Prove to Google that the site is yours (with a DNS record, or a meta tag added in Settings › Custom code), then submit your sitemap: it's always at /sitemap.xml on your site, for example https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml. Dotsy builds and updates the sitemap every time you publish, so you only submit it once.
Search Console is Google's free tool that shows which pages are indexed, what people searched to find you and any problems Google hit.
Which property type should I choose?
| Your site's address | Property type | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
Your own domain (example.com) |
Domain (recommended) | A TXT record at your DNS provider |
| Your own domain, single address | URL prefix | A meta tag in Settings › Custom code |
A free yoursite.dotsy.site address |
URL prefix | A meta tag in Settings › Custom code |
A Domain property covers example.com, www.example.com and every other address on the domain, and it keeps working if you move hosts later.
Steps: Domain property (DNS record)
- In Google Search Console, click Add property and choose Domain. Enter
example.com. - Copy the TXT record Google shows.
- Add it as a TXT record at the company that manages your domain's DNS (the same place you added Dotsy's records: How do I connect my own domain?).
- Back in Search Console, click Verify. If it fails, wait a few minutes and try again.
Steps: URL prefix property (meta tag)
- In Search Console, click Add property, choose URL prefix and enter your site's full address, for example
https://www.example.com/. - Under HTML tag, copy the
<meta name="google-site-verification" …>tag. - In Dotsy, open your site and go to Settings › Custom code. Paste the tag into the Head box and save.
- If your site uses staging, publish it: custom code goes live with the next publish. Without staging, saving puts it live straight away.
- Back in Search Console, click Verify. Leave the tag in place afterwards: Google checks it again from time to time.
Submit your sitemap
- In Search Console, open your property and go to Sitemaps.
- Enter
sitemap.xmland click Submit. - Google shows the status and how many pages it discovered. It can take a few days to read them all.
Dotsy's sitemap lists every public page and blog post, and leaves out pages you've hidden from search. Your robots.txt also points search engines to it. After each publish Dotsy also notifies search engines that support IndexNow about changed pages.
FAQ
Do I have to resubmit the sitemap after every change?
No. Dotsy updates it whenever you publish, and Google re-reads submitted sitemaps on its own.
Search Console says a page is "Discovered – currently not indexed". Is something wrong?
Usually not. Google decides what to index and when. Make sure the page has a clear title, a description and a plain opening paragraph that says what it's about; Dotsy's SEO checks flag pages that are missing these.
I moved my site to Dotsy. What should I do in Search Console?
Keep your existing Domain property (it survives the move), submit the new sitemap, and check the Pages report for 404s over the next few weeks. Read How do I move my existing website to Dotsy? first.
Can I hide a page from Google?
Yes. Mark the page as hidden from search: Dotsy adds a noindex tag and leaves it out of the sitemap.