🗺️ Overview
The Search Atlas tracking code lets the platform collect data from your website so you can monitor performance, rankings, and site metrics. GoDaddy's website builder and hosting environment require a specific installation approach. This article walks you through every method available on GoDaddy and helps you fix the most common problems.
📋 Before You Begin
Gather the following before you start:
- Access to your Search Atlas account with Owner or Admin permissions.
- Login credentials for your GoDaddy account.
- Knowledge of which GoDaddy product you are using: GoDaddy Website Builder (Websites + Marketing), WordPress Hosting on GoDaddy, or cPanel Hosting with a custom site.
🔑 Step 1 — Copy Your Tracking Code from Search Atlas
- Log in to Search Atlas.
- In the left sidebar, click Site Metrics (Site Explorer).
- Select the property you want to track, or add a new one.
- Open the property settings and navigate to the Tracking Code section.
- Click Copy Code to copy the full script snippet to your clipboard.
Keep this tab open — you will need the code in the steps below.
🏗️ Step 2 — Add the Code to GoDaddy (Choose Your Method)
🌐 Method A: GoDaddy Website Builder (Websites + Marketing)
- Log in to your GoDaddy account and open your Websites + Marketing dashboard.
- Click Edit Website to open the site editor.
- In the left panel of the editor, click Settings (gear icon).
- Select SEO from the settings menu.
- Scroll down to the Header Code or Custom Scripts field.
- Paste your Search Atlas tracking code into this field.
- Click Save, then click Publish to push the change live.
Important: GoDaddy Website Builder only supports scripts in the SEO or custom-code sections. Do not paste the code into a text block on the page — it will render as visible text instead of executing as a script.
💻 Method B: WordPress Site Hosted on GoDaddy
- Log in to your GoDaddy account and open My Products.
- Click Manage next to your WordPress hosting plan, then open the WordPress Admin dashboard.
- In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New and search for Insert Headers and Footers (by WPCode).
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Navigate to Settings → Insert Headers and Footers.
- Paste your Search Atlas tracking code into the Scripts in Header field.
- Click Save.
If your theme supports a Theme Editor, you can alternatively paste the code just before the closing </head> tag in your header.php file — but using a plugin is safer because it survives theme updates.
⚙️ Method C: GoDaddy cPanel Hosting (Custom HTML Site)
- Log in to GoDaddy and open cPanel for your hosting account.
- Open the File Manager and navigate to your website's root folder (usually public_html).
- Right-click your main HTML file (commonly index.html) and select Edit.
- Locate the closing
</head>tag. - Paste your Search Atlas tracking code on the line directly above
</head>. - Repeat this step for every page you want to track, or use a shared include/template file if your site uses one.
- Click Save Changes.
✅ Step 3 — Verify the Tracking Code Is Working
- Open your live website in a browser.
- Right-click the page and select View Page Source.
- Press Ctrl + F (or Cmd + F on Mac) and search for a unique portion of your tracking code, such as your site ID or the script domain.
- If you can see the code in the source, the installation was successful.
- Return to Search Atlas and check Site Explorer after 24–48 hours for incoming data.
🛠️ Troubleshooting Common GoDaddy Issues
- Code appears as visible text on the page: You pasted the script into a text or HTML content block instead of a script/header field. Remove it and follow the correct method for your GoDaddy product above.
- Changes are not appearing on the live site: Make sure you clicked Publish in the GoDaddy Website Builder after saving. Saving alone does not push changes live.
- No data in Search Atlas after 48 hours: Confirm the code appears in the page source using Step 3 above. Also check that you copied the full code snippet without cutting off the opening or closing script tags.
- Tracking code disappears after a theme update (WordPress): If you edited header.php directly, the update overwrote your change. Use the Insert Headers and Footers plugin instead — it stores the code independently of your theme.
- GoDaddy Website Builder does not show a Header Code field: Some older Websites + Marketing plans have a limited editor. Try publishing the site first, then reopening settings — the field sometimes only appears on published sites.
- Script blocked by a security plugin or firewall: If you use a WordPress security plugin such as Wordfence or a CDN such as Cloudflare, whitelist the Search Atlas script domain in your security settings.
💬 Need More Help?
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.