Switching to the new website verification API

Monday, December 23, 2013

Just over a year ago we introduced a new
API for website verification
for Google services. In the spirit of keeping things simple and focusing our efforts, we’ve
decided to deprecate the
old verification API method
on March 31st, 2014. The rest of the API will remain unchanged, this only affects the verification
method. For more information about verification in general, please see our
site verification Help Center article.

One advantage of upgrading to the new API for verification is that it uses the same client
libraries as most other Google APIs, which simplifies integration with other apps and tools.
Getting started is easy, especially if you’re used to other Google APIs:

1. Download the
   Google API client library
   for your favorite programming language.
2. Learn about the
   Site Verification API
   and its methods.
3. Allow your users to authenticate with
   OAuth.
4. Start verifying!

If you can’t wait to try it out and are a fan of command lines, here’s a shortcut:

1. Download and install
   oacurl.
2. Authenticate with a Google Account:
3. Request the verification information:
4. Create and add the file to your website, then verify:
5. Done!

We hope this API will make it easier to implement Google site verification in your projects.
Should you have any questions, you can post in our
Webmaster Help Forum.

Posted by
John Mueller,
fan of long command lines and Webmaster Trends Analyst