Jalaj P. Jha

Google Webmaster Tools extends a range of tools / reports allowing you to know how your site/blog is placed in Google searches, which are the most popular keywords that result in your site being showed in searches, and which made researcher to click and follow to your site, internal and external links to your site/blog

This and much more you can get only when your site is verified by Google. Google allows you to choose one of the two methods:
- Either you add a meta tag to your home page as given by Google
- Or you add a web page with a name as suggested by Google.

If you are successful in doing one of the above, you are the winner. Unfortunately as a WordPress.com blog owner, me and the others don’t have facility to perform any one of the above.

So should we just stop our efforts? No! well said, Where there’s a Will… there’s a Way…

And yes! There is certainly a way following which I have successfully verified my blog with Google. If you too own a blog at WordPress.com you will be able to do it too!!!

Assumed that you own a Google account, Log on to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview

Submit your blog url at “Add Site:”. Your site would be added instantly but in absence of verification you will not have access to most of the features. Click on the link that says “Verify your site”

As mentioned above you will be required to choose one of the verification methods. Choose “Upload an HTML file” and you will be told to upload a file with name similar to “google51603ad9d1bcb791.html”.

Question is how do we upload the file?

Leave the Window opened and open the WordPress.com Dashboard. Navigate through the links to create a new page (please note PAGE not post). Give the page title as the name of the HTML that Google gave and press on “Publish” and your page gets published.

Unfortunately though, the page that appears is “google51603ad9d1bcb791html” i.e. stripping off the DOT before html.

But… fortunately the same thing also happens when you try to access “google51603ad9d1bcb791.html” at your blog. WordPress.com strips off the DOT (mod-rewrite) and shows up you the page “google51603ad9d1bcb791html”. No “File Not Found Error” is returned unlike what you would have expected.

Now… you just need… to open the Google verification page again and fire the “Verify” button and you have done it…

Update (04.06.2007):
Google insists and requires you to maintain the verification page which it can occasionally check and in absense of which the blog will again appear as Unverified. The re-verification mostly seem to be happening when you make changes in settings as “Crawl Rate” etc or add or delete a sitemap.

The Google Webmaster Tools is worth it. For details read Google Webmaster Tools – A Tutorial

Happy Googling……..