How do you verify domain ownership in Google Search Console using a DNS TXT record or HTML file?
A domain property covers the whole name, including subdomains, on http and https. Publish Google's TXT at the bare domain, then click verify. A URL-prefix property covers only that scheme, host, and path. An HTML file or a meta tag verifies the narrower property. Use DNS when you can edit the zone. Use the file when one prefix is enough.
| Property | Usual proof | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | A DNS TXT record at the bare domain | Every subdomain and both schemes |
| URL prefix | An HTML file or a meta tag on that host | Only the prefix you entered |
The TXT value is a verification string, not an SPF record. Publish it in the zone your live nameservers serve, then verify. If the file method fails, the file is on the wrong host or a redirect is hiding it.
How do you analyze queries, clicks, impressions, and CTR drops in the Performance report?
Performance lists queries, pages, countries, devices, clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average position. Fewer impressions means fewer people saw the site. Fewer clicks with steady impressions means the title or result lost the click. Compare matching weekdays. Open one page and one query before you edit. A sitewide average hides the URL that moved.
- Set the date range, then compare it with the previous period of the same length.
- Sort queries by impressions if the worry is visibility, or by clicks if the worry is traffic.
- Filter to one page when a single template changed.
- Check mobile and desktop separately. A drop on one device is not a title problem on both.
How do you diagnose 'Crawled - currently not indexed' and 'Duplicate without user-selected canonical' in the Pages report?
Crawled - currently not indexed means Google fetched the URL and did not index it. Alone, that is not a manual penalty. Thin pages, near-duplicates, and unsearched URLs sit here often. Duplicate without user-selected canonical means Google picked another URL. Check parameters, print copies, and http copies. Fix the page. Clicking the report does not index it.
| Status | What Google is saying | What to check on the site |
|---|---|---|
| Crawled - currently not indexed | Fetched, and not selected for the index | Whether the page is thin, duplicated, or aimed at a query nobody uses |
| Duplicate without user-selected canonical | Google picked another URL as the canonical | Copies, parameters, and a canonical that points at the URL you want indexed |
How do you submit your XML sitemap and inspect individual URLs for live indexing?
Submit the full sitemap URL in the Sitemaps report. Google then knows those addresses. That is not an indexing promise. URL Inspection covers one address: the indexed copy and a live fetch. Use it for a missing page or an old canonical. Do not paste hundreds of URLs. Request indexing only if that live page may be indexed.
- Confirm the sitemap opens in a browser and lists canonical URLs, not redirects.
- Submit that sitemap URL in Search Console and read the status after Google fetches it.
- Inspect one missing URL. Compare the indexed version with the live test.
- If the live test is blocked, fix the block before you ask for indexing.
The wider job of getting a new site discovered is how to submit a website to Google. This page stays on the buttons and reports inside Search Console.
How do you use Core Web Vitals and security/manual-action alerts to protect site traffic?
Core Web Vitals marks URLs poor, needs improvement, or good, for mobile and for desktop. A poor group usually shares a template. Fix that template, then validate only after it is live. Manual actions and security issues are other reports. A manual action is a trust problem. Hacked content is a security issue. Slow pages clear neither.
- Open Core Web Vitals, note which device is poor, and fix the shared template.
- Read a security issue as a possible compromise or a certificate problem, and clean that before you ask for review.
- Read a manual action as a policy problem. The message names the scope. Do not answer it by resubmitting the sitemap.
- After the fix, use the report's review or validation action, then wait for the report to update.
How to change the template, the canonicals, and the crawl rules is the work on technical SEO. Search Console tells you the symptom. That guide is where the site changes belong.