If you see a "we couldn't find your verification file" error when you try to verify
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March 09, 2006
When you
verify site ownership,
we check to see if the verification file exists on your webserver. We also make sure that your
server returns a status of 404 (not found) when we request a file that doesn't exist.
We do this to make sure that when we check to see if the verification file exists, we're getting
the right response because it does exist and not because the server is misconfigured.
Some of you have gotten the following message when trying to verify your site:
"We couldn't find your verification file. Make sure it is named correctly and is
uploaded to the correct location." But when you check the file in a browser, it does
exist.
We have looked into this and have found that we are displaying the incorrect error message. What
is actually happening in this case is that when we request a file that doesn't exist, we are
getting a response other than 404 or 200. (If we get a response of
200, we display a
different error message.)
We are working to display the correct response for these cases. In the meantime, if you see this
message when you try to verify and your verification does exist in the correct location, check
your webserver configuration and make sure that it returns a status of 404 when a
request is made for a non-existent page.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["Verifying site ownership involves Google checking for a verification file on your webserver and ensuring a 404 status for non-existent files to confirm proper server configuration."],["An incorrect error message, \"We couldn't find your verification file,\" might appear even if the file exists due to the server returning a status other than 404 or 200 for missing files."],["Google is working on displaying the correct error message but, in the meantime, site owners encountering this issue should check their webserver settings to ensure a 404 status for non-existent pages."]]],[]]
