ND Ignition Google Search Console (GSC) Set-up

Owned by Andrew Steel, created
Last updated: Jul 02, 2024
4 min read

Detailed below are the steps for establishing a website in Google Search Console (GSC) and submitting the site’s sitemap to enable Google to easily find, crawl and index a website so it can serve the site in Google search results. Setting up a website in GSC will also begin to collect data on user interactions in Google Search that is vital in analyzing a website’s performance.

 Instructions

Creating and Verifying a GSC Property

  1. In the same editor Google account as the website’s Google Analytics, go to Google Search Console and navigate to the “Welcome to Google Search Console” page that shows the two options for adding a property

    1. Alternatively - If you’re already viewing a property, a link can be found in the property search box in the top left corner, at the bottom of the drop-down – “Add property”

  2. Using the “URL prefix” option at the right, copy and paste the full URL of the site and click “Continue”

  3. You will then be presented with the “Verify Ownership” popup

  4. Click the “HTML tag” tab on the popup and click “COPY” to copy the code for the tag

  5. Back on your Ignition website, in the DNN settings, click on “Home” in the list of pages in the Content section.

  6. In the settings for the homepage, navigate to “Advanced” and then the “S.E.O.” tab underneath

  7. Paste your HTML tag in the “Page Header Tag” box at the bottom left and click “Save”

  8. Clear the site’s cache so that the tag will then show in the site’s code

  9. Swap back to GSC and click the “Verify” button that is below the HTML tag you copied

  10. Ownership will then be verified

 

Adding the Viewer Account as a User

  1. In the left-hand menu, click “Settings”

  2. Under “General Settings” click into “Users and permissions”

  3. Click the blue “ADD USER” button and enter the email address - google.analytics.4@netdriven.com

  4. Leave the permission level the default “Full” and then click “ADD”

  5. The viewer Google account will now also have access

 

Submitting the Sitemap

  1. Start the process of submitting the sitemap by clicking the “Sitemaps” tab located at the left-hand side of the screen when viewing the property

  2. In the top box of the Sitemaps page, simply click into the text field, type “sitemap.aspx” and click the blue “Submit” button

  3. If Google is able to properly read the sitemap, you will see “Success” in the status column in the Submitted Sitemaps section - You are now done!

 

If a Sitemap Error is Encountered

  • If the sitemap shows an error in the status column, the Net Driven SEO team will help diagnose and resolve the issue

    • A common issue is that the sitemap is still using the dev URL, so be sure to check for that first if there is an error. The current URL for the sitemap can be found in the SEO > Sitemap Settings section of the site’s DNN settings

    • Another common issue is that Google cannot read the sitemap. Before submitting a case to the SEO team, try submitting the sitemap URL “SiteMap.aspx” - that URL also takes you to the sitemap and can be read by Google instead.

  • If the sitemap is still set to the dev URL, create a support case for the Ignition Web Support queue with the case title “Sitemap URL Issue” and detail the issue in the case with a screenshot of the DNN settings - similar to what is shown above.

  • If there is not an issue with the sitemap URL, proceed with submitting a support case to the Net Driven SEO queue in Salesforce with the case title “Production - Search Console Setup Error” and detail the issue in the case. You can then close the production Search Console task and the SEO team will take over resolving the issue.

 

 Related articles

Add a website property to Search Console - Search Console Help

How to Submit a Sitemap to Google (in 3 Simple Steps)

 

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