How to add Google Analytics & submit Hashnode blog for indexing?

·

4 min read

Why bother?

I wrote four entries related to Cyber Deception, submitted March 2021, yet none are found on Google with the exact title search. Instead, the Cyber-Observatory & Hackernoon versions (same titles & contents) came out on Google-search first page.

Even if an article were to be featured (it's transient btw) within Hashnode listing, chances are they have "nofollow" links such that Google robots will NOT follow to further index (I might be wrong). After which, most articles are likely to fade into oblivion.

For your articles to be found, Google needs to crawl your pages & index them. When it's not indexed, no one finds your articles, then no chance for anyone to "backlink" (organically) unless you share it on platforms (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, StackOverflow or whatever, most of these platform are using NOfollow tag on external URLs). My Cyber Deception articles were quite well received with my LinkedIn crowd, but yet none were indexed (for almost a year)!

Assumptions

  1. You have a Google account
  2. You know where & how to get your (G)oogle (A)nalytics Tracking ID
  3. You can search Youtube for (2)

Overview

  1. Check that your site is NOT in Google search, if it is, don't bother with the rest
  2. Create a GA Universal Property ID (not going to elaborate, see assumptions)
  3. Paste the GA Tracking ID into: Hashnode-Dashboard > Third Party Integrations > Google Analytics Tracking ID
  4. Add new property related to your blog with (G)oogle (S)earch (C)onsole
  5. Add GSC verification meta tags through your Hashnode Dashboard to prove ownership
  6. Submit your sitemap.xml through GSC
  7. Submit your blog URL for indexing
  • Use operator site: Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 5.26.21 PM.png
  • Replace domain with yours
  • So we know it is not within Google Search before we proceed with the rest of the steps

Paste GA Tracking ID into Third Party Integrations

  • Assuming you copied the GA Tracking ID string
  • Get to your dashboard

Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 4.44.38 PM.png

  • Locate Hashnode-Dashboard > Third Party Integrations > Google Analytics Tracking ID

Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 5.44.11 PM.png

  • Paste your GA Tracking ID there
  • Locate Update button & click it

Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 5.38.21 PM.png

  • Click Add Property, you will see:

Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 5.51.53 PM.png

  • Fill in the URL to your Hashnode blog

  • Use HTML tag option (why not Domain property type? Not everyone owns custom domain, many are using Hashnode subdomains. HTML tag option is somewhat easier than messing with DNS, which is often slower to propagate):

Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 5.22.48 PM.png

  • Copy the tag with the copy-button

  • Paste the tag into Hashnode-Dashboard > Third Party Integrations > Meta Tags (this is applicable to other tag-based integrations for Facebook Pixel or whatever, just make sure you append to existing tags)

Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 5.57.04 PM.png

  • Click Update button within the Hashnode Dashboard

  • Switch to GSC - Verify ownership interface

  • Click Verify to complete the ownership checks (scroll up to the HTML tag step to see screenshot)

Submit sitemap.xml

  • Hashnode automatically generates sitemap.xml for all their blogs

  • It is located at root path /sitemap.xml for search engine robots to find other pages

  • Switch to GSC to add sitemap

Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 6.04.43 PM.png

  • Click Submit

Submit your blog URL for indexing

  • Switch to GSC & key in your blog URL for inspection:

Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 6.13.29 PM.png

  • Click Request Indexing:

Screenshot 2022-03-01 at 6.13.51 PM.png

Closing

  • Indexing can take a week or two depending on Google's load
  • You only need to do this ONCE since robots will use sitemap.xml to update
  • Use site: Google search operator to check again after 2 weeks
  • There can be cases where hosting issues result in errors that prevent indexing, use GSC to troubleshoot

Good luck!

P.S. Check out Miklós Szeles comment below related to other search engines & SEO tools!