Create Google Search Console account

The Google Search Console (formerly known as "Google Webmaster Tools") is an analysis tool primarily popular with webmasters and online marketers to support search engine optimisation. The free web service offers various options for fine-tuning Google's crawling and indexing of your own website and provides information on performance, coverage, potential shortcomings and user-friendliness in various reports.

All you need is a Google Search Console account and at least one property to which your website is linked. We'll show you how it's done!

• A Google account (Google Workspace Business or a private Google account) is required to create a Google Search Console account.
• If the Google Search Console is to be linked to other Google products, use the same Google account for this.
• The Google account selected for the Google Search Console will be the owner of the properties created in it. However, ownership can be transferred to other accounts or shared with other accounts.

Visit https://search.google.com/search-console to start the setup. If you are not yet logged in with a Google account, you will be prompted to do so at this point. Otherwise, you can start selecting the property type straight away.

Select property type

In order to connect a domain and use the features of Google Search Console, at least one of the following properties is required.

Domain properties include all subdomains (e.g. www.123.ch or store.abcde123.ch) and protocols (e.g. http:// or https://) and therefore enable website-wide metrics. URL prefix properties are used when segments of the domain property are to be tracked separately.

We recommend creating a domain property at the beginning. We explain how to do this in the following section. If you would like to create a URL prefix property, go directly to the Create URL prefix property section.

For a domain property, enter the name of the desired domain (e.g. abcde123.ch) and click "NEXT".

Confirm ownership of the domain

The next step is to verify the ownership of the domain. For Domain Properties, this is done via a DNS entry with your domain name provider.

Automated verification is available for some web hosting providers. If available, select your host in the drop-down menu under "Instructions for:" and click on "START VERIFICATION". You will then be redirected to your provider's login page, where you will be taken back to Google Search Console after logging in and authorisation.

If your web hosting provider is not in the list, select "All DNS providers".

The exact procedure for this varies depending on the provider, but in principle is identical in each case:

• Register with your provider.
• Copy the generated TXT record (your Google Security Token).
• Store the TXT record in your DNS configuration.

Google also provides detailed instructions for the most common providers at https://support.google.com/a/topic/1409901?hl=de.

Once the TXT entry has been saved, go back to the Google Search Console and click on "CONFIRM".

If everything went well, the confirmation "Ownership confirmed" will appear and the Google Search Console has been set up successfully! You now have a property that provides all data from all subdomains and regardless of the protocol. If you want to create additional properties that track parts of the domain property separately, you will find more information on this in the next section.

Note at this point: As DNS changes usually take some time, it may happen that "Confirmation of ownership failed" is displayed for the time being. Wait a while and try again later by selecting the relevant property under "Not confirmed" in the property selection at the top left.

Create URL prefix property

To create a URL prefix property, select "URL prefix" at the beginning of the property type selection and enter the desired URL exactly as it is displayed in the browser (including the slash (/) at the end of the URL). If the domain property has already been created, a new property can be added via the property selection at the top left.

Automated verification is available for some web hosting providers. If available, select your host in the drop-down menu under "Instructions for:" and click on "START VERIFICATION". You will then be redirected to your provider's login page, where you will be taken back to Google Search Console after logging in and authorisation.

If your web hosting provider is not in the list, select "All DNS providers".

Download the file and place it in the corresponding root directory via FTP client.

Back in the Google Search Console, click "CONFIRM" to finalise the process. You can find your newly created URL prefix property via the selection at the top left.

"In which position in the search results will we be displayed for XY?"

Answer your SEO questions by linking the Search Console to Google Analytics or Google Data Studio and viewing your data. Or you can look directly in the tool to see how many impressions or clicks you land for which keywords.