How to Use Google Search Console: A Beginner's Guide

Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that shows you how your website appears in search results, which queries bring visitors to your site, which pages are indexed, and what technical issues might be affecting your performance. If you own a website and are not using Search Console, you are flying blind when it comes to SEO. Here is a practical guide to getting started and using the data to improve your rankings.

Setting Up Google Search Console

Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your Google account. Add your website property using the "URL prefix" method where you enter your full website URL including https://. Google will then ask you to verify that you own the website. The simplest verification method for most people is adding a meta tag to your homepage's head section. Your web developer can do this in under a minute.

After verification, Google will start collecting data about your website. Note that Search Console only shows data from the point of verification forward. It does not provide historical data from before you connected, so set it up as early as possible, ideally before or immediately after your website launches.

Understanding the Performance Report

The Performance report is where you will spend most of your time. It shows four key metrics for your website's appearance in Google search results. Total clicks are the number of times someone clicked on your search result. Total impressions are how many times your pages appeared in search results. Average click-through rate or CTR is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click. Average position is your average ranking position across all queries.

Use the Queries tab to see exactly what people are searching for when they find your site. This is incredibly valuable because it tells you not just which keywords you rank for but how well you rank for them. Look for queries where you have high impressions but low click-through rates. These are keywords where you appear in results but are not compelling enough to get the click. Improving your title tag and meta description for these queries can significantly increase traffic without changing your rankings.

Using the Coverage Report

The coverage report shows the indexation status of your pages. It categorises pages into four groups. Valid pages are successfully indexed and appearing in search results. Valid with warnings are indexed but have minor issues to address. Errors are pages Google tried to index but could not, usually due to server errors, redirect problems, or noindex tags. Excluded pages are intentionally or unintentionally not indexed.

Check this report regularly for any new errors. A sudden spike in errors might indicate a technical problem on your site that needs immediate attention. Common errors include 404 pages not found, server errors, redirect issues, and pages blocked by robots.txt.

Mobile Usability Report

This report identifies pages with mobile usability issues like text too small to read, clickable elements too close together, or content wider than the screen. Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, fixing every issue in this report should be a top priority.

URL Inspection Tool

The URL Inspection tool lets you check the indexation status of any specific page on your site. Enter a URL and Google will tell you if it is indexed, when it was last crawled, whether there are any issues, and which mobile version Google is using. You can also use this tool to request that Google recrawl a specific page after you have made changes, which can speed up how quickly your updates appear in search results.

Sitemaps Section

Submit your XML sitemap through the Sitemaps section. This tells Google where to find all the important pages on your site and helps ensure nothing is missed during crawling. After submission, Search Console will show you how many URLs from your sitemap have been indexed, giving you a clear picture of your indexation coverage.

Google Search Console is your most valuable free SEO tool. If you need help setting it up or interpreting the data, our SEO team can configure Search Console for your site and provide monthly analytics reports with actionable insights. Contact Cyril Creatives to get started.