Google Apps: Domain verification by TXT record

One of the ways that you can verify your domain name for use with Google Apps is by adding a TXT record in your zone file.

Google will provide you with a code that you will need to add as a TXT record in your domain's zone file. This unique security token is 68 characters long, and starts with: google-site-verification=

You can find it under the “verify domain ownership” section of your Google Apps account:

You can add the TXT record by editing your domain's zone file in either Normal or Expert mode.

If editing your zone file in normal mode, just follow the example below:

Select TXT from the drop-down menu.

You can usually leave TTL as it is.

For Name, enter @.

For Value, paste the verification code you got from the Google Apps setup.

Quotation marks will be added automatically to the entry if you don't include them.

We're using the expert interface for this example. As you can see below, you just need to append a TXT entry containing the verification code in the correct format to your zone file:

Here is a model that you can follow (of course, you need to replace the bit between quotation marks with what Google gave you):

@ 10800 IN TXT "google-site-verification=whatever-google-gave-you"

Simply add your line to the bottom. Quotation marks will be added automatically to the entry if you don't include them.

When you are done, click on the “Submit” button on the bottom of the page to continue (don't forget to activate the new version of your zone file).

After a few minutes, you can return to the Google Apps setup and click the “Verify” link:

If you haven't added the TXT record correctly, or if you click “Verify” at Google before the change has propagated, you will see an error:

If you've added the TXT correctly, the “Verify” link should work within half an hour or so:

• Google's help page on this topic
• Our other Google Apps documentation