September 28, 201411 yr As a step into this century and in an attempt to boost my business I decided that I needed a website to act as a shop window. So I got my domain and hosting sorted (easy) Downloaded wordpress onto the site and started building(not so easy) I've had a mate sort of holding my hand through it and I really feel like I've gotten a lot out of it but I can't get my google verification to work. I go to the webmaster tools page and copy the code they give , it starts and ends < > I then paste it into the google webmaster plug in page then go back to google and tell it to find the site which it does. I then click verify and I get the message "We weren't able to verify your site http://tyneside-electrician.co.uk/" Bing appears to have done it without too much of a problem so I'm clueless as to what I'm doing wrong so any assistance would be gratefully recieved. Apologies for A not being a web developer B Being utterly clueless C Being an idiot D Posting this in the wrong place if I have.
September 28, 201411 yr Hi, I'm not a Wordpress specialist, however I do notice you have 2 <body></body> sections and 2 <head></head> sections; just like Highlander there can be only one <body></body> section and one <head></head> section. Not too sure how this was managed, could be a rogue plugin but once that's fixed then maybe it'll fix the verification issue. As a reference; <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>A page title</title> <meta name="description" content="the page description."> </head> <body> <h1>In page heading</h1> <p>A paragraph in the body of the document.</p> </body> </html>
September 28, 201411 yr This isn't the question you asked (google confuses me too) but I think you may need to go into the customize section and tell it that you want your home page to be a static page not a blog. Because it seems to me that the link you provided leads to an empty blog. http://www.wpbeginner.com/glossary/static-front-page/
September 28, 201411 yr Is this the plugin, and is this what you have done - i.e. the same as the screen shot? https://wordpress.org/plugins/verify-google-webmaster-tools/screenshots/
September 28, 201411 yr Author This isn't the question you asked (google confuses me too) but I think you may need to go into the customize section and tell it that you want your home page to be a static page not a blog. Because it seems to me that the link you provided leads to an empty blog. http://www.wpbeginner.com/glossary/static-front-page/ Hi Jane, I thought I'd gotten rid of that rogue front page. Obviously not. There is content behind that nonsense, check out the various pages- home, domestic, commercial etc
September 28, 201411 yr Author Is this the plugin, and is this what you have done - i.e. the same as the screen shot? https://wordpress.org/plugins/verify-google-webmaster-tools/screenshots/ I got the plugin straight from the wordpress thing that I loaded on to the site to make my life easier (ha ha bloody ha)
September 28, 201411 yr Author Hi, I'm not a Wordpress specialist, however I do notice you have 2 <body></body> sections and 2 <head></head> sections; just like Highlander there can be only one <body></body> section and one <head></head> section. Not too sure how this was managed, could be a rogue plugin but once that's fixed then maybe it'll fix the verification issue. As a reference; So if I delete the google plug in and reinstall it will that resolve it?
September 28, 201411 yr Author Right, I deleted the plug in and reinstalled it. The same annoying stuff happens. If I don't verify the site with Google will it really make a difference? I've asked them to crawl it.
September 28, 201411 yr Firstly are you sure you have followed the instructions https://wordpress.org/plugins/verify-google-webmaster-tools/ Secondly, there are other methods of authentication https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35179?hl=en The simplest method is probably adding the meta tag into your header.php or even uploading the html file at www.yourwebsite.com/file name.html If there are two head tags and two body's Google will not find the meta tag, I would suggest turning off your plugins 1 by 1 until the double disappears, then you will know where it comes from. If it does not disapears its In Your coding and will need to be removed in any case as Google rely on those to be able to understand your code
September 28, 201411 yr Author The tool didn't look anything like that Fuzzy. I went to the plugin page and typed google webmaster, it came up with the one that looked very similar to the Bing one so I thought that was the correct one. I installed it as per the instructions ie one click and pasted the code given on the google webmaster page. Give me a minute while I look at the alternaitives you linked to. Thanks very much
September 28, 201411 yr Author Used the domain name provider thing. Verification failed. Can someone please explain why this verification thing is important.
September 28, 201411 yr They need to prove you own the domain As I said before, uploading the html file should work Make sure you know where you are uploading it to, upload it outside the Wordpress folder so the address for verification will be www.yourdomain.com/whatever.html
September 28, 201411 yr Hi Jane, I thought I'd gotten rid of that rogue front page. Obviously not. There is content behind that nonsense, check out the various pages- home, domestic, commercial etc Yes, I know - I saw the other pages But do you have your site set to have a static page as your home page or your latest posts as your home page?
September 28, 201411 yr I had a look at my own WordPress website to see where I had verified it with Google, and I couldn't see where I'd done it - so maybe I didn't. I am using this site map plugin but I don't think that's the same question: https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/ I also seem to have google analytics set up for my site which might be relevant, but I don't remember how I did it. Edited September 28, 201411 yr by Jane B
September 28, 201411 yr Author Yes, I know - I saw the other pages But do you have your site set to have a static page as your home page or your latest posts as your home page? I've told wordpress to set that page as private. Can't make the damned thing go away. Maybe I should just forget the whole thing and sign on the dole.
September 28, 201411 yr You'll work it out. At least you won't get electrocuted playing around with WordPress, which is what would happen if I tried to learn to be an electrician. If you go to Appearance, then Customize from the dashboard menu and then click on Static Front Page you should get Your theme supports a static front page. Front page displays Your latest posts A static page And I think you want to have chosen A static page. Edited September 28, 201411 yr by Jane B
September 28, 201411 yr Author Thanks Jane, that looks to have sorted that one out. Just the google verification thing to resolve now Edited September 28, 201411 yr by trevthesparky
September 28, 201411 yr I just tried verifying my Zenfolio site to see if I could and it did work, but I found that on the Google webmaster tools page, before clicking the Verify button, I needed to make sure I had selected the method I had used to add the link to my site. So I had to make sure that "HTML tag" was chosen before hitting Verify. It wasn't the first time I tried it, and it didn't work. This may be a red herring - it may not be why your site couldn't be verified, but it might be worth trying again.
September 28, 201411 yr Author I'll give that a go Jane, if you're ever in Newcastle feel free to collect a couple of beers from me Nope. "Your meta tag is not in the <head> section of your home page" Edited September 28, 201411 yr by trevthesparky
September 28, 201411 yr So much for that idea It seems as if the plugin hasn't added it where it should have done.
September 28, 201411 yr Author Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I installed the plugin right from the plugin options page. I had no choice over where it went or how it got there. It's bugging me that the Bing one worked without any problem and I didn't do that any differently.
September 28, 201411 yr Sorry, I don't mean the plugin isn't in the right place; I mean it hasn't added the bit of google code in the right place. You may find that one of the more experienced WordPress users can help you - I'm a bit stumped.
September 28, 201411 yr Author I've asked them to crawl the site (what ever that means) I guess they're going to have a look at it and test it somehow so do I really need to verify it now? Thank you all for your help.
September 28, 201411 yr They need to prove you own the domain As I said before, uploading the html file should work Make sure you know where you are uploading it to, upload it outside the Wordpress folder so the address for verification will be www.yourdomain.com/whatever.html I think you may have missed this one. It's the easiest way to verify the site. I use this method for WP and Joomla sites and there's no need to worry about poorly written plugins or extensions.
September 28, 201411 yr You probably have tried this but in case you haven't: Go to the dashboard → settings page and make sure "Ask search engines not to index this site" isn't checked.
October 2, 201411 yr Author Finally! It Worked! Hurray! It turned out that I had to go into the control panel of my hosting thing and open public_html then import a file that had to be downloaded. Thank you to everyone who helped an utter novice without highlighting my delusions of adequacy If you ever need any electrical advice I'm guessing the site has a PM system.
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