Google Search Console is Google's free report on how your site does in Google Search: the searches that show your site, how often people click, and where you rank. Connect it from Get Found and Zarla does the setup: it adds your site to Search Console, proves to Google that you own it, and shows your results in Zarla. There's no code to copy or paste. Two steps are yours: you sign in to Google once and give Zarla permission, and, unless your site is already verified in that Google account's Search Console, you republish it once so Google can see Zarla's proof.
Before you start
- Publish your site first. The Search Console card only appears once your site is live.
- Using your own domain? Connect once it's live. Search Console tracks one web address. If you connect while your domain is still being set up, Google tracks your free Zarla address instead.
- Only site owners and admins can connect it. Sign in with the Google account you want this data to live in.
Connect it
- Open Search Terms. On a computer, click Get Found in the sidebar, then Search Terms. On a phone, tap More in the bar at the bottom, then Get Found. Tap More again: Search Terms is now listed under Get Found. (The bar at the bottom isn't shown while you're editing your site. Tap the blue Zarla star at the top left to leave the editor first.)
- On the Google Search Console card, click Connect Google Search Console.
- Zarla explains what happens next. Click Continue to Google.
- Sign in to Google. Google asks you to let Zarla manage your Search Console. Allow it. If Google shows a box to tick for each permission, tick them all: Zarla needs every one. Zarla uses this to add your site, prove you own it and ask Google to crawl it. As the card says, Zarla never deletes anything or touches the rest of your Google account.
- You come back to the Search Terms page:
- If your Google account has no verified sites in Search Console yet, Zarla adds yours for you.
- If your site is the only one there, Zarla connects it straight away.
- Otherwise the card says We found these sites in your Google account:. Pick the one marked Your site. If yours isn't in the list (it won't be if you added it on Google's site but never finished verifying), click I don't see my site, then Add my site.
- If the card says Almost connected, click Republish now. This puts Zarla's verification tag on your live site so Google can confirm you own it. It also publishes any recent changes you've made. Zarla then waits for Google's answer. If Google hasn't confirmed yet, give it a minute and click Check again.
When it's done, the card says Connected & Verified, with the Google account you used underneath.
What happens next
- Zarla brings in up to 90 days of your Google search data and refreshes it every day.
- Zarla sends Google your sitemap (a list of every page on your site), so Google finds a new page sooner. It skips this for a "Domain" property (see below).
- Your searches and rankings show on the Search Terms page. They also feed your Get Found score, the ideas worth going after and the AI coach.
Expect very little data at first. It takes a few days for Google's data to start coming through, and a new site takes weeks to appear in many searches. See My site isn't showing up on Google.
Google gave me a TXT record or a code
Google checks that you own a domain with a TXT record whose value starts with google-site-verification=. More than one Google tool asks for one, so check which tool gave you yours:
- Google Search Console: you don't need it if you connect through Zarla as above. Zarla verifies your site for you. (Google's site may offer a CNAME record instead. You don't need that either.)
- Google Workspace (Gmail on your own domain) or another Google tool: you do need it. Add it as shown below. For Workspace, see Get a professional email address with your domain.
To add Google's record (for Workspace, or for Search Console if you'd rather verify on Google's own site, for example for a "Domain" property that covers every version of your address, which Google only verifies through your domain's settings):
- That record is Google's, and it's separate from Zarla's own
zarla-verify=record. Keep all of Zarla's records as they are. - You connected a domain you already own: add Google's record as a new record at your domain company (GoDaddy, Namecheap and so on), the same place you added Zarla's records.
- You bought your domain through Zarla: email hello@zarla.com with the exact record Google gave you, and we'll add it for you.
More on these records: Verify your domain with a TXT record.
Disconnect
On the Google Search Console card, click Disconnect, then Yes. Zarla stops reading your Search Console and clears the Google search data it brought in for Search Terms and your Get Found score. Your site stays listed in Search Console on Google's side. But the next time you publish, Zarla's verification tag comes off your site. If Zarla was what verified your site, Google then stops treating you as its verified owner. To keep using Search Console on Google's own site, verify your site there another way first (see "Google gave me a TXT record or a code" above).
Troubleshooting
- The card says "Connection error. Try reconnecting to fix this." Click Connect Google Search Console and go through the steps again. When Google asks for permission, allow everything it asks for.
- Stuck on "Almost connected"? Click Republish now, wait a minute, then click Check again. If the card says Search Console is set up for a different address than where your site now lives, reconnect as in the next point.
- Connected before your own domain went live? Search Console stays on your free Zarla address. Click Disconnect, then connect again. If Zarla lists the sites in your Google account and none is marked Your site (your old Zarla address won't be), click I don't see my site, then Add my site, so Google tracks your domain.
- Added to the site as staff? Only owners and admins can connect, check or disconnect Search Console. Ask the site's owner to do it.