Google Search Console guide: how to use it

What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console is a free Google service for website owners. It gives you data you can't get as reliably anywhere else, because it comes from Google itself. You see the traffic from the search results, not the traffic from ads or social media.

The difference with Google Analytics 4: Search Console tells you what happens before someone lands on your site, such as what they searched for and what position you were in. Analytics tells you what visitors then do on your site. So you need both. Read more about that second part in Google Analytics 4 explained.

Setting up Google Search Console in four steps

• Step 1: go to Search Console and log in with a Google account, preferably a business account that isn't tied to one person.
• Step 2: add your website as a property. Preferably choose a domain property. It covers all versions of your site, with and without www and all subdomains.
• Step 3: verify that the site is yours. For a domain property you do that with a TXT record in the DNS settings at your domain provider. For a URL prefix property you can also use an HTML file, a meta tag or your Google Analytics connection.
• Step 4: submit your sitemap. That's a file listing all the pages of your site, often found at yourdomain.nl/sitemap.xml.

After setup it usually takes a few days before the first data shows up. Also give your web developer or marketing partner access via 'Users and permissions', instead of sharing your password.

Reading the performance report: clicks, impressions and position

The performance report is the heart of Search Console. You see four numbers:

• Total clicks: how often someone clicked through to your site from Google.
• Total impressions: how often your site appeared in the search results.
• Average CTR: the percentage of impressions that became a click.
• Average position: your average spot in the search results. A lower number is better.

Below that you can filter by queries, pages, countries and devices. Useful questions to start with:

• Which keywords get lots of impressions but few clicks? Then your title or description often isn't appealing enough. Tips are in writing a meta title and description.
• Which keywords are in positions 8 to 20? With some extra attention to that page you can often reach the first page.
• Which pages are dropping compared with the previous period? Compare two periods using the date button.
• How do I perform on mobile compared with desktop?

Search Console keeps performance data for the last sixteen months. If you want to look back further, export the numbers now and then.

Pages that aren't indexed: what does it mean?

Under 'Pages' you see which pages are in Google's index and which aren't, with the reason. Don't panic at a long list. Many reasons are normal:

• Page with redirect: an old URL that points to a new one. Usually fine.
• Excluded by 'noindex' tag: you indicated yourself that the page doesn't need to be in Google. Do check that's correct.
• Alternate page with proper canonical tag: a variant that points to the main version. Normal.
• Not found (404): a page no longer exists. Redirect important old pages.
• Crawled - currently not indexed: Google has seen the page but didn't find it valuable enough (yet). Check whether the content is unique and useful.
• Discovered - currently not indexed: Google knows the page but hasn't looked at it yet. With a new site this often just takes time.

Are these pages that should be in Google, such as your service pages? Tackle those first. Not sure whether it's a technical problem? Use our technical SEO checklist.

URL inspection and getting a page indexed

With the search bar at the top, the URL inspection tool, you check one specific page. You see whether it's in Google, when Google last visited it and whether there are problems. With 'Test live URL' you view the current version.

If you've created a new page or changed an important page substantially, you can ask Google to come by via 'Request indexing'. It's not a guarantee, and clicking it more often doesn't help. For a whole site, a good sitemap works better.

Other reports worth checking

• Core Web Vitals: shows per group of pages whether the speed is good, based on real visitors. Google's thresholds are LCP under 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds and CLS under 0.1.
• HTTPS: checks whether your pages load securely over https.
• Links: shows which sites link to you and which of your pages get the most internal links.
• Manual actions and security issues: this is where it shows if Google has given a penalty or your site seems to be hacked. Hopefully it's always empty.

Common Search Console mistakes

• Only looking at average position. It's an average across all keywords and says little without a filter.
• Panicking at every dip. Small fluctuations are normal. Look at trends over weeks, not days.
• Not setting up Search Console for a new website or after moving to a new domain. That's exactly when you want to spot errors quickly.
• Leaving the account in the name of a former employee or your previous web developer. Make sure you're the owner yourself.

Help with Search Console and SEO

For every website we build, we set up the SEO basics and Google Analytics properly. If you then want to keep working on your visibility, you can do that through online marketing. We look at the Search Console numbers with you every month and decide together on the next step. That's possible from €599 excl. VAT (€725 incl. VAT) per month, with no minimum term and cancellable monthly with one month's notice. You'll find more free tools in free SEO tools.

Want to know what Search Console says about your site? Book a free quickscan. In 30 minutes, online or on site, we go through your data together. Afterwards you get short written advice with a price indication, with no obligation.

Frequently asked questions