Why Webmasters Tools verification meta tags change??
-
Why do these keep changing for sites that I have verfied over and over and over and over? About a month goes by and the meta code has changed and the site is unverified again. Seems like a trick to force you into logging into Webmaster Tools all the time. What gives???
-
I looked at Meta tag verification errors, and am beginning to think that another staff member may be working off an much older copy of the index page when certain changes are required and that is how this is happening. In which case, the HTML file would work better. We are going to try that will all of the sites and see if that reduces the problem, or if it keeps happening. And THANKS for the link to the verification errors. I Googled and Googled this issue, even on their own forums, and nothing.
-
I see these on my dashboard. I am a webmaster with a lot of sites in GWT, and they will all be verified with the meta, and the next time I log in, in a few weeks or a month, several are labeled as: Verify This Site, again. Arggg.
-
I used to use those, but found that dumb people on their staff wouldn't recognize that file and would sometimes get rid of it. Arrrgggg. Might have to try it again and just tell them again to leave the file there. Thanks for the tip.
-
This may seem over simplified, but in GWT, they are clear that if you were verified and it appears you are not, then something has changed about the method you used. Big question: did someone move or change it?
That said, here are the GWT common verification errors which are too numerous to list out. GWT breaks them down via verification method used.
Ben mentions using the HTML file and that is fairly common. If you are using the dns verification or meta tag I would suggest trying the HTML verification and seeing if that alleviates the issue. From what you wrote, I would guess you are using the dns verification. (Let us know in order to assist)
Good Luck,
Robert
-
Stupid question - How did you discover it had changed? Did it flag it up or was it whilst looking at a sites data you realised?
-
I agree that this is an issue, and seems frustrating. Maybe it has to do with Google updating their data base. Couldn't say for sure.
However I upload the HTML file for verification and have never run into issues. Try it and let me know if it gives you any more problems
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Fire a tag when element is loaded on page (Google Tag Manager)
I'm using an Element Visibility trigger to track a value that appears on a page. However, I want to track this value even when the user doesn't scroll to the area of the page where the element is (i.e. when the page is loaded, and the value is displayed below the fold, but the user doesn't scroll down there). Is there a way of doing this
Reporting & Analytics | | RWesley0 -
I have a WP site which uses categories to display the same content in several locations. Which items should get a canonical tag to avoid a ding for duplicate content?
So...I have a Knowledge Center and press room that pretty much use the same posts. So...technically the content looks like its on several pages because the post shows up on the Category listing page. Do I add a Canonical tag to each individual post...so that it is the only one that is counted? Also...I have a LONG disclaimer that goes at the bottom of most of the posts. would this count as duplicate content? Is there a way to markup a single paragraph to tell the spiders not to crawl it?
Reporting & Analytics | | LindsayiHart0 -
Google Web Master Tools show that my site has been crawled, but search results show old title tags, ect.
Does the index report reflect what will be displayed on Google results? Google seems to be indexing my site every Sunday...
Reporting & Analytics | | 928shopper0 -
Increase in 404 errors in Webmaster Tools
We have recently updated our website www.cooke.co.uk and twice webmaster tools have reported an increase in 404 errors. However, these errors are not for normal pages, they are things like http://www.cooke.co.uk/?post_type=crown_enquiry&p=1045 I have used the redirection tool in WordPress to redirect all these links to the homepage but does anyone know why this is happening since it is the second time I had to do it. Thanks.
Reporting & Analytics | | AAttias0 -
Moz analytics showing joomla tag feature as duplicate page content
Moz Analytics is showing Joomla 3 tag pages as Duplicate Page Content because many articles are tagged with multiple words and therefore show up on the same tag-pages. example URL: www.domain.com/tag/tagID-tagname I already added "tag" as a URL parameter with Crawl=No URLs. Is there anything else I should do?
Reporting & Analytics | | modernmagic0 -
Problem: Google web master tools with HTML Improvements
Hello, When using the google webmaster tools, on Optimization --> HTML Improvements, I have some problems in field the Short meta descriptions. This is easy to fix and I fixed some last days, then today I check this again. Google webmaster tool still report these errors. Please let me know how to notify to google, these errors was fixed?
Reporting & Analytics | | JohnHuynh0 -
Google Webmaster. Backlinks
GWMT only shows that there are 3 domains pointing to a site of mine. I'm looking under "Links to site". But this can't be true because the site is pretty old and I know there are hundreds of domains that point to this one. What would explain this discrepancy? And is there some other free tool that will show all the backlinks? I've used Opensite explorer but that tool isn't close to comprehensive as GWMT usually is (based on other sites I've analyzed)
Reporting & Analytics | | priceseo0 -
Keep multiple Google Analytic / Webmaster accounts seperate?
Hi, I have a paranoid suspicion that putting all my websites on one Webmaster / Analytic account will mean any links between my sites won't carry any weight, and Google might consider similar content much more readily if 2 of my sites are in the same market. So I have about 4 different accounts with my main sites split across them. Am I being over paranoid? Do any of you have any problem with all your sites being on the same account?
Reporting & Analytics | | SpecialCase0