Now verified through my blog on Blogger.
Created a page, not a post, titled ‘Mastodon’. Edited using the HTML editor. All it has on the page is <a href="https://qoto.org/@rmerriam" rel="me">Mastodon Link</a>
Pleasantly surprised by how fast the verification appeared. One site I used for the GitHub verification said every time you save profile changes, the verification is checked. Also indicated you have to leave the verification URLs in place.