Google offers aÌýlot ofÌýhelpful platforms forÌýwebsite owners. Each platform can beÌýhelpful, but Google Search Console (GSC) isÌýone ofÌýtheÌýmost important.
Why? Google isÌýbyÌýfar theÌýmost popular search engine inÌýtheÌýworld. IfÌýyou don’t use theÌýtools GSC offers, your website might get buried under other search results ²¹²Ô»åÌýstay hidden from users.
Thankfully, isÌýcompletely free ²¹²Ô»åÌýpretty straightforward. Here’s everything you need toÌýknow about theÌýplatform ²¹²Ô»åÌýwhy you should use it.
Google Search Console Terms You Should Know
WeÌýneed toÌýcover aÌýfew terms before weÌýdive into Google Search Console’s main features ²¹²Ô»åÌýbenefits. The platform has quite aÌýfew special terms, but these are theÌýbasic ones you should know before weÌýmove forward.
Webpages ²¹²Ô»åÌýWebsites
Ok, these aren’t theÌýmost technical terms out there but it’s important toÌýdistinguish theÌýtwo. Put simply, your webpages exist within your website. Think ofÌýyour website asÌýaÌýbook holding all your webpages. Depending onÌýsearch queries, Google may offer users theÌýwhole book orÌýaÌýcertain page.
Coverage
±õ²ÔÌý³Ò³§°ä, coverage specifically refers toÌýwhether orÌýnot aÌýpage isÌýready toÌýshow upÌýinÌýtheÌýsearch results. We’ll talk about why pages may not beÌýcovered later on.
Sitemap
Sitemaps are files that detail theÌýpages, multimedia content, ²¹²Ô»åÌýother data onÌýyour site. Google has toÌýreview theÌýcontent ofÌýyour website before itÌýshows your pages inÌýtheÌýsearch results. You don’t have toÌýgive Google aÌýsitemap, but submitting one can speed upÌýthat review process.
What IsÌýGoogle Search Console?
With those terms out ofÌýtheÌýway, let’s answer theÌýobvious question: what is Google Search Console?
(Note: Google Search Console used toÌýbeÌýcalled Google Webmaster Tools, but theÌýname changed inÌý2015.)
AtÌýits most basic, GSC isÌýaÌýplatform that lets you track your website’s performance inÌýtheÌýcontext ofÌýGoogle’s search engine. When you connect your site toÌýtheÌýplatform, you’ll get aÌýwide variety ofÌýtools toÌýanalyze ²¹²Ô»åÌýimprove how your site appears onÌýGoogle’s search results page. The tool isÌýaÌý
Monitoring Google Search Performance
GSC’s main benefit isÌýtheÌýability toÌýmonitor your site’s search performance via theÌýGoogle Search Console dashboard.
Let’s goÌýover some ofÌýGSC’s most valuable performance indicators, then we’ll talk about how theÌýplatform can support your search performance ²¹²Ô»åÌýyour website overall.
Clicks
After you connect your website toÌýGoogle Search Console, theÌýplatform will track how many times users click onÌýyour site when itÌýappears inÌýGoogle search results.
This data can help you improve your meta titles ²¹²Ô»åÌýdescriptions (the titles ²¹²Ô»åÌýdescriptions that appear onÌýsearch results pages). Low click rates could indicate unattractive meta content ²¹²Ô»åÌýGSC can help you identify theÌýproblem.
Low clicks can also beÌýanÌýindicator ofÌýineffective SEO strategies since Google sorts search results byÌýrelevance. IfÌýbasic SEO principles like effective keywords aren’t active onÌýyour site, you might see low click rates.
Average CTR
CTR stands forÌý
Average CTR varies depending onÌýtheÌýindustries ²¹²Ô»åÌýwhere websites land onÌýtheÌýsearch results page (known asÌýyour position). However, websites closer toÌýtheÌýtop ofÌýtheÌýresults page get more clicksÌý— ²¹²Ô»åÌýusing GSC can help you get closer toÌýtheÌýtop.
Average Position
AsÌýweÌýjust talked about, your position refers toÌýwhere your website shows upÌýonÌýtheÌýsearch results page. You can monitor this with GSC. Ideally, your website will rank within theÌýtop 10Ìýsearch results. But asÌýyou probably guessed, that can beÌývery difficult since Google sorts through billions ofÌýpages.
There’s good news though. You may not rank inÌýtheÌýtop 10Ìýright away, but GSC can help you start climbing. We’ll talk more about how GSC can improve your average position later on.
Impressions
This performance indicator shows you how often users saw your pages when they showed upÌýinÌýtheir search results. Beyond viewing theÌýbasic number ofÌýimpressions, you can use this tool toÌýsee how specific keywords influence your impressions ²¹²Ô»åÌýother data points.
For example, let’s say one ofÌýyour keywords isÌý“orange.” You can enter that word toÌýview total impressions ²¹²Ô»åÌýclicks when theÌýword “orange” was included inÌýsearch queries. This tool can help you analyze theÌýeffectiveness ofÌýyour keyword strategies.
What Does Google Search Console DoÌýforÌýBusinesses?
Those are aÌýfew ofÌýGSC’s most important performance indicators, but what does Google Search Console doÌýforÌýbusinesses? And how can you use theÌýplatform toÌýimprove your search performance? ToÌýunderstand how GSC can support your website, weÌýneed toÌýtalk about how Google manages search results.
How Google manages search results
±õ²ÔÌý³Ò³§°ä, indexed pages refers toÌýwebpages that have been identified ²¹²Ô»åÌýsorted within Google’s search engine. These pages enter Google’s library ofÌýindexed sites, letting them join theÌýsearch results page ifÌýaÌýrelevant search query isÌýmade.
The process ofÌýindexing aÌýpage usually starts with crawling. Crawling isÌýGoogle’s process ofÌýscanning aÌýwebpage toÌýidentify its content soÌýtheÌýsearch engine knows when toÌýshow itÌýtoÌýusers. The terms crawling ²¹²Ô»åÌýindexing are often used interchangeably, but crawling isÌýtheÌýprocess ofÌýidentifying aÌýpage’s content while indexing isÌýtheÌýprocess ofÌýstoring that page inÌýGoogle’s library ofÌýwebsites.
Your webpages won’t get shown onÌýtheÌýsearch results page ifÌýthey haven’t been indexed. And they usually won’t beÌýindexed ifÌýthey haven’t been crawled. GSC can help you ensure your pages have been crawledÌý— we’ll talk about that next.
Why GSC IsÌýImportant
Now that you understand theÌýbasics ofÌýhow Google sorts webpages, let’s talk about how GSC supports website owners. There are three main ways, starting with monitoring crawl status.
Monitoring crawling
Like weÌýtalked about, Google crawls your webpages before they’re indexed (at least inÌýmost cases). The good news isÌýGoogle doesn’t leave you inÌýtheÌýdarkÌý— you can find out ifÌýyour pages have been crawled byÌýconnecting your site toÌýGSC.
Google Search Console crawl reports let you monitor ifÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýwhen your pages have been crawled. However, these reports are aimed atÌýreally big websites. IfÌýyour site has less than one thousand pages, GSC offers aÌýmore simple crawl monitoring option called theÌýURL Inspection Tool. This tool lets you enter theÌýURL toÌýone ofÌýyour pages ²¹²Ô»åÌýtells you ifÌýit’s been crawled properly.
Alerting you toÌýproblems
GSC offers aÌýlot ofÌýtools that alert you ifÌýproblems involving your search performance arise. These alerts vary depending onÌýtheÌýissue, but you won’t get anyÌýalerts ifÌýyou don’t use theÌýplatform.
Here are aÌýfew common problems GSC can help bring toÌýyour attention.
Coverage issues
GSC has aÌýsection dedicated toÌýmonitoring coverage. You’ll see aÌýfew categories, including Error ²¹²Ô»åÌýValid with warnings. IfÌýanyÌýofÌýyour pages fall under theÌýfirst category, they aren’t getting covered properly. IfÌýthey fall under theÌýsecond, you’re atÌýrisk ofÌýlosing coverage. IfÌýyou notice anÌýalert inÌýeither ofÌýthese categories, you can click itÌýtoÌýlearn more about theÌýproblem. Using GSC will keep you ahead ofÌýthese issues ²¹²Ô»åÌýhelp you fix them before your website stops landing onÌýtheÌýresults page.
Old links
Old links technically fall under theÌýbroad category ofÌýcoverage issues. Google relies onÌý
Manual actions (Penalties)
IfÌýyour site breaks Google’s rules, you might get aÌýmanual action (a.k.a. penalty). Manual actions are essentially human reviews ofÌýyour site. Google mostly relies onÌýcomputer programs toÌýsort through websites, but their system sometimes has humans perform aÌýmanual review ifÌýaÌýsite appears toÌýbeÌýbreaking certain rules.
These rules mainly focus onÌýshady stuff, like actively trying toÌýcheat orÌýmislead Google toÌýboost your site’s position. Google may remove your site from theÌýsearch results ifÌýthis happens. Most people don’t need toÌýworry about manual actions ifÌýthey’re not breaking theÌýrules, but you won’t know ifÌýyour site gets penalized ifÌýyou don’t use GSC.
Mobile usability issues
The world increasingly uses mobile devices toÌýbrowse theÌýwebÌý— ²¹²Ô»åÌýGoogle takes that into account when managing search results. IfÌýyour website has aÌýmobile usability problem, Google Search Console will alert you soÌýyou can fix theÌýissue. IfÌýyou don’t use GSC, mobile usability issues can fly under theÌýradar ²¹²Ô»åÌýhurt your search performance.
Checking forÌýsecurity issues
You don’t have toÌýuse GSC toÌýmonitor website security issues, but it’s aÌýgreat tool forÌýkeeping your site’s content safe. And it’s free.
From theÌýGoogle Search Console homepage, you’ll have access toÌýtheÌýSecurity Issues tab. This section ofÌýGSC will list potential security threats, including hacking ²¹²Ô»åÌýother malicious activities that could harm site owners orÌývisitors. Without GSC, you won’t have access toÌýGoogle’s free security monitoringÌý— potentially putting your site atÌýrisk.
Click through all tabs inÌýtheÌýSearch Console admin toÌýdiscover all reports ²¹²Ô»åÌýimportant areas
Google Search Console FAQ
InÌýsummary, Google Search Console helps website owners monitor search performance, identify problems hurting their position, ²¹²Ô»åÌýstay inÌýtune with their website overall.
We’ve covered theÌýbasic function ²¹²Ô»åÌýbenefits ofÌýGoogle Search Console, but we’ll answer some FAQs soÌýyou’re fully prepared toÌýstart using theÌýplatform.
What about Google Analytics? (Google Search Console vsÌýGoogle Analytics)
IfÌýreading about GSC’s performance monitoring tools makes you think ofÌýGoogle Analytics, you’re probably wondering ifÌýyou need toÌýuse both platforms. The simple answer? Yes, you need both.
GSC ²¹²Ô»åÌýGoogle Analytics both offer website analytics, but GSC focuses onÌýtheÌýperformance ofÌýyour website onÌýtheÌýsearch results page. IfÌýyou just connect your site toÌýGoogle Analytics, you’ll miss out onÌýhelpful data like your average position ²¹²Ô»åÌýimpressions. You’ll also miss out onÌýimportant alerts such asÌýmanual actions ²¹²Ô»åÌýsecurity issuesÌý— soÌýGoogle Analytics really isn’t aÌýreplacement forÌýGoogle Search Console.
Instead, GAÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýGSC can work together. You can connect Search Console toÌýyour Google Analytics toÌýenrich your GAÌýreports with organic search data directly from Google.
Should you use Google Search Console ifÌýyou have aÌýbusiness website?
Google Search Console isÌýuseful forÌýevery type ofÌýwebsiteÌý— especially business websites. Whether you run anÌýecommerce site orÌýaÌýsimple page listing your company’s contact details, ensuring your website performs well onÌýGoogle isÌývital forÌýconnecting with customers ²¹²Ô»åÌýsupporting your brand.
IsÌýGoogle Search Console aÌýreplacement forÌýanÌýSEO specialist?
No. Google Search Console can help your site’s SEO strategies, but theÌýplatform isn’t aÌýreplacement forÌýSEO professionals.
However, GSC can help SEO specialists identify
Get Started Today!
Google has been theÌýdominant search engine forÌýyears ²¹²Ô»åÌýthat probably won’t change anyÌýtime soon. Without Google Search Console, you’re left inÌýtheÌýdark ²¹²Ô»åÌýyour website could stop reaching searchers. SoÌýlearn how toÌýuse GSC today!
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