What is Google Search Console?

Shergroup

2 years ago

Intro

Google processes more than five billion queries in a single day. Even though your website won’t show up in every internet search, it’s crucial to monitor its position and performance in searches that are important to your company’s success. Monitoring your performance on Google is simple (and cost-free) with Google Search Console.

One of the strongest and most effective SEO tools available is Google Search Console. However, the majority of people only ever use it to check Vanity Metrics like Clicks and Impressions.

Learn more about Google Search Console and how it can help your site perform better in searches.

What is Google Search Console?

Publishers and search marketing experts can monitor their site’s general health and performance in relation to Google search using Google Search Console, a free web tool offered by Google.

It provides a summary of indicators relating to user experience and searches performance to assist publishers in enhancing their websites and boosting traffic.

Google can also inform via Search Console when it finds security flaws (such as hacking vulnerabilities) or when a manual action penalty has been applied by the search quality team.

Important features:

Monitor indexing and crawling.
Identify and fix errors.
Overview of search performance.
Request indexing of updated pages.
Review internal and external links.

Neither using Search Console is required nor is it a ranking element for improving rankings.
However, the Search Console’s value makes it essential for enhancing search performance and increasing website traffic.

What is Google Search Console used for?

Google Search Console helps you |

Confirm that Google can find, crawl, and index your site
Request that Google crawl and re-index your website or a specific page
Troubleshoot common issues, like mobile-friendliness and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Review security issues, manual site actions, and more
Discover which websites link to yours
See how often your site appears in Google search results
Check which searches or search results include your website
View which search results drive traffic to your site

A business owner might use Google Search Console, for instance, to check that Google is aware of its website’s existence and to monitor how well it performs in search results. In contrast, an SEO expert may examine those elements as well as fix crawling and indexing problems, examine backlink profiles, and more.

Anyone can use Google Search Console, which is a benefit. Google created the platform to accommodate users of many backgrounds and skill sets. That means you can utilise Google Search Console and benefit from it whether you’re an SEO expert, a web developer, or a business owner.

How to set up Google Search Console?

Set up Google Search Console in five easy steps!

1. Log in to Google Search Console

You can use Google Search Console for your business once you log in to the system.
If you already have a Google or Gmail account, Google will log you in for you. Depending on your business, you might want different people to have access to your Google Search Console data.
If so, you can later add team members as owners or users to your website. You may also define different permission levels in order to meet the needs and level of experience of each individual.

2. Select your property type

Next, you need to choose your property type. You can choose from the two following options:

Domain

The domain property type will include both the HTTP and HTTPS protocol for your website, as well as all subdomains, like “www.” This property type offers the most convenient option because it recognizes multiple versions of your website. As an example, Google Search Console will see the following URLs as matching:

If you select the domain property type, you will need to confirm ownership with a DNS record

URL prefix

Only URLs that fall under the given address and protocol are included in the URL prefix property type. This indicates that Google Search Console will not associate “http://www.example.com” or “example.com” with your URL if you input “https://www.example.com” instead. If you use the URL prefix property type, there are several ways to confirm your ownership, including |

Uploading an HTML file to your site
Adding an HTML tag to a specific page
Using your Google Analytics tracking code or Google Tag Manager container snippet

Your business may like the Google Search Console URL prefix property type since it enables you to monitor and track various site segments, depending on your digital marketing plan. You might wish to monitor the performance of your mobile site separately, for instance, if you have one.

3. Verify your property

Verifying site ownership is required when you choose your property type and provide your URL. Depending on the nature of your property, which is broken down in this useful table, your verification technique will be:

Refer to Google’s troubleshooting page if you have any issues when confirming site ownership. It’s crucial to note that your verification method must continue to be valid and operational.

You cannot remove an HTML tag or a DNS record that you added after receiving verification, for instance. Your verification method will be routinely checked by Google Search Console, so that data needs to be available.

4. View your property

Once your ownership of the property has been established, you can use Google Search Console.

You can switch between properties using the procedures below if your business adds numerous properties:

Select the hamburger menu on the left-hand side
Choose the drop-down menu next to your URL
Pick your property

Depending on how quickly the verification process can be completed, your property may already have some data. This is due to the fact that Google Search Console starts gathering data as soon as you add the property rather than after you finish the verification process. In the absence of any data, spend some time investigating Google Search Console.

5. Access your reports

In Google Search Console, your team can access a wide range of features and reports, including:

Overview

Get a brief description of your property or website. The Google Search Console Overview report includes information on indexed pages, total website clicks, and manual actions. It’s a great tool for quickly identifying significant flaws and assessing the general functionality of your website.

Performance

Use the Performance report to thoroughly examine your website’s performance. Your site’s total number of impressions and clicks, average click-through rate (CTR), and position in search results are all covered in your Google Search Console Performance report. It also emphasises user inquiries, devices, locations, and other things.

URL Inspection

With your URL Inspection report, you can find out what Google knows about your website and particular pages. Verify whether Google has indexed the page. Additionally, you can uncover HTML, JavaScript, and mobile usability flaws, which you can report to your development team.

You can view the following reports on Google Search Console in addition to these three primary ones |

Coverage | Confirm the index status of your website and its pages with your Coverage report.
Sitemaps | Submit and review uploaded sitemaps, as well as any sitemap errors.
Mobile Usability | Check the mobile-friendliness of your indexed pages.
AMP | Learn which AMP pages Google can and can’t index.
Rich Result Status | Find crawlable and uncrawlable rich results on your pages.
Manual Actions | Get a summary of manual actions against your site and potential fixes.
Security Issues | Review any security issues on your site or pages.
Link | View links to your site and specific pages, as well as the link anchor text.

The majority of reports in Google Search Console can be exported if you want to gather data elsewhere.

What does Google Search Console do for my business?

Discover how to use Google Search Console for your company now that you understand how to set it up. There are several things you can do with Google Search Console, including |

Confirm page crawling and indexing
Spot errors, like incorrect structured data, mobile display issues, slow page speed, and more
Find queries that drive traffic to a page
Monitor page appearances and positions in different search results
Watch for site security issues
Compare page performance over time

And more

Performing daily the many reports, such as Performance and Mobile, to investigate the capabilities and applications of Google Search Console right away!

Summing-up

The effective and free Google Search Console tool provides a wealth of information and insights about your website. But since SEO is a multiplayer game rather than a single-player game, it is its main drawback.

Competing with other websites for the top place when ranking in Google. You can’t know where you fall short or what to do to raise your ranks if you don’t comprehend the competitive environment. If you want to dive deeper into it and use digital marketing solutions to help you grow your business, you can contact Shergroup. We have a team of skilled digital marketers who will be happy to help you and put you ahead of the curve. You can start by getting a free digital audit done for your website it will put things into perspective for you. Call our business solutions advisors to know more about how we can help you.