How do I verify my site with Google and Submit my Sitemap?

There are several steps that you need to follow in order to verify your website with Google. The first step will be setting up a free account with Google Webmaster Tools. Then you can add the meta verification tag, and submit your sitemap within your Google Webmaster Tools account. The following video will walk you through the process of placing the verification code within your BigCommerce store. In addition to the video there are steps and screenshots below for further instrctions.


Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools is a free collection of tools provided by Google to help search engines better understand your website. If you don't already have a free account, you can sign up for one here.

Adding and Verifying a Site
First, you will need to tell Google what your site is and then verify that you are the owner of the site. After that, we can submit the sitemap.

1. When you log in to your Google Webmaster Tools account, click the Add a site button and enter the UR
   
   L of the front of your store. Then click Continue


2. Now Google will ask you to verify ownership of the site. Make sure the option "Meta tag" is selected as the Verification Method (this should be the default selection). Some HTML code will be displayed in a box. You will need to copy this code to paste it into one of your template files in a bit. (You cannot use the "HTML File" as your verification method since we do not allow you root access to your remote drive for your store.)
   


3. Go to the control panel of your store and click on the "Store Design" link in the top right of the page. Then click on the "Browse Template Files" button.


4. Then look in the top left corner of the page, find the HTMLHead.html template file and click on it. This should open up the file to the right.


5. Insert a new line by placing the cursor after in the first line and pressing Enter. Then paste in HTML code you copied in step 2. Click the Save button at the top left of the window.
   


6. Return to your Google Webmaster tools account and press the "Verify" button.

Submitting your sitemap

1. In your Webmaster Tools dashboard, click the "Submit a Sitemap" button.


2. Click the Submit a Sitemap button and enter "xmlsitemap.php" in the box. Then click the "Submit Sitemap" button.
   Note: If you are on a older version of BigCommerce the sitemap page name may be "sitemap.php".

Now that Google knows where your site is and what's on it, it will be better able to index the pages (include them in search results). It will still take some time for your site to show up, but be sure and log in to your Webmaster Tools account regularly to see what you can do to improve your site's rankings.

For more information on using Webmaster Tools, visit Google's own help links found inside the Webmaster Tools pages.