The Ultimate Quick-Start Guide to Google Search Console

When it comes to your online presence, insights are critical.

And fewer tools are arsenic beneficial to providing online intel arsenic Google Search Console (GSC). 

Google Search Console delivers captious information connected your website’s performance successful Google hunt results, from method issues to keyword opportunities, and overmuch more.

In this Google Search Console tutorial, I’ll screen everything you request to cognize to get acceptable up and commencement utilizing the Google Search Console dashboard.

I’m covering:

• What Google Search Console is
• What Google Search Console does for your business
• The differences betwixt Google Search Console and Google Analytics
• How to adhd your website to Google Search Console
• Five chill SEO tasks you tin bash with Google Search Console

Let’s get started.

BONUS: DOWNLOAD this Google Search Console tutorial arsenic a useful PDF usher you tin people retired oregon prevention to your computer.

What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console is simply a suite of web analytics tools and reports that helps website owners efficaciously show and support their beingness successful Google’s integrated hunt results.

The console allows you to show the domains that nexus to your website, your mobile tract performance, affluent hunt results, core web vitals, and highest-traffic queries.

Until 2015, Google Search Console was known arsenic Google Webmaster Tools.

The alteration successful sanction was done successful portion to code the deficiency of inclusivity with the word “webmaster:”

“It turns retired that the accepted thought of the “webmaster” reflects lone immoderate of you… So, to marque definite that our merchandise includes everyone who cares astir Search, we’ve decided to rebrand Google Webmaster Tools arsenic Google Search Console.”

Anyone, from tiny concern owners to ample endeavor selling teams, tin usage each of the insightful reports recovered successful Google Search Console. As agelong arsenic you’re acquainted with SEO fundamentals, you tin usage this web analytics instrumentality to your advantage.

And due to the fact that it’s free, anyone with a website should commencement taking vantage of GSC.

If you’ve ne'er utilized this analytics level before, present are immoderate fantabulous tools and reports you tin play astir with:

• URL Inspection Tool
• Performance Report
• Coverage Report
• Mobile Usability
• And overmuch more

Don’t interest if you don’t presently cognize what each of these reports are. I’ll spell in-depth with each of these features next… 

What does Google Search Console do?

The big of features recovered successful Google Search Console each service 1 purpose:

To amended your site’s show connected Google Search.

Search Console tin beryllium utilized to code SEO activities like:

Depending connected your relation oregon position, GSC is simply a versatile instrumentality to tackle galore SEO tasks. 

For example, tract owners tin usage GSC to marque data-driven decisions connected SEO-focused content. SEO specialists tin amended optimize the tract for higher hunt rankings. And tract administrators tin show and troubleshoot tract issues.

Whatever your relation – and nonsubjective – Google’s Search Console information is displayed successful 1 casual to navigate dashboard:

Search Console besides comes equipped with email alerts to pass you erstwhile antithetic activities hap with your site. 

But, GSC isn’t the lone instrumentality you should see erstwhile managing your site’s analytics. 

There is different peculiarly captious Google merchandise integer marketers request to get actionable insights connected their website.

Google Search Console vs Google Analytics

While Google Search and Google Analytics some supply accusation astir your website, they person antithetic focuses.

Google Analytics 101

Without going into excessively overmuch method detail, Google Analytics (GA) concentrates connected the user enactment connected your website. It tracks your users’ behaviour arsenic they prosecute with elements of your website and sojourn pages connected your site.

Google Analytics tin besides way metrics specified as

• Traffic sources (e.g. direct, search, email, referral, etc.)
• The mean clip a visitant spends connected your site
• The geolocation of your visitors
• The exertion your visitors use
• The mean fig of pages that visitors view
• And more

Google Analytics seamlessly integrates with different Google products similar Google Ads to amended tracking and reporting for immoderate advertisement campaigns.

Third-party selling oregon SEO solutions tin besides consolidate analytics information with Google Analytics.

Google Search Console 101

Search Console, connected the different hand, is focused connected Google Search. Rather than study connected idiosyncratic behaviour connected your site, GSC provides insights and method information connected however your website is performing successful organic search. 

With a absorption connected hunt queries, keyword performance, crawl errors, and SEO-minded metrics, GSC was built for 1 happening – helping tract owners and marketers win successful hunt results.

GSC & GA: Two sides of the aforesaid coin?

As you tin see, portion determination are differences betwixt the 2 analytics platforms, they shouldn’t beryllium pitted against each other. Their areas of absorption complement alternatively than vie with each other.

Each instrumentality is important successful your SEO efforts and provides features that tin show and amended hunt rankings and website traffic.

Both analytics suites assistance enactment a holistic position of your site’s integer presence.

And since some platforms are escaped enterprise-level analytics tools, wherefore wouldn’t you usage both?

Now that you’ve learned astir Google Search Console and however it tin payment your concern let’s adhd your website to the platform.

How to Set Up and Verify Google Search Console

Before you tin entree the plethora of features disposable connected Google Search Console, we request to get your concern verified first.

Fortunately, adding your website to GSC is beauteous straightforward. 

How to adhd your tract to Search Console

Step 1: Visit Google Search Console and click Start now. 

You volition request a Google relationship to entree the Search Console site. If you person a abstracted Google concern relationship for your website, log successful with those credentials.

Step 2: Add your site’s URL to the Domain or URL prefix property type. 

If you don’t cognize the quality betwixt the 2 options, a “Domain Property” tracks each of the URLs of a website. This tin see subdomains (a prefix recovered earlier your domain sanction similar blog. oregon www.) oregon aggregate protocols (HTTPS, HTTP, etc.)

A “URL Prefix Property” volition lone way information for URLs with a circumstantial prefix. If the defined URL doesn’t see a peculiar protocol (like HTTPS) oregon subdomain (blog.example.com), the information for those non-specified URLs won’t beryllium added to your Search Console.

And that’s it. Those are the lone 2 steps you request to travel to get started connected Google Search Console. Now, we request to verify your tract ownership.

How to corroborate tract ownership connected Search Console

There are respective ways to verify that you are the proprietor of the tract you’ve conscionable added to the Search Console. The verification method(s) disposable to you depends connected the Property Type you selected for your GSC account.

Verification for a Domain Property

A domain-level spot tin lone beryllium verified via DNS. The Domain Name System (DNS) is erstwhile human-readable domain names similar seosherpa.com are translated into numeric, machine-readable IP addresses (e.g. 192.168. 1.1).

DNS verification requires you to motion successful to your domain supplier and adhd the Google-provided TXT grounds into the domain’s DNS configuration. 

Some domain providers volition necessitate a CNAME grounds alternatively than a DNS TXT record. Confirm with your domain supplier which they need.

Verification for a URL Prefix Property

Unlike domain properties, URL prefixes person respective verification methods. Let’s spell done each 1 below.

HTML file

This verification method requires you to upload the provided HTML record to the basal folder of your tract via FTP oregon SFTP. You volition request entree to your server to upload this record into the basal directory. 

One contented with this method is that if ever the record gets removed from the basal directory, your information volition halt tracking successful Google Search Console. This has happened a batch for clients we negociate – particularly erstwhile migrating servers, oregon deploying a caller website.

I don’t urge utilizing the HTML record verification method – unless it’s your lone option.

HTML tag

The HTML tag verification method volition necessitate you to paste the provided meta tag into your site’s <head> section.

Google Analytics

To verify with Google Analytics, you indispensable already person your tract connected GA. Once you’ve confirmed verification successful Google Analytics and installed the provided tracking code, you should conscionable person to click Verify. 

Google Tag Manager

Like Google Analytics, you indispensable create an relationship connected Google Tag Manager. If the GTM instrumentality snippet codification is already active, you simply person to deed Verify.

After you’ve verified your tract connected Search Console, it’s clip to commencement exploring each of the useful SEO features of GSC.

Five Practical Ways to Use Google Search Console for SEO

Google Search Console is simply a indispensable for immoderate concern looking to boost their integrated postulation and scope optimal tract health. 

Here are 5 apical ways marketers tin usage GSC to elevate their site’s SEO show and uncover hidden method issues.

(1). Identify caller keyword opportunities

When you archetypal log into your Google Search Console dashboard, you’ll spot respective reports listed connected the left-hand navigation. One of these reports, Search results, contains a plethora of SEO opportunities.

Once you click connected the Search results tab, look astatine your site’s Queries.

As you tin spot from the representation above, you tin presumption each of the keywords that person brought hunt users to your tract successful the fixed clip period.

Pretty neat, huh?

So however bash you usage this study to identify caller keyword opportunities?

Looking astatine our Queries report, for example, we tin spot that respective of our top-performing hunt queries revolve astir assorted header tag queries. 

We tin spot that we fertile successful the apical 3 positions for “h” examples queries upon inspection. And our click-through rates for these queries are besides beauteous solid.

Considering however galore hunt users are looking for header tag examples, we could plug that query into a keyword probe instrumentality similar Semrush oregon Ahrefs and find immoderate related hunt phrases that we tin people successful our content. 

Since we already person a blog station connected header tags for SEO, each we request to bash is update the station to see contented connected these topics.

By looking done your Queries report, you whitethorn besides uncover caller keyword opportunities that construe to casual contented ideas.

But the Queries report does much than conscionable amusement you caller keywords to people successful your content.

The adjacent extremity volition assistance you amended the click-through rates of your integrated hunt positions.

(2). Improve the CTR interaction of your integrated hunt snippets

Aside from generating caller contented ideas and identifying caller keyword opportunities for your site, the Queries report besides shows you the mean click-through complaint of your keywords. 

Your Search results study volition lone show Total clicks and Total impressions by default.

Clicking connected Average CTR and Average position successful the graph constituent volition item your CTR and presumption information successful the graph and the Queries report below.

Once you person some CTR and presumption highlighted, filter your Queries report by impressions.

From the apical 10 impressions data, it’s evident that we’re beauteous well-positioned for the “organic seo” hunt query.

But, arsenic a leading integrated agency, the sixth presumption volition not chopped it. 

We’re intelligibly connected the close way since we fertile comparatively precocious for the word organic seo, but our CTR is abysmal (0.2%). 

We conscionable request to refocus our optimization efforts.

And, an evident spot to commencement would beryllium updating the twelvemonth successful the rubric tag truthful it’s current.

Another mode to amended our integrated hunt CTR is by investigating caller rubric tags and meta descriptions ideas connected our hunt snippets.

By moving monthly tests connected caller metatag copy, we’ll gradually spot improvements successful our hunt rankings. 

Note: Don’t cognize however to constitute SEO-friendly metatags? I’ve got you covered. We person a elaborate usher connected title tag optimization and a step-by-step walkthrough connected penning cleanable meta descriptions for SEO.

While moving your metadata tests, you whitethorn besides privation to update your nonfiction if it is somewhat dated. 

Formatting your contented for featured snippet opportunities (if available) volition besides help to summation those hunt clicks.

Now that we recognize however to usage GSC for SEO contented tasks let’s look astatine immoderate method SEO errors you tin find with Search Console.

(3). Quickly place crawl errors connected your website

If you’ve ever worked connected a website redesign project, you’ll recognize wherefore it’s sometimes indispensable to noindex definite pages from hunt engines. 

Preventing crawlers from indexing your pages arsenic you enactment connected them volition trim the hazard of exposing your planned campaigns to competitors oregon leaking immoderate concern intelligence.

But sometimes, the developer you’re moving with whitethorn hide to region these noindex tags connected your pages. Or, you whitethorn find yourself deleting a leafage you nary longer request and hide astir putting a redirect successful place.

Both of these scenarios tin effect successful crawl errors that tin origin your tract to commencement losing hunt rankings.

Fortunately, you don’t person to crawl each page’s HTML to uncover these method SEO errors. 

Google Search Console provides a Coverage report that inspects each leafage connected your tract for immoderate crawl-ability issues.

As you tin see, this top-level summary highlights the indexing presumption of each of your site’s URLs. The presumption of each URL connected your tract volition beryllium recovered successful this report. 

Of course, you privation each leafage you submitted to GSC via your XML sitemap to beryllium grouped successful the valid status, but errors sometimes occur. This is wherever you tin code immoderate indexing oregon crawling issues your tract whitethorn beryllium having.

If you’re actively updating pages connected your site, similar your blog, beryllium definite to cheque the Coverage report astatine slightest erstwhile a month.

We’ll walk the pursuing 2 SEO tips looking astatine Google Search Console’s Experience conception with the Performance and Index sections covered.

(4). Identify and troubleshoot mobile usability issues

One of the astir captious method SEO issues affecting a site’s hunt visibility is mobile usability issues.

In 2021, mobile postulation accounted for 54.4% of each planetary website traffic. Meaning if your website has mobility usability issues, your tract whitethorn not lone spot a driblet successful postulation but besides successful hunt rankings.

This is wherever the Mobile Usability report successful Google Search Console comes into play.

Found successful the “Experience” conception of your Google Search Console dashboard, the Mobile Usability report volition item the pursuing six errors:

• Uses incompatible plugins
• Viewport not set
• Viewport not acceptable to “device-width”
• Content wider than screen
• Text excessively tiny to read
• Clickable elements excessively adjacent together

As you tin spot from the database of errors, galore of the usability errors subordinate to mobile UX champion practices.

So however bash you spell astir fixing each of these issues? Below, I’ll supply imaginable solutions to each mobile usability error.

Uses incompatible plugins

Specific web animation plugins similar Flash bash not enactment with mobile devices. If this mistake displays itself successful your report, update your web animation plugins with modern and responsive web technologies similar HTML5.

Viewport not set

A viewport is the viewable country of a web leafage that a idiosyncratic tin see. Because viewports alteration by device, a smartphone volition person a smaller viewport than a desktop computer. 

Defining a viewport spot with the viewport <meta> tag volition marque your tract scalable to the varying surface resolutions of mobile devices. 

This tag indispensable beryllium enactment successful the caput conception of your page’s HTML code.

Viewport not acceptable to “device-width”

To optimize your pages for assorted mobile devices, you indispensable besides guarantee you don’t acceptable a circumstantial width successful your viewport <meta> tag. Defining a fixed-width viewport means your leafage can’t set for antithetic devices.

To hole this error, acceptable the viewport <meta> tag as:

<meta name=viewport content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

Adding this tag to your leafage volition guarantee your users don’t person to zoom successful and retired to work your contented connected their phones.

Content wider than screen

Pages with this surface mistake mean that the contented is chopped disconnected from the viewable area.

If you already person the viewport <meta> tag connected your page, but this show contented persists, your images should beryllium assigned a maximum width of 100%. In your page’s HTML, that volition look thing similar this:

img { max-width: 100%; display: block; }

This codification volition guarantee your images volition conform to the existent viewport.

Text excessively tiny to read

As the mistake mightiness suggest, the font connected your leafage is hard to work connected your mobile instrumentality without zooming in. 

To hole this error, you request to guarantee your pages person a minimum font size of 12 px. Font sizes little than this tin marque your pages illegible connected mobile devices.

For accessibility purposes, see making your assemblage substance astatine slightest 16 px. 

Clickable elements excessively adjacent together

Touch elements similar buttons oregon navigation links indispensable beryllium appropriately spaced apart. Having cramped interaction elements tin effect successful accidental tapping, starring to a mediocre idiosyncratic experience. 

To rapidly code this error, interaction targets connected your website should beryllium a minimum of 48×48 px. 

Once you’ve addressed these mobile usability errors, let’s analyse different captious Page Experience report.

(5). Improve your Core Web Vitals score 

Because we already person a implicit usher connected passing Core Web Vitals, I volition lone screen the basics of this report.

The Core Web Vitals report connected GSC enables you to presumption URL show without visiting the Chrome UX Report.

This Search Console study volition supply insights into the leafage show connected some mobile and desktop. URL show volition beryllium categorized based connected “poor,” “needs improvement,” oregon “good.”

To presumption your site’s mobile performance, click Open Report at the apical close of Mobile. Same for desktop. 

Once you unfastened a circumstantial Core Web Vitals report, you volition spot Google’s errors crossed your site. 

On ours, we’re seeing Largest Contentful Paint issues.

To hole this issue, we tin enactment connected deferring JavaScript, optimizing representation files, oregon compressing substance files. Once each hole is implemented, it should beryllium validated to corroborate that the contented has been addressed. 

If you’d similar to larn much in-depth Core Web Vitals recommendations, springiness our Core Web Vitals guide a read.

Now it’s your turn!

As you tin see, nary concern tin efficaciously negociate its hunt beingness without the enactment of Search Console. 

If you’ve ne'er utilized GSC, this beginner’s Google Search Console tutorial volition assistance your concern get its relationship up and moving successful nary time. 

Even if you person been experimenting with the GSC dashboard for a while, I anticipation the SEO tactics mentioned successful this nonfiction person helped you amended recognize however you tin amended usage Search Console for your SEO projects.

What different ways person you utilized Google Search Console for your SEO work?

I’d emotion to perceive from you – fto maine cognize successful the comments below.

In the meantime, you tin download our easy-to-follow (and easy shareable) infographic connected adding and verifying your tract to GSC.