Add a Site to Google Search Console and Submit a Sitemap

To add a site to Google Search Console, you create a property, prove you own the site, and then submit your sitemap in the Sitemaps report. A Domain property covers your whole domain but needs a DNS record. A URL-prefix property is easier to verify but covers only one address pattern.

Key facts (as of October 2026)

A Domain property covers all subdomains and both http and https, but can only be verified with a DNS record (Google Search Console Help).

A URL-prefix property covers only URLs that start with the exact prefix you enter, and supports several verification methods (Google Search Console Help).

Verification lasts only as long as Google can still find your verification token. Don’t remove it later (Google Search Console Help).

Submitting a sitemap is “merely a hint”. It doesn’t guarantee crawling (Google Search Central).

The Sitemaps report has three statuses: Success, Sitemap had X errors, and Couldn’t fetch (Google Search Console Help).

Domain property or URL-prefix property: which should you choose?

Search Console asks you to pick a property type before anything else. The choice decides which URLs your reports include and which verification methods you can use.

A Domain property such as example.com includes “all subdomains (m, www, and so on) and multiple protocols (http, https, ftp)”. A URL-prefix property such as https://example.com/ includes “only URLs with the specified prefix, including the protocol” (Google Search Console Help). So https://example.com/ does not include http://example.com/ or https://www.example.com/.

	Domain property	URL-prefix property
What it covers	Every subdomain, http and https	Only URLs starting with the exact prefix
Verification	DNS record only	HTML file, HTML tag, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, DNS, and others
Best for	A full view of the whole site	Quick setup, or tracking one section or protocol separately
Main drawback	You need access to your DNS settings	Easy to miss traffic on www, http, or subdomains

Google suggests a URL-prefix property when you want to “limit your data by URL path segments … or by protocol” (Google Search Console Help).

If you can log in to your domain registrar or DNS host, a Domain property is the safer default. If DNS is managed by someone else, start with a URL-prefix property for the exact address your visitors see, such as https://www.example.com/. You can add a Domain property later.

How do you add the property?

Open Search Console.
Open the property selector dropdown at the top left and select + Add property.
Choose Domain or URL prefix and enter your domain or full URL.
Pick a verification method and follow the steps on screen. You can also select Verify later and come back.

These steps follow Google’s own instructions (Google Search Console Help). Google says data “should begin to appear in your property in a few days”. Collection starts as soon as someone adds the property, even before it is verified.

Which verification method should you use?

Google lists these methods (Google Search Console Help):

Method	What you do	Domain	URL prefix
HTML file upload	Upload a file Google gives you to your site root	No	Yes
HTML tag	Add a `<meta name="google-site-verification">` tag to your homepage	No	Yes
Google Analytics	Use the Analytics tracking code already on the page	No	Yes
Google Tag Manager	Use your Tag Manager container snippet	No	Yes
Domain name provider (DNS)	Add a TXT or CNAME record at your DNS host	Yes	Yes

Each method has a few requirements, all from the same help page:

HTML tag: the tag “must be within the <head> section of the page.”
HTML file: the file must be reachable without logging in.
Google Analytics: you need edit rights, and the tracking snippet must be in the <head>, not the <body>.
Google Tag Manager: you need Publish or Admin permission on the container. The <noscript> part of the snippet must sit right after the opening <body> tag.
DNS: a record you add by hand “can take up to two or three days” before your provider starts serving it.

If Google Analytics or Tag Manager already runs on the site with the account you use for Search Console, those methods save you from adding anything new. Otherwise, the HTML tag is the simplest choice on WordPress.

How do you verify with an SEO plugin on WordPress?

Most SEO plugins have a field for the Search Console verification code. You copy the HTML tag from Search Console, paste it into the plugin, and the plugin adds it to your homepage’s <head>. You don’t need to edit theme files.

Rank Math: In Search Console, choose the HTML tag method and click Copy. In WordPress, go to Rank Math SEO → General Settings → Webmaster Tools, paste the code into the Google Search Console field, and click Save Changes (Rank Math Knowledge Base).

Yoast SEO: Copy the meta tag from the HTML tag tab in Search Console. In WordPress, go to Yoast SEO → Settings → Site connections, paste it under Google, and click Save changes (Yoast Help).

Then return to Search Console and click Verify.

If the check fails, open your homepage, view the page source, and search for google-site-verification. If the tag isn’t there, a caching plugin may still be serving an old copy of the page. Clear the cache and try again.

How do you submit a sitemap?

A sitemap lists the URLs you want Google to know about. Many WordPress SEO plugins create one for you. Rank Math, for example, creates a sitemap index at https://yourdomainname/sitemap_index.xml (Rank Math Knowledge Base). A sitemap index is a file that points to your other sitemap files, so you only submit one URL.

Open your sitemap URL in a browser, for example https://example.com/sitemap_index.xml. Confirm it loads and lists your sitemap files.
Optionally, test the sitemap URL with the URL Inspection tool to confirm Google can reach it.
In Search Console, open the Sitemaps report.
Enter the sitemap URL in the Add a new sitemap box and click Submit.

These steps follow Google’s guide to the Sitemaps report (Google Search Console Help).

You can also point to your sitemap from robots.txt. Add a line like this anywhere in the file (Google Search Central):

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap_index.xml

Doing both is fine. Note that the Sitemaps report “shows only sitemaps that were submitted using this report or the API”. A sitemap Google found through robots.txt won’t appear in the list (Google Search Console Help).

What do “Couldn’t fetch” and other statuses mean?

The Sitemaps report shows one of three statuses (Google Search Console Help):

Success: “The sitemap was fetched and read without any errors.”
Sitemap had X errors: Google could fetch the file and read part of it, but found problems. Click the sitemap to see them.
Couldn’t fetch: Google couldn’t retrieve the sitemap file itself.

Google lists these common causes of Couldn’t fetch:

robots.txt blocks the sitemap.
The URL is wrong and returns a 404.
The site has an unresolved manual action.
The server was unavailable.
There is low crawl demand for the sitemap.

To debug, click the sitemap row for details. Then inspect the sitemap URL with the URL Inspection tool and check that Page fetch shows Successful.

Google’s help page doesn’t list a “Pending” status. It says the sitemap “should be fetched immediately”, but crawling the URLs inside it “can take some time”. If you see a status that isn’t one of the three above, check that the sitemap opens in a browser, then wait and look again. Rank Math’s guide gives the same advice for a lasting fetch problem: if the error persists, “You can do nothing but wait for Google to fetch it” (Rank Math Knowledge Base).

Common mistakes

Removing the verification code later. “Verification lasts as long as Search Console can confirm the presence and validity of your verification token.” Search Console checks again from time to time and notifies you if it can’t confirm it (Google Search Console Help). Before you switch SEO plugins, change themes, or remove a DNS record, make sure the token stays in place.
Choosing the wrong URL prefix. If your site lives at https://www.example.com/ and you add https://example.com/, your reports will be close to empty.
Putting the tag in the body. The HTML tag and the Analytics snippet must be in the <head>.
Blocking the sitemap in robots.txt. Google respects robots.txt when fetching sitemaps.
Expecting instant results. Data takes a few days to appear. A submitted sitemap is a hint, not a guarantee.

What should you do after the sitemap is submitted?

Two tools are worth learning first.

The Page indexing report shows which URLs Google has indexed and which it hasn’t, with a reason for each group (Google Search Console Help). Check it a week or two after setup. Focus on pages you care about that are listed as not indexed.

The URL Inspection tool shows how Google sees one URL. Type a full URL into the search bar at the top of any Search Console screen. If a page is new or updated, you can click Request indexing. Google notes that “Submitting a request does not guarantee that the page will appear in the Google Index”, and there is a daily limit on requests. For many pages, a sitemap is the better route (Google Search Console Help).

Checklist

Chose a Domain property (if you can edit DNS) or the exact URL-prefix property your visitors use
Verified ownership and left the token, tag, or DNS record in place
Confirmed the sitemap URL opens in a browser
Submitted the sitemap in the Sitemaps report and checked its status
Added a Sitemap: line to robots.txt
Set a reminder to check the Page indexing report in one to two weeks