Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools are free tools to analyze and optimize the performance of websites in search results. The two tools offer a variety of features that can help improve the visibility and ranking of your stories in search results.
Some of the most important features include:
- Crawling statistics: The tools show how often and how successfully search engines crawl your stories.
- Error messages: The tools report errors that occurred while crawling, such as broken links.
- Keyword statistics: The tools show which keywords and search queries cause your stories to appear in search results.
- Backlink analysis: The tools allow you to monitor and analyze backlinks to your stories.
- Sitemap management: The tools allow you to store sitemap.xml files to ensure that all stories are picked up by search engines.
Set up Google Search Console
Step 1: Create a property for the Pageflow site
Open Google Search Console to create a new property. Select "URL prefix" as the property type and enter either the domain <account name>.pageflow.io or the CNAME of your account as the URL.
Step 2: Site verification
Site verification is the process by which a site owner confirms that they are the owner or administrator of a site. Verification is important to ensure that only authorized users have access to Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools, which allow website owners to manage and optimize their websites in search results.
Download the confirmation file:
Open the file, copy the string of the form "googleXXXXXX.html" (the string also corresponds to the name of the file) and enter it in Pageflow under "Settings > Site > SEO > Google Site Verification":
Then go back to the Google Search Console and click the "Verify" button in the "Verify Ownership" dialog. It can take a couple of days for reports to show up in Google Search Console.
Step 3: Submit a sitemap
A sitemap file is an XML file that contains all the pages on a website that are to be indexed by search engines. It makes it easier for search engines to find and crawl pages on a website. A sitemap is especially useful if a website has a large number of pages, contains dynamic content, or has poorly linked pages.
In Pageflow, under "Settings > Site > SEO", select "Enable XML Sitemap" (see previous screenshot) and click "Save". In Google Search Console, click on the menu item "Indexing > Sitemaps" and add a sitemap with the path "sitemap.xml".
As soon as a new story is published, Pageflow includes it in the sitemap and thus ensures that it is found by Google.
Set up Bing Webmaster Tools
Step 1: Add Pageflow Site
Open Bing Webmaster Tools and enter either the <account name>.pageflow.io domain or the CNAME of your account as the URL.
Step 2: Site Verification
Site verification is the process by which a website owner confirms that they are the owner or administrator of a website. Verification is important to ensure that only authorized individuals have access to Bing Webmaster Tools, which allows site owners to manage and optimize their sites in search results.
Download the confirmation file:
Open the file and copy the code of numbers and letters:
Enter it in Pageflow under "Settings > Site > SEO > Bing Site Verification" and click "Save":
Switch back to Bing Webmaster Tools and click "Verify". It can take up to 48 hours until data is displayed.
Step 3: Submit a sitemap
A sitemap file is an XML file that contains all the pages on a website that are to be indexed by search engines. It makes it easier for search engines to find and crawl pages on a website. A sitemap is especially useful if a website has a large number of pages, contains dynamic content, or has poorly linked pages.
In Pageflow, select "Enable XML Sitemap" under "Settings > Site > SEO" (see previous screenshot) and click "Save". Copy the URL of the sitemap, click on the "Sitemaps" menu item in Bing Webmaster Tools and add the sitemap:
As soon as a new story is published, Pageflow will include it in the sitemap, ensuring that it is found by Bing.