You want people to be able to find your business’s website. For most websites, that means being on Google. But how do you know if Google can even see your site? Are you showing up for the right searches? Are there technical problems that you don’t even know about that are stopping you? The Google Search Console can be of assistance in this regard.

This free tool is one of the best ways to learn about and improve how well your site does in Google Search. It’s like getting a direct line to Google, which gives you information that can help you get more visitors, figure out what’s wrong, and make better choices about your online strategy.

This guide will explain what Google Search Console is, why every business with a website needs it, and how to get started. By the end, you’ll understand how to use this tool to take control of your search presence and drive meaningful growth. 

What is Google Search Console, really?

Google Search Console, or GSC for short, is a free web service from Google. The main goal is to help webmasters, website owners, and SEO experts keep an eye on how their sites show up in Google Search results. Think of it as a health checkup for how well your website gets along with Google.

It gives you a lot of information and tools to help you:

  • Check to see if Google can find and crawl your site.
  • Fix problems with indexing and ask for new or updated content to be re-indexed.
  • You can see how many people visit your site from Google Search, how often your site shows up, what search terms show your site, and how many people click on those terms.
  • Get alerts when Google has problems with indexing, spam, or other things on your site.
  • Find out which sites link to your site.
  • Fix problems with mobile usability and other search features.

In short, it’s the most reliable source of information for understanding how Google’s search engine interacts with your website. 

Why Your Business Should Use Google Search Console

If you don’t use Google Search Console, it’s like trying to get around a new city without a map. You might get to your destination eventually, but you’ll probably take some wrong turns and miss the fastest routes. There are a few important reasons why GSC is necessary for businesses.

Get information straight from the source

GSC tells you how Google really sees your website instead of making you guess. It tells you exactly what keywords people are using to find you, which pages are the most popular, and how many people click on your links from search results. This information is very helpful for getting to know your audience and improving your content strategy.

Find and fix problems with technical SEO

A website may look great on the outside, but it may have a lot of technical problems that hurt its search ranking. GSC helps you find and fix problems like these:

  • Crawl errors: finding pages that Google’s bots couldn’t get to.
  • Indexing problems: Finding pages that aren’t showing up in search results and figuring out why they aren’t.
  • Problems with mobile usability: Making sure your site works well on smartphones and tablets, which is an important factor for ranking.

Keep an eye on and improve how well you search

The Performance report in Google Search Console has a lot of useful information. It tells you what keywords bring people to your site, how many times your pages have been seen (impressions), how many clicks they get, and where you rank in the search results on average. This information helps you identify opportunities to optimize underperforming pages or double down on content that’s already working well. 

Google Search Console

Important Features of Google Search Console

There are a lot of reports and tools in Google Search Console. Here are some of the most important ones that every business owner should know.

Performance Report

This is where you will probably spend most of your time. The Performance report shows how much traffic your site gets from Google Search. You can see:

  • Queries: The words people typed into Google to find your site.
  • Pages: The pages that do best in search results.
  • Countries: The places where your search traffic comes from.
  • Devices: Whether users are on desktop, mobile, or tablet. 
  • Impressions, clicks, and click-through rate (CTR) are important numbers that show how visible and engaged you are.

Report on Index Coverage

This report tells you what the index status is for all the pages on your site. It shows you which pages Google has been able to index. and which ones it hasn’t. It puts pages into four groups: Error, Valid with warnings, Valid, and Excluded. This is your go-to tool for ensuring all your important content is eligible to appear in Google search results.

Submitting a Sitemap

A sitemap is a file that makes it easier for Google to find and crawl all the important pages on your website. You can send your sitemap directly to Google through GSC. This makes sure that Google knows about all of your content, which is especially important if your site is big or has a lot of pages.

Report on Mobile Usability

More than half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, so having a website that works well on mobile is no longer a choice. This report shows you which pages on your site don’t work well on mobile devices, like text that is too small to read or clickable elements that are too close together. To keep your search rankings and give users a good experience, you must fix these problems.

Safety and Manual Actions

GSC will let you know if it finds any security problems on your site, like hacking or malware. There is also a “Manual Actions” section where Google will let you know if your site has been punished for not following its webmaster guidelines. Hopefully, you’ll never see a message here, but it’s a critical feature for diagnosing sudden drops in traffic. 

How to Set Up Google Search Console 

Google Search Console is easy to use. Follow these steps to add and verify your website. 

  1. Sign in to Google Search Console: Sign in to the Google Search Console website using your Google account. If you already use Google services like Google Analytics, you should use the same account for all of them.
  2. Add Your Property: A “property” is simply your website. GSC will let you add a property in two ways:
  3. Domain: This option keeps track of your whole domain (like yoursite.com), all of its subdomains (like blog.yoursite.com and shop.yoursite.com), and all of its protocols (http/https). This is the best way to do it because it gives you the most complete picture.
  4. URL Prefix: This option only keeps track of URLs that start with the address you enter, including the protocol (for example, https://www.yoursite.com).
  5. Verify Ownership: You need to show that you own the website before Google will let you see the data.
  6. For the Domain property type: The only verification method is through your DNS record. You will need to log in to your domain name provider (like GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) and add a certain TXT record that GSC gives you.
  7. For the URL Prefix property type: You have several options: 
  8. Upload an HTML file: Put a certain HTML file in the root directory of your website.
  9. Add a meta tag to the <head> section of your homepage.
  10. Google Analytics: If you already use Google Analytics with the same Google account, you can check right away.
  11. You can check if you use Google Tag Manager on your site, just like you can with Google Analytics.

GSC will start gathering information about your site once verification is finished. It could take a few days for the reports to fill up with data.

How to Get the Most Out of Google Search Console

Setting up GSC is just the first step. To get the most out of it, you should make it a regular part of your website management routine. 

  • Check Performance Once a Week: Look at your Performance report to find 
  • Take Charge of Your Online Presence

Take Charge of Your Online Presence

Google Search Console is a must-have tool for any business that wants to do well online. It gives you the information and insights you need to figure out how well you’re doing, fix technical problems, and come up with a better SEO plan for Auckland. If you take the time to set it up and learn how to use it, you can stop guessing and start making decisions based on data that will bring in more customers and help your business grow.

You’re not the only one who feels overwhelmed by the data or doesn’t know where to start. i2d’s experts can help you look over your Google Search Console reports, find important chances, and make a plan to boost your search visibility. Set up a meeting with us to find out how we can help you turn ideas into actions.