Proving your site is yours

Updated August 24, 2026

Rankbank will let you add any domain you like. Before it treats that site as yours, it wants proof, and it will accept four different kinds. Any one of them is enough, and the check looks for all four at once, so you never have to tell it which one you chose.

Why it matters

Three things hang on it, and the product says so wherever the panel appears.

Your audit data stays yours. In the walkthrough the line is "Verification keeps your audit data private to you and unlocks the search features." Anyone could type someone else's domain into a form. Verification is what stops a stranger reading a report about your site.

Partners only swap with verified sites. The link exchange settings page puts it bluntly: "Partners can only swap with verified sites. Four ways to prove it — whichever is easiest for you." During the swap walkthrough it goes further: "Partners only trade links with verified sites — this keeps fake sites out, including anyone pretending to be you." An unverified site is invisible in the swap directory, and a swap request from one is blocked with Verify your site as the fix.

It unlocks the search half of the audit. Connecting Google Search Console needs a site Rankbank trusts you own, and Search Console data is what prices every suggestion in clicks. See connecting Google Search Console.

Where the panel lives

The same verification panel appears in three places, and they all do the same thing:

In the Get started walkthrough, as the step headed Prove {your domain} is yours.
On a site's own page, under My sites, in the Website settings tab, in a card headed Verification with the line "Prove this site is yours. Verified sites are trusted by swap partners and unlock the audit's search features."
On the per-site link exchange settings page, in a card headed Prove this site is yours.

The four methods

The panel lists them as a pick-one column, each with a one-line hint. Choosing one expands its instructions. Your verification code is unique to that site and appears inside the snippets, ready to copy.

Add a tag to your homepage

Hint: "Paste one line into your homepage — counts immediately."

The instruction reads "Paste this inside the <head> of {your domain}'s homepage, then hit Check," followed by the line to copy:

<meta name="rankbank-site-verification" content="your-code-here" />

It has to be in the HTML the server returns, inside the <head>. Most site builders and CMS platforms have a field for exactly this, usually called something like "header code" or "custom head HTML". This is the fastest method: the check reads your homepage live, so it counts the moment the page is published.

Rankbank tries both https://yourdomain.com/ and https://www.yourdomain.com/, so it does not matter which one your site actually serves.

Upload a file

Hint: "Upload one small text file to your site."

Create a file called rankbank-verification.txt containing a single line:

rankbank-site-verification=your-code-here

Put it at https://yourdomain.com/rankbank-verification.txt so that the address serves the file directly. Then press Check. This is the method to reach for when you can upload files but cannot edit the homepage template, which is common on static sites and on hosting where the theme is locked.

Add a DNS record

Hint: "Add a TXT record where you manage your domain."

Add a TXT record on the root domain with the same value as the file method, and the panel warns you up front: "DNS can take a few hours to spread." Nothing is wrong if the first check comes back empty. Wait, then check again.

This is the method that survives a redesign, a platform migration, and a new theme, because it does not live on the website at all. If you own the domain but somebody else runs the site, it is usually the only one you can do alone.

Use Google Search Console

Hint: "Already verified with Google? That counts here too."

The explanation: "If {your domain} is already in your Google Search Console, Google has verified you own it — connecting that account counts here too. You'll approve it with Google and land right back on this page."

Press Connect Google Search Console, approve access on Google's own screen, and you are returned to the same page with the check already running. If a property covering your domain is in that Google account, Rankbank selects it for you rather than sending you to a different screen to pick it.

This method has a bonus the other three do not: it also connects the search data the growth half of the product runs on.

Running the check

The button is Check my site, and while it works it reads "Checking your site…". Next to it: "We check all four at once — any one of them verifies you."

That is the useful part. You do not declare a method. Put a proof in place by whichever route suits you, press the button, and if any of the four lands, you are verified.

Reading the results

After a check that did not pass, every method reports what it saw, in its own row, with a tick or a dash. The messages are deliberately specific rather than a generic failure:

"Read https://yourdomain.com/ (HTTP 200) — the page loads, but the tag isn't in it yet." Your site is reachable and the tag is not in what the server returned. Common cause: the tag was added in a page builder's preview and not published, or it was added to a template that the homepage does not use.
"https://yourdomain.com/ answered with HTTP 403." or "Couldn't reach https://yourdomain.com/." The page did not load at all for Rankbank, whatever a browser shows you. Firewalls and bot protection are the usual reason.
"https://yourdomain.com/rankbank-verification.txt answered with HTTP 404 — the file isn't there yet." The address does not serve the file. Check the spelling and that it sits at the root, not in a folder.
"https://yourdomain.com/rankbank-verification.txt exists but its content doesn't match your code." The file is there and the line inside it is wrong. Usually a code copied from a different site, or an editor that added quotes.
"yourdomain.com has 3 TXT records — none match your code yet. DNS changes can take a few hours to spread." The lookup worked and your value is not visible yet. This one often just needs time.
"Google Search Console isn't connected for this site." or "Your Google account is connected, but none of its 4 Search Console properties cover yourdomain.com." Connected to Google, but not to a property covering this domain.

If nothing landed, the summary reads: "None of the four proofs are in place yet. The details below say exactly what we saw for each one."

What a passed check looks like

The whole panel is replaced by a green confirmation:

Verified — yourdomain.com is yours. Confirmed through the tag on your homepage. Partners and audits treat this site as trusted.

The middle phrase names whichever proof won: "the tag on your homepage", "the file on your site", "your DNS record", or "your Google Search Console connection".

The verification panel in its verified state, showing the green confirmation and the method that passed — Verified. The line names which of the four proofs was found, so you know what not to delete.

What changes the moment you verify

Two things start on their own, and neither waits for you.

Your site's domain strength is fetched. Those are the figures partners judge you by, and the ones that fill the comparison strip when a swap is proposed. See authority.

The first read of your site starts. If the site has never been read, verification kicks off a read of up to 100 pages, following links up to two clicks from the homepage. Nothing on your site is changed; Rankbank only looks. Because you did not press a button for it, this one produces no notification when it finishes, so check the site's audit page to see the result.

If the site has been read before, nothing is re-read. Reading again is always your call: see how Rankbank reads your site.

The site also becomes eligible for the swap directory, though eligibility needs three more things alongside verification. Those are listed in setting up your site for swaps.

Leave the proof where it is

Verification is not a one-time gate that stays passed for ever. The status is whatever the last check found. If the tag comes off in a redesign, the file is lost in a migration, or the DNS record is tidied away, the next check will not find it, and the site drops back to unverified. Everything that depended on it stops: the swap directory listing, new swap requests, the trust partners place in the site.

So pick the method you are least likely to undo. For most people that is the DNS record, or Search Console if the site is already in it. Whichever you choose, leave it alone.

Note

You may see a small Skip verification (admin testing only) link under the panel. It is a testing shortcut for the team, not a route to a verified site. Ignore it and use one of the four proofs.

Where to go next

Once the site is verified, the SEO overview is where the first read shows up. If you are here for swaps, carry on to setting up your site for swaps. To get search data flowing as well, read connecting Google Search Console.

Still stuck?

Open Rankbank and the page this article describes — most screens explain themselves as you go.