#TellMeHow … To Use My School Email for My Google Accounts

It’s fantastic to see more and more school marketers taking advantage of all of the Google platforms such as Analytics, Search Console, Google My Business and Ads to improve their marketing efforts. However, I have noticed a pattern of schools being locked out of their accounts due to using either personalised or random emails. And I can see how this happens. By default, Google asks you to create a Gmail account to access their products which not only leaves marketers stuck with additional emails and passwords to remember but also the likelihood of being locked out.

The great news is, you can actually use your school email address to access all these accounts and I’m going to show you how! But first, you may want to consider using a generic email such as marketing@yourschool.co.uk or google@yourschool.co.uk. The reason being of course is that if the school your colleagues will still be able to easily access these platforms and the invaluable data they offer going forward.

How to do that? It’s as simple as 1,2,3 (and 4)!

Step 1 – Open Google

Begin by going to google.co.uk to open a web browser page. There you’ll see a blue Sign in button in the top right corner. Click on that. If you don’t see a sign in button but rather that you’re already logged into another account, simply click your image and select Add Account at the bottom. The rest of the instructions will remain the same. 

Next, you’ll be prompted to sign in. Instead, click Create Account at the bottom left. Before you do that though be sure you select your appropriate country just below the sign in box that so that your account settings will be reflective of the country you’re located in.

Step 2 – Create Your Account

Rather than entering your name here, click Use my current email address instead, just below the Username.

On the next screen that pops up, enter your name, work email and password.  Click the Next button.

Step 3 – Verify Your Account

After hitting the Next button you’ll be emailed a verification and asked to enter it. Note: Don’t close this window until you’ve received your verification email as you won’t be able to retrieve it and will have to start again. Enter your code and click the Verify button.

Step 4 – Update Account Settings

Once you’ve verified your account you can sign in the same way as you accessed the set-up – using the blue Sign in button in the corner of Google search page. From there you’ll be able to access all the various Google-related accounts by clicking on the grid next to your image, making it easy to switch between platforms (without remembering URLs or logging in multiple times!).

I would also suggest you go in and update your account settings to add a backup email and your phone number (in the event that you do lock yourself out). You may also want to update your privacy settings here as well. To do this you simply click your photo (or icon if you haven’t added one yet) and then click the blue Google Account button.

That’s it! Your school email address is now Google approved and you’re ready to go!

If you have a digital marketing issue that has you stumped, why not pop me an email and I may just write a #TellMeHow blog for that!