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chore(seo): add the Google Search Console verification file - #32
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Google has no unauthenticated sitemap submission API — a sitemap can only be submitted against a verified Search Console property, and this site had none. Of the available methods, the HTML-file one is the only one that fits: the Domain type needs DNS control of github.io, and the meta-tag variant would put a verification token in the homepage markup. Adds docs/google360055fd3ac142c0.html, served at https://pierrejochem.github.io/SpeculumExampleModule/google360055fd3ac142c0.html The token is per Google account rather than per site, so this is the same file the Speculum docs site already serves for its own property. Search Console re-checks the file periodically and unverifies the property if it ever 404s, so it has to stay in place for as long as the property exists.
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Why
Google has no unauthenticated sitemap submission API. A sitemap can only be submitted against a verified Search Console property, and this site had none — so
sitemap.xmlis currently unknown to Google, even though IndexNow has already notified Bing, Yandex and Seznam.Of the verification methods on offer:
github.io. Not ours.<head>. Works, but mixes an account credential into page markup.Change
Adds
docs/google360055fd3ac142c0.html, served at:Contents are the one line Google expects:
The token is tied to the Google account, not the site, which is why this is byte-identical to the file the Speculum docs site already serves for its own property. Verifying a second property with it is the intended use.
Important
Search Console re-checks this file periodically and unverifies the property if it ever 404s. It has to stay in place for as long as the property exists — like the IndexNow key file beside it, the opaque name makes it look like cruft.
After merge
Once Pages redeploys and the file is live, verification gets confirmed in Search Console and
sitemap.xmlsubmitted against the new property.