SEO Stuff

September 30, 2022 --- DANG, THAT TOOK SOME DOING! (Just gettin' this page up.)

I would say, just refer to the following video:

GOOGLE SITES Tutorial - Create a Free Personal Website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTXEyigYZaU

But, boy, would I be lying.

Went bonkers, because of that custom URL's thingie.

Ignore the part of the video that says to select <custom URL's>.

Just work on your page, click <Publish>, name the url, and THEN get into your domain thingie...

And I don't know about any other domain provider, but if you use NameCheap, DON'T put "www" in that host field when you're adding a new record to the "Advanced DNS" section.

Use an at symbol -> @

Yeah, I know. - That's a heck of a thing to mess up, as if the "Custom URL's" wasn't bad enough.

If I hadn't gotten an email from NameCheap encouraging me to notify them if I needed any assistance, or had any questions at all, I'd STILL be trying to verify my domain.

He's right about the CNAME thingie, though. - Use "www" for THAT record.

Better yet, just hold off on that until you're prompted to enter this information, once everything else is taken care of.

And please, oh please, don't try to use the Webmaster Central page again.

Once the first verification attempt fails, CLOSE THE WINDOW.

I tried hittin' that <Verify> button again after 30 minutes...

Needless to say, I continued getting the same message.

I finally ended up going to "Google Search Console", and getting it verified through THEIR site.

Oh, and be sure to go back to Google Sites and close the "Settings" page, because your page still hasn't been published at this point.

Complete the publishing process (this is where the CNAME thingie comes up... I think... very long process).

ANYWHO...

Once you finally publish the thing, you should get a message saying, "Your site has been published successfully".

NOW it's published... and verified.

Hhhuuhhh.