My 'SEO' company wants to remove my Google verification code

[kolin]

Hi All,

hoping for a quick resolution on this.

My seo company are wanting me to remove my google verification file and replace it with their own.

i am 'assuming' that they want to keep track of all the goings on on my website. thankfully i would never give them access to do these things themselves, so all their actions have to be ratified by me first.

how would doing this impact on my statistics? would my analytics stop? etc.

would this be classed as a normal thing for them to do?

[piznac]

I wouldnt see this as a problem. They want to use thier on tracking program,. fine.

[piznac]

wait why would they need to rmove the google one? Yeah that might send a red flag ,. if they insist you remove the one you watch,.

[WiseWebDude]

That doesn't make any sense. You could have tons of Google Verification files in one site...I wouldn't remove it, just ask them to make one in their account and then they can use theirs as well you can use yours...We have 5 people where I work with their own verification files in the site so they can use their own accounts to look at it from home, etc...

[piznac]

Agreed

[Miamacs]

why would they need to rmove the google one?

... to add the site to their own GWT account.

Either they didn't know they can have it done in addition to yours, or they don't want you to see what's happening.

[edited by: Miamacs at 12:37 am (utc) on Dec. 4, 2007]

[LifeinAsia]

Either they didn't know they can have it done in addition to yours, or they don't want you to see what's happening.

And either way, it's a big red flag as far as working with that company.

[Ledfish]

I would think any worth while "SEO Company" would know that that you can have multiple codes for tracking.

We are talking about the tracking codes aren't we or are we talking about the verification file you must install to access Google Webmaster Tools?

[edited by: Ledfish at 4:44 am (utc) on Dec. 4, 2007]

[Ann4SEO]

I am working with a SEO company. Here we have an official Gmail account. In GWT(Google Webmaster Tools), we have uploaded our verification file and our client has uploaded its verification file. So we have two verification file & its perfectly OK with Google. Now both of us can access to the data provided by Google in GWT.

But if you are saying about Google Analytics account, then you cannot have two tracking code. So its better to ask their Gmail ID and add it in users. You can either have them rights to view only reports or even you can give then administrator rights. But be careful, with administrator rights, they can change your account preference from administrator to View reports only.

[Marcia]

I would not give anyone else my Google username and password, especially in view of the possibility of having admin control over the account.

[buckworks]

No one has to reveal their passwords to be granted access to view Analytics. If they have a Google account you just enter their email address and their name, and decide what level of access you're granting them.

[kolin]

thanks for all your info on this.

i too dont understand why both cant be on there.

anyway, i've put my verification code into a meta tag, and i am awaiting their reply as to why i need to remove it.

[WiseWebDude]

Yea, I wouldn't for sure...talk about a red flag! Shoot, if they know ANYTHING about the web, they should know that they can let you add theirs in the root as well. I bet it is because they don't want you to see what is going on is my guess...or they don't know what they are doing. Be wary of them! Be very careful or they could hurt you far more than help you if not done right. I see people getting ripped off by SEO companies all the time. When I read what you said, I immediately was alarmed and hope all goes well for you.

[kolin]

UPDATE

the search company has come back to me saying :

"we need to change our Google web master account due to some technical reasons, we have informed you to change the Google site map verification code"

"we will not be able to verify the site if more than one verification code is added in the server"

and that they can track the statistics and improve website traffic using webmaster tools.

:D

advice please! and if anybody can point me to a piece of google help that says there can be more than one 'site map verification code' that would be super.

[kolin]

oh for those interested we are talking about the

<meta name="verify=v1" content="#*$!#*$!#*$!#*$!#*$!#*$!#*$!#*$!xx" />

and

google#*$!#*$!#*$!#*$!#*$!#*$!.html

things

[LifeinAsia]

we need to change our Google web master account due to some technical reasons

This sounds like another red flag to me. Why would they need to change the account? Forgot the old password? Flagged somehow for black hatting?

[eltercerhombre]

That's quite easy to me. I do SEO for many people and have had this situation many times.

If they do not know how to do it without removing you verification code, go and find another SEO company.

We can discuss the issues of having your website associated to other accounts you don't know which reputation have, but having many verification codes is not a problem (as well as having many people accessing the Analytics data with different user names).

But if they want to remove yours there's only 2 possibilities: or they do not know what they're doing or they want to hide something. Go and find a different company.

[hvacdirect]

How about this from GWHG FAQ.

[groups.google.com...]

[Ann4SEO]

Hi Kolin,

Having multiple verification file should not be a problem. I can say that because in GWT, there is a feature called "Manage Site Verification". This feature will show all the verification file in the root of your website. For reference you can see the Google Help
[google.com...]

So if your SEO Company is changing their GWT account, then ask them to create a new html verification file & you delete the older one. This way both of you can access GWT information.

I am confidence about it because I am doing the same means my clients is having its own verification file & I am having a another. Both of us are using different GWT account & easily can access the site details. We are using the account for nearly a year.

Thanks & Regards -- Ann

[g1smd]

Ask them to supply the new filename and then upload that to the server.

Do not delete the file that you use. If they have an old file that only they use, delete that one.