Verify your site in Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is the bedrock of this entire campaign. It's a free Google product that shows you exactly how Google sees, indexes, and ranks your site — the real search queries people use to find you, where you appear, and what they click.

Image slotScreenshot: GSC 'Add property' screen with the Domain option highlighted

Why this matters

Almost every later step pulls its data from GSC. Without it you're optimizing blind: guessing at keywords instead of measuring them, and never seeing whether a change actually moved you. Connect it first and everything downstream gets easier.

✓ How to do it

Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with the Google account you want permanently tied to this site (use a business account you won't lose access to).
Click Add property and choose the Domain option on the left. It covers every subdomain plus http and https in one shot, which is what you want.
Google shows you a TXT record. Copy it.
Log in to wherever your domain's DNS lives (your registrar — GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.) and add that TXT record to your DNS settings.
Back in GSC, click Verify. If it fails, wait an hour for DNS to propagate and try again — DNS changes are not instant.
Once verified, open the Performance report. It starts collecting data from today, and the first numbers appear within 1–2 days.

Tips & pitfalls

Use the Domain property, not URL-prefix — it captures www, non-www, and https together so you never split your data.
Can't edit DNS? The URL-prefix method with an HTML-file or meta-tag upload works as a fallback.

Done with this step? Mark it complete to track your campaign progress.