Verify a site with a DNS record
Weekly monitoring starts after you prove you control the domain. One TXT record, where to put it, and what unverified and paused mean.
By The SitesProof team · Updated
Weekly monitoring starts only after a site is verified. Verification is one DNS TXT record, it takes a couple of minutes, and you only do it once per domain.
Why we insist on it
A monitored site is crawled every week, indefinitely, and the result is a report an agency hands to a client as its own work. Both of those need the agency to actually control the domain. Without the record, the site sits in your portfolio as Unverified and nothing is crawled on a schedule. If you only want to look at a site once, use the free scan instead — it needs no verification and no account.
Add the record
On Sites, open the site and you will see the exact record to add, with the value already filled in:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | TXT |
| Name | _sitesproof. followed by the site's hostname |
| Value | sitesproof-site-verification= followed by the site's id |
The value is the site's own id — a random identifier that is shown only to your account, so nobody else can guess it. There is no extra secret to keep, and no file to upload.
Add the record at whoever runs the domain's DNS: the registrar, Cloudflare, or the client's host. If the DNS panel
asks for the name without the domain, enter _sitesproof on its own; most panels append the rest.
Check it
Back on Sites, press verify. We look up the TXT record and, if the value matches, the site flips to Monitored and joins the weekly schedule. DNS changes can take a few minutes to propagate — if the first check does not find the record, wait and press it again. Nothing is lost by trying.
Once verified, leave the record in place. Removing it does not switch monitoring off by itself, but it is the proof we rely on, so keep it where it is.
Pausing instead of deleting
If a client asks you to stop crawling, pause the site. A paused site shows as Paused by you, keeps its history, and is not crawled. That is a different state from unverified on purpose: one is your decision, the other is our gate, and a dashboard that showed both as "off" would hide the one you can do something about.
What happens to the data we hold about a site, and for how long, is on the security page.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Why can’t I just monitor any URL?
A monitored site is crawled every week indefinitely, and the report is handed to a client as your work. Both need the domain to be yours to act for. For a one-off look, the free scan needs no verification.
Is the TXT record a secret?
Its value is the site’s own random id, shown only inside your account, so nobody else can guess it. Treat it as you would any other DNS record and leave it in place.
What is the difference between unverified and paused?
Unverified means we have never proved you control the domain, so monitoring cannot start. Paused means you control it and chose to stop. One is our gate, the other is your decision.
Related
- Getting started The first week with SitesProof: add a client and a site, verify the domain, read the severities, and get a report to the client.
- The free scan What the public scanner runs, the one-scan-per-URL-per-hour rule, how robots.txt is honoured, and what the shareable report link does and does not carry.
Start with one page.
Paste a client’s checkout address and see what a crawl reports. No account, no card, and the report has a link you can send to anyone.