After messing with it for probably too long, I decided to try a different approach. The gdata-python-client library is where I should’ve started all along. The out of the box sample apps for webmaster tools work flawlessly, and use the client auth type to hook you in to the api.

I did need to modify the code in version 1.2.3 of the library a tiny bit to make the VerifySite() function work, luckily it’s an easy fix.  Below is a snippet from src/gdata/webmastertools/__init__.py line 126. My changes are in red.

class VerificationMethod(atom.AtomBase):
_tag = ‘verification-method’
_namespace = GWEBMASTERTOOLS_NAMESPACE
_children = atom.Text._children.copy()
_attributes = atom.Text._attributes.copy()
_children['{%s}meta' % atom.ATOM_NAMESPACE] = (
‘meta’, VerificationMethodMeta)
_attributes['in-use'] = ‘in_use’
_attributes['type'] = ‘type’
def __init__(self, text=None, in_use=None, type=None, meta=None,
extension_elements=None, extension_attributes=None):
self.text = text
self.in_use = in_use
self.type = type
self.meta = meta
self.extension_elements = extension_elements or []
self.extension_attributes = extension_attributes or {}

And a snippet from src/gdata/webmastertools/service.py line 153. Again, the change is in red.

site_entry = webmastertools.SitesEntry(
atom_id=atom.Id(text=site_uri),
category=atom.Category(
scheme=’http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#kind’,
term=’http://schemas.google.com/webmasters/tools/2007#sites-info’),
verification_method=webmastertools.VerificationMethod(
type=verification_method, in_use=’true’)
)

Don’t forget to recompile the libs with a python ./setup.py install after making these changes, and you’ll be able to script all the site verifications you want. Next step is throwing together a set of scripts to allow for complete site management in webmaster tools, looks like Python’s gonna make it a snap!

Webmaster Tools Site Verification via Gdata-Python