Search console site verification

[muzzmoz]

I've been going on the assumption that when verifying a website in search console, it's always good to register and verify all variants of the site URL:

• http
• https
• www
• non-www

However, if you create redirects to the preferred URL, is it really necessary to register/virfy of the other three? If so, why?

[Dalessi]

Hello,

Yes, Google suggests that you register all variants of your site. Then make sure to select the preferred one in the search console. That way Google will understand your intent and desire.

http://www.site.com
http://site.com
https://www.site.com
https://site.com

Make sure you select the preferred one to show in the search results.

Best Regards

[muzzmoz]

Thanks William,

That's always been my approach too, but the dev is adamant that if they redirect all variants to the preferred version there is no need to verify them all.

My question is: should I believe what this dev is saying?

[GastonRiera]

Nope, you should not believe what your dev is saying (in this particular case).
As William said, Google suggest us to verify all your versions and set the preferred to be considerd.

[muzzmoz]

The preferred version has been verified by adding an HTML tag in the Shopify theme (this is how I usually verify too). But I don't have access to the same search console account...

• can I generate a new HTML tag to verify the other three variants (ie. is it OK to use two different HTML tags)?
• or should I create a new HTML tag to verify ALL 4 variants (ie. is there any negative side to replacing the orginal HTML tag)?

[Dalessi]

If you don't have access to the old Google accout, verify the property from the current new account. Verify all versions and then select the preferred one. This is what Google asks people to do. It is very fast and easy. This is always the preferred method.

Best Regards

[ThompsonPaul]

Your dev is right on the specific question of whether the additional GMB profiles are necessary for Google to understand which is the primary version. This is not essential as long as the proper redirects are in place. It's a "belt and suspenders" approach. If there's no way for the search engine crawlers to ever reach anythig but the primary version, then there's no way for them to get it wrong. You're using the GMB info to reinforce what the redirects are already doing. (That said - it's trivial to reinforce the redirect process with the declaration in GMB, so best practice is to do that as well. You need the GMB profile to properly manage the other aspects of marketing the site anyway, so...)

Put another way - declaring the primary version of the site using the alternate GMB profiles is Google's way of allowing those who might not have proper dev access to sites to at least partly accomplish the same thing from within GMB which they can manage.

The real value to verifying the other versions in GMB is so that you can monitor to make certain that those non-canonical versions of the site are in fact definitely not getting indexed or ranked. This is essential after an HTTPS migration, for example, as you should see the HTTP profile showing a steady drop in indexing while the HTTPS profile shows the steady increase.

A periodic check of the non-canonical GMB profiles will alert you immediately to any newly discovered issues Google's crawlers may be encountering (like a sitewide redirect got accidentally removed or changed, for example.)

Make sense?

Paul