Get Found on Google

Set Up Google Search Console

Use a laptop or desktop computer — not your phone. Google Search Console does not work properly on a phone screen. If you only have your phone right now, bookmark this page and come back when you are at a computer.

Do this before Google Business Profile. Google Search Console must be verified first — it unlocks one-click verification in Google Business Profile. If you skip this order, you will not be able to do instant verification and will have to wait days for a postcard instead. After you finish here, the Google Business Profile guide is your next step.

What this does

Proves to Google you own your website

Time to complete

20–30 min (includes waiting on Nolan)

What you need

A Google account and your website address

Nolan's role

Adds one DNS record for you — you send him a value, he handles the rest

Follow the steps below. Every step ends with a Done when line — do not move on until that condition is true. If you get stuck, the support table below has Nolan's contact info.

Who	How to reach them	What to say
Nolan (FunkPd)	+1 431 813 2402 contact@funkpd.com	Email with a screenshot of what you are seeing and which step you are stuck on. Email is the best way to reach Nolan.
ChatGPT	chat.openai.com	Copy and paste any step from this page and ask it to explain in simpler terms.

Step 1 — Open Google Search Console and Create a Property

A "property" is just Google's word for your website inside their tool. You are creating a record that says "this domain belongs to me."

Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your Google account.
Use the same Google account you plan to use for everything — email, Google Business Profile, the works. Do not create a new account for this.

You are signed in and can see the Google Search Console dashboard.
Click Add property, choose the Domain option, and type in your main website address — for example yourdomain.com — then click Continue.

Choose Domain, not URL prefix. Domain covers your entire site including www, non-www, http, and https all at once — URL prefix only covers one version.

Google shows a screen with a TXT record value to copy.

Step 2 — Verify That You Own the Domain

Google needs proof that you actually own your website before it will share data with you. The way it works: Google gives you a short code, Nolan pastes it into the settings for your domain, and then you tell Google to go check. That is the whole thing.

On the verification screen, copy the full code value and send it to Nolan.

Click the copy icon next to the value — do not retype it by hand. Even one wrong character will cause verification to fail. Send it to Nolan by text or email.

Text or email Nolan this message — paste the code at the end:

"Hey Nolan, I am on the Google Search Console verification step. Here is the code it gave me: [paste here]. Can you add this for me?"

Nolan replies and confirms he is on it.
Wait for Nolan to say it is done, then go back to Google Search Console and click Verify.
Do not click Verify until Nolan gives you the go-ahead — the code needs to be live on your domain first or it will fail. If you click too early and it fails, nothing breaks — just wait and try again later.

Google Search Console shows a green confirmation that you are a verified owner.

If Nolan says he cannot add the code and you need to do it yourself — read this first

The code needs to be added to the place where your domain is managed. Think of it like updating a contact in your phone — you just need to log in to the right place and paste one thing in. Follow these steps and you will get through it.

Step 1 — Find out who manages your domain.
Check your email for a receipt or confirmation from when you first set up your website. The company that sent it is likely where your domain is managed. Common ones: GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, Cloudflare, or your web host. Not sure? Ask Nolan — he can usually figure it out from your domain name alone.

Step 2 — Log in to that company's website.
Use your account login for that company. If you have forgotten the password, use their "Forgot password" option — do not create a new account.

Step 3 — Find the DNS settings.
Once logged in, look for your domain name in the account. There is usually a section called DNS, DNS Records, DNS Management, or Advanced DNS. It might be inside a section called "Domain", "My Domains", or "Settings". Click into it.

Step 4 — Add a new record.
Look for a button that says Add Record, Add DNS Record, or + Add. Click it. A form will appear. Fill it in like this:

Type: choose TXT from the dropdown
Name or Host: type @ (just the @ symbol — this tells it to apply to your main domain)
Value, Content, or Data: paste the full code from Google exactly as copied
TTL: leave it on whatever the default is

Save the record. Different providers call the save button different things — "Save", "Add Record", "Confirm", or just a checkmark.

Step 5 — Wait, then click Verify.
After saving, wait at least 15 minutes before going back to Google Search Console and clicking Verify. Some providers take longer — if it fails after 15 minutes, wait another hour and try again.

If anything on your provider's screens looks different from what is described here, take a screenshot of what you are seeing and email it to contact@funkpd.com — do not guess.

Step 3 — Submit Your Sitemap

A sitemap is a file on your website that lists all your pages in one place. Submitting it tells Google exactly where to look so it can find and index your pages faster. You are not creating anything — the sitemap file already exists on your site, you are just pointing Google to it.

In the left sidebar, click Sitemaps.

The Sitemaps option is in the left navigation panel under the Indexing section.

You can see the "Add a new sitemap" field.
In the sitemap field, copy and paste the text below exactly as shown, then click Submit.
```
sitemap_index.xml
```
Your domain is already filled in on the left side of the field — paste only the filename on the right side. For most WordPress sites, sitemap_index.xml is correct. If Nolan gave you a different sitemap URL, use that instead.

Google shows a success message and the sitemap appears in the list below.
Check the submitted sitemaps table to confirm the status shows success.

A "Success" status means Google accepted the sitemap and will start processing it. It may take a day or two before you see page counts update.

The table shows when Google last read the sitemap and how many pages it found. You can come back here later to confirm everything is processing normally.

The sitemap shows a "Success" status in the submitted sitemaps table.

Sitemap not found? If Google returns an error when you submit sitemap_index.xml, try sitemap.xml instead. If that also fails, ask Nolan for the correct sitemap URL — he can find it in the Yoast SEO plugin settings on your WordPress site.

Step 4 — Give Nolan Owner Access

Adding Nolan as an owner means he can monitor your search performance, help troubleshoot issues, and assist with future changes without needing your login credentials. This is the same idea as adding someone to a shared Google Doc.

Click Settings at the bottom of the left sidebar, then click Users and permissions.

Settings is at the very bottom of the left sidebar. Users and permissions is the first option inside.

You can see the current list of users for this property.
Click the blue Add user button in the top right.

The Add user button opens a small form where you enter the new user's email and permission level.

A dialog box opens asking for an email address and permission level.
Enter contact@funkpd.com as the email, set the permission to Owner, and click Add.

Always use Owner level for Nolan — this gives him the access he needs to fully manage and diagnose your property.

Nolan receives an invitation email from Google Search Console. Let him know it is coming.

Permission levels explained — what each one means

Permission	What they can do	When to use it
Owner	Everything — full data access, settings, adding and removing other users.	Nolan, or anyone you fully trust to manage the property.
Full	Most data and most actions, but cannot manage users.	Someone who needs to work in the tool regularly but should not control access.
Restricted	Can view most data but cannot take actions or change settings.	Someone who just needs to see reports — a bookkeeper, a silent partner, etc.

Setup Complete — Understanding What You Have Now

The four steps above are the actual setup. Everything below is optional reading to help you understand what Google Search Console shows you going forward. You do not need to do anything here right now.

What the Performance report shows you

The Performance report is the main dashboard you will use over time. It shows four key numbers:

Google Search Console performance overview with clicks impressions CTR and average position — These four numbers are your baseline. Check them monthly — you are looking for trends, not specific targets.

Google Search Console search performance report with headline metrics and trend chart — The chart below the numbers shows the same data over time. A rising Clicks line means more people are finding and visiting your site from Google.

Clicks — how many times someone actually clicked your site in Google search results.
Impressions — how many times your site appeared in search results, whether clicked or not.
CTR (click-through rate) — the percentage of impressions that turned into clicks. Low CTR can mean your page title or description is not compelling.
Average position — your average rank in search results. Position 1 is the top result. Lower numbers are better.

Google Search Console queries table with tabs for queries pages countries devices and dates — The Queries tab shows the exact words people typed into Google before landing on your site. This is some of the most useful data in the tool.

The tabs below the chart — Queries, Pages, Countries, Devices — let you break down the data. The Queries tab is the most useful: it shows you exactly what people searched for before clicking your site.

How to check if your pages are showing up in Google

Google Search Console page indexing report with indexed and not indexed totals — The Pages report splits your site into Indexed (Google knows about it and can show it) and Not indexed (Google is not showing it for some reason).

Go to Indexing → Pages in the left sidebar. This shows which pages on your site Google is actively showing in search results and which ones it is skipping.

A small number of "Not indexed" pages is normal — these are often thank-you pages, privacy policies, and other pages you do not necessarily want in search results. If large portions of your site are not indexed, contact Nolan.

Google Search Console URL Inspection entry point in the top search bar and sidebar — The URL Inspection tool is in the top search bar — type or paste any page URL from your site to see exactly what Google knows about that specific page.

If you publish a new page and want to know whether Google has found it yet, paste the full URL into the search bar at the top of Google Search Console. It will tell you the current status and let you ask Google to re-crawl it.

Next step: Google Business Profile

Google Search Console is now fully set up. Head to the Google Business Profile setup guide now — because you just verified your domain in GSC, the instant verification shortcut will be available to you there. Do not skip it.