Google Search Console is Google's free tool that shows you how Google sees your website: which searches you appear in, how many clicks you get, which pages are indexed and whether any error is keeping them out of the results. If your website brings you customers, it's the first tool you should have set up.
In this guide we explain, step by step and with no technical knowledge required, how to add your website (what Google calls a “property”), how to prove you own it, what to do in the first few days and how to give someone else access to help you manage it.
Search Console and Google Analytics are not the same thing
They are often confused. Google Analytics 4 measures what people do on your website: which pages they visit, how long they stay or whether they fill in a form. Search Console measures what happens before that, inside Google: which searches you show up in, at what position and how often people click.
They complement each other and ideally you should have both. If you don't have Analytics yet, our blog has a step-by-step guide to creating a Google Analytics 4 property.
Before you start: what you need
A Google account to sign in with, either Gmail or a Google Workspace company address. Ideally use a company account rather than a personal one.
Your website address (for example, mycompany.com) and access to one of these to verify it: your domain provider's control panel (the DNS zone), your website's admin panel, or a Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager account already installed on the site.
If you are going to give someone access, their email address. It must be linked to a Google account and cannot be a group address.
One important tip: add and verify the property with a company account and then grant access to whoever helps you (agency, freelancer or employee). That way the property and its data always belong to you, even if you change provider.
Step 1: open Search Console
Open your browser (we recommend Google Chrome), go to search.google.com/search-console, click “Start now” and sign in with the company account. Check the icon with your initial or photo in the top-right corner to make sure you are using the right account.
If it's your first time, you'll go straight to the “Select property type” screen. If you already have other websites, open the property selector (top left) and click “+ Add property”.
Step 2: choose the property type
Search Console offers two property types, and your choice determines which part of the website is measured and how it is verified.
Domain (the one we recommend): covers the whole domain, with and without “www”, over http and https and including all subdomains. For example, mycompany.com. It can only be verified with a DNS record at your domain provider. Choose it whenever you have access to that panel.
URL prefix: covers only the addresses that start exactly with the URL you enter, for example https://www.mycompany.com/. It supports more verification methods (HTML file, HTML tag, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager or DNS). It's useful if you can't change the DNS or only want to measure one section of the site.
Step 3: verify a Domain property
1. In the “Domain” box, type your domain without “https://” or “www” (for example, mycompany.com) and click “Continue”.
2. Search Console will show you a TXT record starting with “google-site-verification=”. Click “Copy” and keep that window open.
3. In another tab, open your domain provider's panel (GoDaddy, IONOS, Cloudflare, Namecheap…) and find the DNS management or “DNS zone” section for the domain.
4. Add a new TXT record. Under “Name” or “Host” enter @ (or leave it empty, depending on the provider); under “Value” paste the copied text; and keep the default TTL. Save the changes.
5. Go back to Search Console and click “Verify”. If everything is right, you'll see “Ownership verified”.
If verification fails, don't worry: DNS changes take time to propagate, usually a few minutes and sometimes several hours (in rare cases up to 72 hours). Click “Verify later” and try again after a while. Also check that you pasted the full text with no extra spaces or quotes.
Step 3 (alternative): verify a URL prefix property
Type the full address exactly as it appears in the browser, including the protocol (for example, https://www.mycompany.com/), and click “Continue”. Search Console will suggest a verification method; if you prefer another one, expand “Other verification methods”.
HTML file: download the file Google provides and upload it to the root of your website via FTP or your hosting file manager.
HTML tag: copy a meta tag and paste it inside the head section of your home page. WordPress SEO plugins such as Yoast or Rank Math have a field for this.
Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager: these work if the website already has one of these tools installed and you have enough permissions in it (Editor role or higher in Analytics, or publish permission in Tag Manager).
Very important, whatever the method: never remove the DNS record, file or tag used for verification. If it disappears (for example, after a redesign or a hosting change), Google will remove the verification and you'll lose access to the property.
Step 4: submit your sitemap
The sitemap is a file listing your website's pages that helps Google find and index them sooner. In the side menu, go to Indexing → Sitemaps, type the sitemap address under “Add a new sitemap” and click “Submit”. It's usually sitemap.xml; on WordPress with Yoast or Rank Math it's usually sitemap_index.xml. Within a few minutes the status should show “Success”.
Be patient with the data: performance reports start filling in 2 or 3 days after verification, and Search Console shows nothing from before the date you added the property. From then on it keeps up to 16 months of history.
What to look at once you have data
Performance: shows clicks, impressions (how many times you appeared in Google), CTR (the share of impressions that turn into clicks) and average position, by query and by page. A query with many impressions and few clicks usually means that page's title or description isn't inviting enough.
Indexing → Pages: tells you which pages are in Google's index and, above all, which ones aren't and why (redirects, duplicate pages, 404 errors…). It's your first stop when a new page doesn't show up in Google.
URL inspection: paste any address from your website into the top bar to see whether it's indexed. If you've just published or updated an important page, click “Request indexing” so Google reviews it sooner.
Experience → Core Web Vitals: shows whether your pages load fast and respond well on mobile and desktop, something Google takes into account when ranking.
Step 5: give someone else access
For someone else to manage the property, you need to add them as a user. Only owners can add or remove users. There are three permission levels.
Owner: full control. Sees all data, uses every tool, changes settings and manages users. Right for the people responsible for the website and for your trusted agency.
Full user: sees all data and can take most actions (submit sitemaps, request indexing, inspect URLs) but can't manage users. A good fit for a marketing or SEO team.
Restricted user: sees most of the data without being able to make changes. Ideal for people who only check reports.
Step by step: make sure the right property is selected in the top-left selector; in the side menu click “Settings” (the gear at the bottom) and then “Users and permissions”; click “Add user”, enter the person's email, choose the permission and click “Add”. The person will appear in the list and get an email notification. They can now sign in to Search Console with that account.
It helps to know one distinction: the verified owner is whoever verified the property with their own method (you, if you followed step 3); a delegated owner is someone an owner has made an owner from “Users and permissions”. They have the same control, but if the verified owner loses verification, delegated owners may lose access too. One more reason never to delete the verification element.
How to change or remove access
Go to Settings → Users and permissions and click the three-dot icon at the end of the user's row. Choose “Change permission” to raise or lower their level, or “Remove access” to revoke it.
If you remove a verified owner, Search Console will show you the verification elements they left on the website (DNS record, file or tag). Remove them too; otherwise that person could verify again and regain access.
Our recommendations
Always keep at least two owners, for example the company account and a trusted person, so you never get locked out.
Choose a Domain property whenever you can: it covers every variant of your website and avoids having your data split across several properties.
Don't share passwords: grant access with each person's own email. That way you can revoke a specific person's access whenever needed.
Link Search Console with Google Analytics 4 (in Analytics: Admin → Product links → Search Console links) to see search data alongside your other metrics.
Turn on email notifications under Settings → Email preferences so you hear about indexing errors or security issues in time, and review the user list every so often to remove people or providers who no longer work with you.
Common problems
DNS verification fails: the change hasn't propagated yet or the record was copied incorrectly. Wait a few hours and check that the TXT record contains the full text.
The “Add user” button doesn't appear: you aren't an owner of the property. Ask an owner to grant you that permission.
Error when adding an email: it isn't linked to a Google account or it's a group address. The person needs to create a Google account with that email at accounts.google.com or give you another one.
The invited person signs in but can't see the property: they're using a different Google account in the browser. They should switch accounts from the top-right icon or try an incognito window.
The property shows as “not verified”: the DNS record, file or tag has been removed, usually after a website or hosting change. Add it again and click “Verify”.
No data in the reports: the property is very new (data takes 2 or 3 days) or you created a URL prefix that differs from the one the website uses, for example without “www”. Check the URL or create a Domain property.
Google updates the Search Console interface from time to time, so some buttons may be renamed or moved. The steps and overall logic stay the same.
Need a hand?
At OnlyDevs we set up Search Console and Analytics for our clients, review how their websites are indexed and help them understand the data to win more visits from Google. If you have any questions or would rather we handle it, email us at desarrollo@onlydevs.es or use the contact form.