What is a prefix property in Google Search Console (GSC)? What is a domain property? Which type of property should you configure and use?
Let’s start with definitions…
- Domain property: Tracks all URLs across an entire domain, regardless of protocol (http or https), subdomain (www, non-www, blog, shop, etc.), or page path.
- Prefix property: Tracks only URLs that start with a specific URL prefix. This could be a certain protocol (only https), a specific subdomain (only www), or only a certain path (only the /blog).
When you add a new property to Google Search Console, you will be able to select the type.
Google Search Console: Domain vs. Prefix Properties
Which one do you need to set up?
For starters, you should always configure a domain property. This gives you insight into all aspects of the domain and how those parts work together. This is helpful to identify subdomains, spot any http/non-secure links that are somehow getting crawled or indexed, and also gives you the ability to review all page paths within the website.
The drawback is that Google Search Console aggregates and samples some data, especially in larger properties. So, with a domain property, some of the details might get lost. This is especially true for details about smaller subdomains or smaller paths within the website.
Because of that, I also recommend configuring prefix properties for different parts of the domain. For example, let’s say your domain forces www. You’d want to know if any URLs without www are getting crawled by Google or ranking. To monitor this, you can configure a prefix property for the non-www version of the domain. That way, even if it is a small volume, you can make sure you spot the problem and can fix it quickly.
Once all versions are added, you’ll have five versions of the domain added to Google Search Console.
Prefix properties are also helpful to review key parts of the website. As an example, if your product pages are in the /products/ directory, you could create a prefix property for only the /products/ path of your website. That prefix property would give you data specifically about how URLs in this directory are performing and being indexed. (Unfortunately, crawl data is not available for path prefix properties.)
The other advantage of the prefix property is that you can limit access for certain members of your team. If your content marketing freelancer is only focused on the blog, you can grant access to only the /blog/ prefix property. This can help with data sharing restrictions, which can be important, especially for larger companies.
Verfication
Keep in mind: there are different ways to verify the two property types.
- Domain properties can only be verified by adding a TXT record to your domain’s DNS records. This often requires IT support and may involve longer approval processes at larger companies. However, A GSC TXT record is safe to add and usually straightforward.
- Prefix properties can be verified in several ways:
- HTML file or meta tag. Two of the more common methods are uploading an HTML file to the website or adding a meta tag to the website’s homepage. Those verification methods do require access to the website’s code or the ability to upload files. That may not be possible on some CMS platforms.
- GA4 or GTM: Prefix properties can also be verified via Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager tracking code on the site. You must have proper permissions for this to work. GA4 requires Edit permissions and Tag Manager requires Publish or Admin permissions to verify.
- TXT record: You can also verify prefix properties with a TXT record. This is the same as for a domain property.
- Domain property: If you’ve already verified a domain property, you can automatically add a prefix property using that same verification.