Verifying Site Ownership with Google

What is it?
To further take advantage of additional webmaster benefits from Google, we have introduced support of verifying site ownership with Google. Merchants can upload the account specific verification code provided by Google for their store and Yahoo! will create an HTML page with that name which Google can then verify. Once ownership has been verified, merchants will then be able to access additional tools and features (diagnostic/statistics) from their Google Webmaster interface.

How it works?
From the Google Webmaster interface, the merchant chooses to verify their site ownership by selecting the "upload an HTML file" method. A 22 digits alpha-numeric code will be generated (e.g., google123a56b78c012345.html) by the system. The merchant will then sign in to their Store Manager. From the "Search Engines" link the merchant enters the 22-digit file name into the Google site verification interface and the file will be published to the root directory after publishing the Store Editor. Once the file is published, Google will then be able to validate the site ownership for the merchant.

Before you can verify your ownership, you must first add your sitemap. Then you will need to get the file name to be verified from Google, provide the file name to Yahoo! to create the page for Google to verify, and then request verification from Google.

To get the Sitemap Verification file name:

1. Sign in to your Google account.
2. Click Add a site.
3. Select Upload an HTML file to your server from the Verify ownership menu.
4. Copy the 22-digit file name provided by Google.

Google will check your site for an HTML file with the name they provide as verification of site ownership in the last step.

To provide the Sitemap Verification filename to Yahoo!:

1. Open a new browser window and go to the Search Engine page where you enabled the Sitemap feature.
2. Enter the Sitemap verification file name up to and including the .html file extension and click Done (see figure 1).
3. Publish your Order Settings.

Once you have provided the Sitemap verification file name, you can return to Google and complete the verification process.

To request verification from Google:

1. Sign in to your Google Webmaster account.
2. Click Verify this site.
3. Select Upload an HTML file to your server from the Verify ownership menu
4. Click Verify.

Google will check to ensure you have created the page with the file name provided by them. If Google is unable to find the file, publish your Order Settings again and try to verify again.

Figure 1: Search Engines page in the Store Manager with Sitemap Verification field highlighted.

Google Sitemap Help

• Verifying Site Ownership with an HTML file