Google Search Console: Ownership verification and indexing setup for SEO

When you publish content on a beehiiv web publication, Google needs to index your posts for them to appear in search results. Indexing involves Google crawling your site to analyze content and keywords, which helps determine how your pages are displayed in search results.

To ensure your content is visible in search engine results, start by verifying your publication site ownership in Google Search Console (GSC). This verification confirms your control over the site and grants access to tools that improve your site's performance. 

During this process, you’ll add a unique verification code to your beehiiv site, allowing Google to recognize and index your content effectively. To make this easier, keep a window or tab open for both beehiiv and Google Search Console as you complete the steps. By verifying ownership, you can ensure your site is properly indexed, enhancing its visibility in search results and driving organic traffic.

How to verify site ownership in Google Search Console

Copy your publication URL

The first step in Google Search Console (GSC) is to enter the URL of the site you want to add. You can easily copy this from your beehiiv account dashboard. After logging in, your Dashboard will open — navigate to the Home page link in the Resources section on the right side, and copy it.

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Add your publication URL to Google Search Console

1. Go to Google Search Console and click the Start now button.
   
   
2. A modal will appear with 2 property type options, Domain or URL prefix.
   If you're using a beehiiv-provided domain, select URL prefix.
   If you're using a custom domain for your beehiiv publication, select Domain.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. A Verify ownership modal will appear for you to choose a verification method. Instead of selecting the recommended method, scroll down to Other verification methods and reveal the HTML tag option. Click on COPY to copy the HTML tag to your clipboard.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. In GSC, you’ll see a message advising you to "Copy the meta tag below, and paste it into your site's home page..." However, in beehiiv, you’ll only need part of this tag. Paste the code into a blank document or somewhere visible so you can easily isolate the specific part you’ll need.
   
   Your HTML tag will look like this:
   

   <meta name="google-site-verification" content="your-verification-code-here" />

   From that tag, copy just the code within the quotations (in the example above, it would be your-verification-code-here).

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Paste your GSC verification code into beehiiv

1. Head back to your beehiiv account. Go to the Website Builder, open the Settings tab, and select Pixels. This is where you can store tracking pixels from your social and Google accounts.
   
   
2. Scroll down to the bottom field labeled Google Search Console Verification Code and paste the Google code into the field. Changes will be saved automatically.
   
   
   
   
   
   

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Complete the Google Search Console verification

Once you've entered the code in beehiiv, return to GSC and click Verify under the HTML tag method to submit the form and finalize the ownership verification.

After a moment, you’ll receive a success message. Click Go to property or Done to be brought back to your GSC dashboard.

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How to set up indexing in Google Search Console

Submit your publication sitemap to GSC for indexing

1. From your GSC dashboard, select your verified publication site from the dropdown menu in the top left corner.
   
   
2. Click on Sitemaps from the left panel options.
   
   
3. In the Add a new sitemap area, your publication site will auto populate. In the ‘Enter your sitemap URL’ field type: sitemap.xml and hit Submit.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. After a moment, you’ll receive a success message.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Once your sitemap is successfully submitted, Google will notify you with details including the submission date, the last time it crawled your site, and whether the submission was successful.

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Monitoring Performance

After requesting indexing, Google will start crawling your site, and within a few days, it will either index your new pages or notify you of any issues. 

Then once your site is indexed, use the Performance tab in your Google Search Console to monitor your site's ranking, click-through rate, total impressions, and more.