Ensure Google indexes your site so visitors can find it when searching the web.

Google Search Console is a free service that helps you manage your site's presence in Google search results. Through Google Search Console, you can request that Google index your site, meaning changes you've made can show up in search results sooner.

After connecting Google Search Console, you can check Analytics to review which keywords visitors are using to find your site.

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Before you begin

• Remove your site-wide password or page password on your homepage if either are enabled. Passwords prevent Google from indexing your content.
• If you have a third-party domain, ensure it's connected properly. For best results, we recommend waiting 72 hours after you connect your domain before verifying it with Google Search Console.
• Verification with Google Search Console won't work on trial sites because trial sites are hidden from search engines. If your site is in trial, publish your site before continuing.
• A Google account is required to sign up for Search Console. You can create one here.
• For help adding keywords to your site, visit Adding keywords for SEO.

Connect your Google Search Console account

The Search keywords panel shows how visitors locate your site. Connect and verify your site in this panel and return later to review the data:

1. In the Home menu, click Analytics.
2. Click Search keywords.
3. Click Connect in the panel's pop-up.
4. Log into the Google account you want to connect to your site. If you have multiple Google accounts, ensure you select the correct one.
5. Review the permissions, then click Allow. 
6. Wait 72 hours for the data to populate.

If you're having trouble connecting to Google Search Console, try authorizing through the Connected accounts panel

View popular keywords

After connecting to Google Search Console, you can view your top keywords in the Google tab of the Search keywords panel. It may take up to 72 hours for keyword analytics to appear.

To view more analytics, you can log into your Google Search Console account at search.google.com/search-console/.

Index your site (optional)

One of the primary uses for Google Search Console is requesting Google index your site. This asks Google's bots to review your site and helps Google update search results with your new content.

There are multiple ways to request Google index your site and its content. We've outlined two options below.

Your site may not appear in search results immediately after your request. Google needs time to process the request, then crawl and index the page. Google relies on a complex algorithm to update site information, so we can’t guarantee Google will index all your changes.

Keep in mind:

• You can use the URL Inspection tool to see if a page can be indexed and when Google last crawled it.
• If the steps below don't match what you're seeing in the dashboard, you're probably in the old Google Search Console dashboard. Click Use new Search Console at the top of the dashboard to switch to the new version.

Index the whole site by submitting a site map

By submitting a site map, you provide Search Console with your site’s publicly available page URLs and image metadata. All Squarespace sites automatically generate a site map. To learn more about site maps in Squarespace, visit Your site map.

1. If you haven't yet, connect your Google Search Console account to your site.
2. On the Google Search Console dashboard, select the site you’d like to index from the property menu in the top left corner.
3. Click Sitemaps.
4. Under Add a new sitemap, enter your sitemap URL.
5. Click Submit to request Google index your site.

Index specific pages with the URL Inspection tool

With the URL Inspection tool, you can submit individual pages URLs to Search Console. Use this method if you only have a few pages on your site, or if you’ve added new pages to your site that Google hasn’t indexed yet.

1. If you haven't yet, connect your Google Search Console account to your site. 
2. On the Google Search Console dashboard, select the site you’d like to index from the property menu in the top left corner.
3. Click URL inspection.
4. Enter the full URL of a page that hasn’t been indexed and press Enter or Return.
5. Click Request Indexing.
6. Repeat for any additional page URLs.

How Google Search Console verifies your domains

Google Search Console verifies your site’s primary domain. This can be your built-in Squarespace domain (example.squarespace.com) or a custom domain (example.com) managed by Squarespace or a third party.

• Custom domains must be active and properly connected.
• If you switch primary domains, or add a custom domain after connecting with your built-in domain, reconnect your site to Google Search Console.

Depending on your Secure SSL setting, Google Search Console will verify both the http:// and https:// versions, and add the primary version to Google Search Console. Google Search Console is able to use this information to assign search traffic to your primary domain.

Warnings and errors

Robots.txt warning

When verifying your site with Google Search Console, you'll see a message showing that parts of your URL are restricted by robots.txt. This is completely normal. We ask Google not to crawl these pages because they’re for internal use only, or display duplicate content that can count against a site's SEO.

Connected Account Deactivated error

This error displays in the Search Keywords panel if you remove the site from Google Search Console's settings or revoke permission for Squarespace to access your Google account. To fix the connection, click Reconnect and log into your Google account. To use a different account, click Disconnect and follow the steps to connect a new account.

Learn more

To learn more about errors in Google Search Console, visit Understanding Google SEO emails and console errors.

Note: Google Search Console is an advanced third-party service. Squarespace can support you in completing this verification process, but can't offer general help on using Google Search Console. For more help, visit Google's documentation.