Because privacy is important to Google, we need to know you own a site before we'll show you certain information about it or enable you to use our tools. Verification doesn't affect PageRank or affect your site's performance in Google's search results.

To verify that you own a site, you can either add a meta tag to your home page (proving that you have access to the source files), upload an HTML file with the name you specify to your server, or add a DNS TXT record (both of which prove that you have access to the server). Webmaster Tools will check to see that the file or tag is present. If it is, we consider you a site owner and will show you site details.

Each verification method has its advantages. Verifying using a meta tag is ideal if you aren't able to upload a file to your server. If you have direct access to your server, you may find it easier and faster to upload an HTML file. We don't use the verification file we ask you to create for any purpose other than to make sure you can upload files to the site. Read more about our commitment to privacy in the Google Privacy Policy.

If you access Webmaster Tools via a web hoster, your site is already verified, and all your information is already available to you.