Google Webmaster Tools are a great resource for website owners who care about things like Google Page Rank and how much of your site has been indexed. Basically, if you’re serious about your site, you should take advantage of this free tool.

Once you’ve signed up (start here!) you will need to add your site to your account. Easy enough – click the “Add Site” button and enter your URL.

Next, you’ll need to verify that the site is, in fact, your site. You’ll be provided three options for verification. In this tutorial I am going to show you the easiest one to use with Headway – adding a special META tag to your header.

See the screenshot to the right for a visual demonstration as I register & verify http://rentageekmom.com, my business site.

1. Once you’ve added your site, it will appear in gray text on your dashboard in Google Webmaster tools. To the right, you’ll see a button that says “Verify”.

2. Click that button!

3. Here, you’re provided by default with the option to verify your site using a META tag. The tag is displayed on the screen (something like <meta name=”google-site-verification” content=”lotsoflettersandnumbers” />)

4. Copy that text!

5. Open a new tab or window and log into your WordPress dashboard, and navigation to Headway –> Options.

6. On the right, you’ll see a box for “Header Scripts”. Paste the code you copied into that box, and then scroll down to click “Save Changes”

7. Switch back to the Google Webmaster dashboard and click on the “Verify” button. That’s it!