Google Search Console for WordPress

WordPress makes Google Search Console setup easy. Here are three methods:

Method 1: Yoast SEO Plugin (Recommended)

1. Install and activate Yoast SEO (free version works)
2. In the WordPress admin, go to Yoast SEO > General > Webmaster Tools tab
3. In Search Console, select HTML tag verification and copy only the content="..." value (not the whole tag)
4. Paste it into the "Google verification code" field in Yoast
5. Save and verify in Search Console

Method 2: Google Site Kit

Install the Site Kit by Google plugin. It connects your site to Search Console (and optionally Analytics, AdSense, etc.) automatically with guided setup.

Method 3: Manual HTML Tag

Use a plugin like Insert Headers and Footers to paste the full meta tag into the site header, or add it directly to your theme's header.php file before the </head> tag.

Submit Your Sitemap

After verification, submit your sitemap. Yoast creates a sitemap at /sitemap_index.xml by default.