How to use Google Search Console with WordPress without plan upgrade?

  • Unknown's avatar
    livejox · Member ·

    How to use Google Search Console with WordPress without plan upgrade? Please, note that I am a newbie on all this.

    I have created a simple (single page) WordPress site at
    https://livejoxlivejournalcom.wordpress.com
    and want to facilitate Google to index it, as shown at
    Frequently Asked Questions
    Why isn’t my site showing up on Google?
    https://wordpress.com/support/seo/#frequently-asked-questions

    As explained there, it can be accomplished following the directions at Google Search Console
    https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome

    1. The Recommended verification method is
    HTML file
    Upload an HTML file to your website

    I have tried to upload the generated googled….html file
    but cannot accomplish that. Where and how to upload it?

    2. Other verification methods includes
    HTML tag
    Add a meta tag to your site’s home page
    Copy the meta tag below, and paste it into your site’s home page. It should go in the <head> section, before the first <body> section.

    Again, I have tried to paste the generated <meta name=’google-site-verification’ content=’…’ /> meta tab, but cannot accomplish that. Where and how to paste it?
    <meta name=’google-site-verification’ content=’…’ />

    Or maybe I am doing something wrong. Can that be accomplished without having a WordPress plan upgrade? How?

    As said, please note that I am newbie on this and a step-by-step would be most appreciated.

    Thanks!

    WP.com: Yes
    Correct account: Yes

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    staartmees · Member ·

    never follow outsiders info for a wordpress.com website; most of that info is only for self-hosted wordpress.org websites. Instead take a look in our extensive documentation – https://wordpress.com/support/.

    When you search for Google Search Console you find all info at https://wordpress.com/support/site-verification-services/#google-search-console

  • Unknown's avatar
    livejox · Member ·

    I am trying to paste my reply here, but nothing is pasted. I will try doing it in portions below. Why happens that?

  • Unknown's avatar
    livejox · Member ·

    Using Safari 16.4 (18615.1.26.110.1) on macOS 13.3.1 (a) (22E772610a) Ventura on Mac (Intel).

  • Unknown's avatar
    livejox · Member ·

    Wow! It worked. Many thanks!

    Bad and good news, just for the record. First the bad news. When I did as shown on the second link (Site Verification Services) that you indicated, and tried to go to
    https://search.google.com/search-console
    it went to
    https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome
    and there was no “Add Property” to click on it. I tell you that in case that such WordPress support page could be updated, since otherwise it could be misleading.

    But the goods news is that I could accomplish it, doing as shown on steps 6 to 8 in such support web page. In summary:

  • Unknown's avatar
    livejox · Member ·

    ————————–

    1. In a new browser tab or window, open your WordPress.com account and go to My Site(s) → Tools → Marketing → Traffic.
    2. Scroll down to the Site Verification Services section, and paste the code you copied from Google’s HTML tag section into the Google section.
    3. Click Save Settings.
    4. ———————–
  • Unknown's avatar
    livejox · Member ·

    BTW, such page shows that supported verification services include Google, Bing, Pinterest, Yandex and Facebook.

    After that, pasting the WordPress address in Google Search Console
    https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome
    in the URL prefix prompt on the right, and clicking Continue, confirmed that it was verified OK with a green top band:

  • Unknown's avatar
    livejox · Member ·

    ————————-

    Ownership auto verified
    Verification method:
    HTML tag
    To stay verified, don’t remove the meta tag from your site’s home page. To avoid losing verification, you may want to add multiple verification methods from the Settings > Ownership verification.

    ————————–

  • Unknown's avatar
    livejox · Member ·

    Clocking “Go to Property” showed such page, indicating “Processing data, please check again in a day or so”.

    Great, and thanks again!

    BTW, I think that the reported problem pasting text here is when it contains hyphens (!!!) like —————

    Why? Can it be fixed? The same happens inside WordPress web account site with greater than and less than symbols when trying to paste meta data. It is really frustrating, since no feedback or error explaining it is generated.

  • Unknown's avatar
    livejox · Member ·

    I meant hyphens in a row that this site transforms in lines. What I tried to paste is text containing

    –

    and then

    –

    and then

    –

    in a row separated by no space (- – – – – -, but without spaces).

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