Verifiying your site with Google
In order to use Google Webmaster Tools for your AEM site, the site admin must verify their ownership of the site with Google. This functionality can be accomplished by following these steps:
Google Site Verification Process
Create and access a Google Webmaster account
Visit www.google.com/webmasters and create a Google account if you do not already have one. Use your account to sign in.
Add a new site
Now that you're in your Google webmaster account, look for the text field beside the ADD A SITE button. If your account already has sites added, the ADD A SITE button will be on the right side of the page.
- Enter the site URL into this text field.
- Beside the text field click ADD A SITE.
Copying the Content Attribute
This should take you to a new page with two tabs. The first tab says Recommended method, the second tab says Alternate methods. The content attribute you will need to copy is the verification code.
- Click the Alternative methods tab.
- Click HTML tag to add a content attribute to your site's home page.
- Copy the content attribute. The highlighted text within the quotation marks in the example below is the content attribute.
Inserting the content attribute into your AEM site
After copying the content attribute, open a new tab and access your site's homepage in AEM.
- In a new tab, visit author.sfu.ca and open your site home page for editing.
- Click Page Properties... from the Sidekick.
- Click the Advanced tab and paste the unique string (content attribute) into the Google Site Verification field.
- Click OK, then activate your home page.
- Back in the Google Webmaster Tool tab, click Verify.
After these steps you should now be granted access to your site within Google Webmaster Tools. After verifying your ownership, your access to Google Webmaster Tools will remain intact even if you remove the unique string from the Google Site Verification field.