Check that Search Console still recognises you as the site's owner after any redesign. Re-verify with a DNS record that no template change can remove, add a second owner, and make the check part of every launch.

A line of code nobody remembers

Years ago, someone added the site to Google Webmaster Tools, now Search Console, and proved the business owned it by pasting a short tag into the site's header. Nobody has thought about it since.

Then the site was redesigned. The new theme came with its own header, the tag was not in it, and nothing on the site looked any different.

Google checks from time to time that the proof is still in place. When it is gone, the owner loses access to the site's reports, and Google's messages about the site stop reaching anyone.

Nothing breaks, so nobody notices. The gap only shows when something goes wrong and the warning that should have arrived never did.

What stops reaching you

The first matters most. A hacked site can carry a warning under its name in search results for weeks, and the owner is often the last to know.

Why redesigns remove it

Most ways of proving ownership live somewhere a redesign touches.

The HTML tag sits in the header of the home page, inside the theme. A new theme or a move to a different system leaves it behind unless someone copies it across.

The verification file sits in the site's main folder. A developer who launches a clean copy of the new site, or moves it to a new host, may not bring it along.

Verifying through Google Analytics or Tag Manager depends on that code sitting in the right place on the home page. A redesign that moves it, or swaps in a different Analytics property, breaks it too.

How to tell whether you still have access

Sign in to Search Console with the account that set it up. If the site is listed with a prompt to verify it, access has gone; if it is not listed at all, someone else set it up.

That someone is often a former developer or employee, using a personal Gmail address. Ask the people who built the old site and the new one.

Once in, the verification details list every owner and the method each used. Anyone verified only by the missing tag has already lost access, or soon will.

A method that survives the next redesign

Verifying through the domain name itself, with a record added to its DNS settings (the settings that point your name at your website and email), does not live in any template or folder.

Whoever manages your domain can add the record in a few minutes. Redesigns, new themes and new hosts leave it alone; only moving the DNS elsewhere means copying it across.

Google also lets you verify one site by more than one method. Keep the tag or the file as well, so that if one breaks, the other still proves ownership.

A worked example

A school photographer covers elementary and secondary schools across a region, and parents order prints online using a code from the proof sheet.

The site was redesigned last winter on a new theme, in time for spring photographs. The verification tag had lived in the old theme's header, and nobody moved it.

In June, a parent mentioned seeing "this site may be hacked" under the business's search result. Spam pages had been added through an outdated plugin, and Google had flagged them weeks before.

Re-verifying took minutes once the right account was found. The Security Issues report listed the affected pages, and after the cleanup the photographer requested a review from the same screen.

Ownership is now verified with a DNS record, the developer is a second owner, and Search Console is on the checklist for any future launch.

Two owners, not one

A site verified by one person's account depends on that person. If it belongs to someone who has moved on, the business has no way in without starting again.

Verify with a Google account the business controls, then add your web developer as a second owner, so Google's messages about the site reach two people.

While you are there, check the email preferences, so messages arrive in an inbox rather than waiting inside Search Console.

Every version of the address

Search Console treats each version of a site's address as a separate site: with and without www, and with http or https.

A redesign that also moved the site to https, or dropped the www, leaves the old verified version reporting almost nothing. The empty reports seem to say all is well.

Verify the version visitors now see, and set the preferred domain, with or without www, so the reports describe the real site.

Checking access after every rebuild

Put Search Console on the launch checklist for any redesign, new theme or change of host, beside testing the forms and the phone links.

On launch day, confirm the site is still verified, submit the new sitemap and use Fetch as Google on the home page. A week later, check crawl errors for old addresses that now lead nowhere, and read any messages.

The counter-case

A small site that has not changed in years and is verified by a DNS record has nothing to fix. Its owner only needs to know that messages reach an inbox someone reads.

A site that was never verified is no worse off after a redesign, though it has never received a warning either. A new design is a good moment to start.

For everyone else the advice holds: verify with a method no template can remove, keep a second owner, and check access whenever the site is rebuilt.

After the next launch

  1. Sign in to Search Console with the business account.
  2. Check the site is still verified.
  3. Add a DNS record as a second method.
  4. Add your developer as another owner.
  5. Verify the https and www versions you use.
  6. Submit the new sitemap.
  7. Review crawl errors a week after launch.

Step three is what makes the next redesign safe. A record at the domain sits outside everything a redesign replaces, so the next theme cannot take it away.

The reports worth reading once you are back in are covered in Webmaster Tools is now Search Console.

Frequently asked questions

Why would a redesign remove verification?

The HTML tag usually sits in the theme header and the file in the main folder. A new theme, a clean install or a host move leaves them behind unless someone copies them.

What do I miss when verification lapses?

Google's messages about hacked pages, manual actions, crawl errors, mobile usability problems and malware, along with every report about how the site appears in search.

Which verification method survives a redesign?

A DNS record added where your domain is managed. It lives outside the site's templates and files, so new themes and new hosts leave it alone.

Can a site have more than one owner?

Yes, and it should. Verify with an account the business controls and add your developer as a second owner, so Google's messages reach two people.

Do www and https versions need verifying separately?

Yes. Search Console treats each version of the address as a separate site, so verify the one visitors actually use and set the preferred domain.

What should I check after launching a redesign?

That the site is still verified, the new sitemap is submitted, Fetch as Google sees the home page, and crawl errors a week later show no broken old addresses.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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