Google’s site verification is the process of proving that you own the site or app that you claim to own. Google needs to confirm ownership because once you are verified for a site or app you have access to its private Google Search data, and can affect how Google Search crawls it.
To add and verify a site
Sign into Google Webmaster Tools with your Google Account.
- Click Add a site, and type the URL of the site you want to add. Make sure you type the entire URL, such ashttp://www.example.com/
- Click Continue. The Site verification page opens. The Site verification page opens. (Optional) In the Name box, type a name for your site (for example, My Store XYZ). Select the verification method you want.
In ShopFactory, there are 2 verification methods you can choose from:
1. HTML file Upload
Upload the google verification html file to your base directory
To do this, save the HTML file (google-site-verification: google8f446e9911198acc.html) into your shop project folder inside the RUNTIME folder
- Save the google-site-verification: google8f446e9911198acc.html file to: <shop folder>\Runtime
Files added in the runtime folder are uploaded/published to your Host.
To verify your site by uploading an HTML file:
1.) Sign into Google webmaster tools with your Google Account.
2.) Click Verify next to the site you want.
3.) In the Choose verification method list, select Upload an HTML
file, and follow the steps on your screen.
4.) Using any text editor, create the file that they ask for and make sure to save it with the exact name they ask for (for example,google8f446e9911198acc.html). The filename is case-sensitive and must have an ".html" extension. The file itself can be empty - they don't read the content of the file, but only check to see that it exists in the specified location. Upload the file to your webserver to the location they specify. Generally, this is the "Base Directory" for your site.
Creating the HTML file:
a. Open Notepad.
b. Click Save.
c. At the Save dialog box, I paste the filename given by Google to the "Filename: " text box. For example,google8f446e9911198acc.html
Since Notepad extension names are .txt, put quotes in between the given Google HTML file.
d. Ensure you save it in your shop’s “Runtime” folder. To make it easier, just save it in \<shop folder>\Runtime
e. Click Save button. The "google8f446e9911198acc.html" file is now saved in your "<shop folder>\Runtime" folder
5.) Publish your shop and the html file will be uploaded.
6.) Open your default browser (such as Internet Explorer) and enter your shop URL followed by the HTML filename at the Address Bar.
It will open the file displaying only google8f446e9911198acc.html in the Content page. You’ve confirmed that the HTML file has been successfully uploaded to your Host.
7.) Once you have uploaded the file, click Verify button at the Google Webmaster Tools page. They will verify that the file exists in the specified location. If they can't access the file, they'll give you information about the error they encountered. Once this problem is resolved, try to verify your site again.
Alternatively, you can use Method #2 below.
2. HTML tag (verification meta tag)
ShopFactory Central page allows you to insert your Google Verification – Meta-tag.
Please refer to the Google article below for more information on how to get your site verified first:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35659
To add Verification meta tag in ShopFactory Central page, please follow the steps below:
- Open your shop in ShopFactory
- Click ShopFactory Centra at the left tree menu
- Enter the Verification meta tag within the respective textbox.
Here's a sample verification meta-tag:(the code you are adding in SF Central page must look similar to this - you can't insert an invalid meta-tag)
Now, you must login to your Google webmaster tools account, choose “Add a meta tag to your site’s home page” option. Google provides the code as shown:
You only have to choose ONE from the 2 methods above to ‘verify’ your site ownership.
Related article:
How to “Set your preferred domain (www or non-www)”
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