Google Search Console adds CNAME DNS verification

Google announced this morning that there is a new way to verify your site and property in Google Search Console. You can now use DNS CNAME verification in Google Search Console, the search company announced on Twitter.

How it works. In Google Search Console, when you add a new property, Google lets you verify your property using several methods. These methods include:

• HTML file upload
• HTML tag
• Domain name provider
• Google Analytics tracking code
• Google Tag Manager container snippet
• Google Sites
• bloggers
• Google domains

Google now gives you a new DNS method, CNAME, which actually was an option in the old Webmaster Tools but not an option in the new Search Console interface.

What it looks like. Here is a screenshot showing the new CNAME method:

Confused? Thought so. Google has offered DNS verification for a long time. Daniel Waisberg from Google clarified that DNS verification only was supported using TXT in Google Search Console. He did add later that the old Google Webmaster Tools, once upon a time, did allow for CNAME DNS verification.

Why we care. Well, we got one additional method to verify your property in Google Search Console. This gives your developers one less excuse on why not to verify your site in Google Search Console. So if you or your developers prefer CNAME DNS verification, you can now use it going forward.

About The Author

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.