the sitemap and IndexNow steps that follow.
Check what Google will find before it crawls
Search Console reports what Google already crawled, days after the fact. To check the pages you just submitted before Google gets to them, run the free scan on LaunchScaler with your address and no account. It runs 156 checks across 6 of its 7 categories at no cost, including robots.txt rules that block pages you want ranked, noindex in the meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header, a missing sitemap or Sitemap: line, a sitemap that lists redirecting or non-canonical URLs, and main content that only appears after JavaScript runs.
Yes. Search Console is a free Google tool. You need a Google account and proof that you own or manage the site.
03
How long does Search Console take to show data?
Google's help says data should begin to appear in a few days. Data collection starts as soon as the property is added to any Search Console account, even before it is verified.
04
Which verification method should I use?
Use a DNS TXT record for a Domain property, because it is the only method a Domain property accepts and it covers every subdomain and protocol. HTML file, HTML tag, Google Analytics and Tag Manager only verify URL-prefix properties.
05
What should I check in Search Console in the first week?
The Sitemaps report (status Success), the Page indexing report (indexed count starting to rise, and why the rest are not indexed), and the Crawl Stats host status for robots.txt, DNS or server problems. Also inspect your homepage and key pages one by one.
Google indexed the URL from links without reading it, because robots.txt blocks the crawl. Unblock it and add noindex to drop it, or unblock it to rank it.
