Google has launched a new way to verify that you are the owner of your site or domain for Webmaster Tools. You can now do this using DNS CNAME records.
Google says the new option is for users who aren’t able to create DNS TXT records for their domains, which in the past has been a way to get verified with Google.
To take advantage of DNS CNAME records in Webmaster Tools, add the domain to your account, select the domain name provider option, select your domain name provider, and then you’ll either get instructions to set a CNAME record or Add a CNAME record. Then click “verify”.
“When you click Verify, Google will check for the CNAME record and if everything works you will be added as a verified owner of the domain,” says Google software engineer Pooja Wagh. “Using this method automatically verifies you as the owner of all websites on this domain. For example, when you verify your ownership of example.com, you are automatically verified as an owner of www.example.com as well as subdomains such as blog.example.com.”
“Sometimes DNS records take a while to make their way across the Internet,” adds Wagh. “If we don’t find the record immediately, we’ll check for it periodically and when we find the record we’ll make you a verified owner. To maintain your verification status don’t remove the record, even after verification succeeds.”
The company notes that you can still use other verification methods like the HTML file, the meta tag or the Google Analytics tag.