Setup Google and Bing Webmasters Tools

Google and Bing both provide webmasters tools that can be used to monitor the search performance of your website, and alert you if there are any errors or issues crawling your website. To use these tools verification is required to prove that you own the website. Though there are multiple verification options provided, verification by DNS is preferred as other methods only provide limited access

Google

Google search console will be linked to a google account, so you must create a google account if you don’t have one already.

Now navigate to the google’s search console page https://search.google.com/search-console

Enter your domain name within the “Domain” section. We are using the domain verification as it will cover the entire website, whereas “URL prefix” doesn’t cover all domains.

We’ll be working through the generic case, this is done by selecting “Any DNS provider” from the drop down at the top. If your provider is on the list however, you may desire to work through their process. Save the TXT record that’s generated. This will be added to your DNS later.

Bing

Access the Bing webmasters tools at http://www.bing.com/webmasters

On the right side enter your website URL and then click “Add”.

Click on “Add CNAME record to DNS” and save to string of text. We will add these to the DNS next.

Adding DNS Record

The process will be shown using GoDaddy’s interface. Though the process is very similar for most hosting providers

Navigate to the DNS management console. This will allow us to add the records required by Google and Bing.

For the Bing record, this will be created as type CNAME, with the name equal to the string of letters and numbers, and the value being “verify.bing.com”. As with the previous record, a TTL of the shortest time option will be used.

Now return to Google and click “Verify”. Following, you will see the above indicating that the property has been successfully linked. If you receive an error message, verify that you’ve entered the records correctly (check for an extra space added after any data – this will likely cause issues). Otherwise, if everything appears to be correct wait some time before trying again, as it can sometimes take a few hours before records become available.

Return to Bing and click verify. You should now see the above message. Bing Webmasters tools are now verified and your website is setup. Look for future guides on tips and tricks for getting the most out of these tools.