Launching a website is a bit like opening a store at the end of a one-way street. At first, no one knows about your site, no one finds your site in search listings and frankly no one cares about your site (except you!)
The first step when you launch a new site is to list it at the various search engines. Now to be fair, this step DOES NOT automatically mean that your site will get indexed. Search engines prefer to discover sites “naturally” by following links into your site from other websites. However this is an important step because when your site is eventually indexed, you will get some valuable data from the search engines such as the keywords your visitors are using to find your site, how many links are pointing to your pages and any errors.
If you have been through this process before, you would know that the search engines require you to verify that you own the site. The two main verification options are to either add some code to your site or upload a file. Adding code to a Joomla page is difficult for beginners because you have to find and edit your template file. Uploading a file is the preferred option but some people do not like to do this or might be in a situation where they do not have FTP access to their site. So here is a simple solution using a free extension.
2. Install this extension as normal. If you need to revise this process, watch lesson 12 of our free Joomla tutorials
3. Go to Extensions – Plugin Manager, find the newly installed plugin and click it to enter Edit mode
4. Change Enabled to Yes and Save.
5. Visit each search engine (see list below) and register to verify your site. When your receive the verification code, return to your Administrator and go to the GD SEO Verify Plugin.
6. Enter the verification code provided by the search engine where indicated under Plugin Parameters and Save.
7. Return to the search engine and confirm that you have added the necessary code.
The search engine will then visit your site, see the appropriate code and know that you are indeed the real site owner. However it can take some weeks before you see any useful data.
Here is a list of the sites where you can register:
