How to verify a domain using Cloudflare in Google Search Console

If you want to understand how your website is performing in Google’s organic search results, or you want to know opportunities you have, look no further than Google Search Console – that’s exactly what it does. As I shared in the article, how to add your WordPress website to Google Search Console, GSC lets you do so many things, including:

• Understand how your website is performing in Google Search
• Get insights search analytics like impressions, clicks, and other metrics
• See if your website has been crawled and indexed
• View issues or errors that are impacting your website’s presence in search results
• Determine if search enhancements like structured data, AMP, or others have been indexed by Google

Last year, Google announced domain-wide data for Search Console. To set this for a domain or subdomain, you’ll need to have DNS access. In this article, I’ll share how I set this up for our website with Cloudflare.

We use Cloudflare’s CDN and love it. Why? It’s free, scales easily, and integrates well with WordPress. If you plan on using both Cloudflare and Google Search Console, you’ll want to verify your domain with Google Search Console. The data is worth it! To get there, just follow the steps below.

How to set up a domain that’s using Cloudflare in Search Console

I love seeing screenshots with steps, so I’ve included them in this guide. With any of the screenshots, just click on the image to access a high-resolution picture.

To set up a domain using Cloudflare in Search Console, follow these steps:

1. In your web browser, visit Google Search Console and click Start Now. You’ll be presented with this screen:
   
2. Under Domain, enter the web address of your website.
   
3. Click Continue.
4. Under step 2 of the verification steps, select the Copy button to copy the Google site verification code:
   
5. In a new browser tab or window, go to Cloudflare.
6. Sign up or log in to your Cloudflare account.
7. Select the domain you’re working with.
   
8. Select DNS from the top menu.
   
9. Select the +Add record button.
   
10. Set the Type to TXT.
11. In the Name field, enter “@”.
12. Set TTL to Auto.
13. In the Content field, paste the site verification code you copied earlier.
14. Select the Save button.
15. Check to make sure the TXT record was saved.
16. Return to Google Search Console and select Verify.
    
17. When prompted, click Go To Property.
    
18. Start using Google Search Console!

Wrap up

Using Cloudflare has a lot of benefits and setting up domain verification in Google Search Console provides lots of benefits to webmasters. Now you know how to get your domain verified in Search Console when using Cloudflare as a CDN.

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