What Is Google Search Console, and How Do You Use It?

Most business owners have never opened Google Search Console, yet it is one of the most useful free tools for a website. It shows what Google sees when it looks at your site, and what people searched for before they found you.

What it is

Search Console is a free service from Google. You add your website, prove you own it, and it begins reporting on how your site performs in search. It is not the same as analytics. Analytics shows what visitors do once they arrive, as covered in do you need Google Analytics. Search Console shows what happens before they arrive.

What it tells you

• Which searches bring people to you. You can see the actual phrases that led to your site
• How often you appear and get clicked. Appearing is called an impression
• Which pages Google has added to its list, and which it has not
• Problems it found, such as pages it could not reach or mobile usability issues
• Which other sites link to you

Setting it up

You sign in with a Google account, add your website, and verify ownership. Verification usually means adding a short piece of text to your site or your domain settings. If someone else manages your site, ask them to do it and add you as an owner. Make sure your account, not theirs, holds the ownership.

One thing to do right away

Submit your sitemap, which is a list of your pages that helps Google find them. If you are not sure what that is, read do you need a sitemap.

A simple monthly check

You do not need to live in this tool. Ten minutes a month is enough:

• Look at the performance report. Are impressions and clicks going up over time?
• Scan the searches that bring visitors. Do they match the services you want more of?
• Open the indexing report. Are your important pages listed?
• Check for any warnings or errors, and fix them or pass them to whoever manages your site

Why it is worth it

It takes the guesswork out of search. If a new page is not appearing, you can find out why. If people find you for a service you barely mention, you can build on it. And if something breaks, such as a page accidentally blocked from search, you will see it early instead of months later.

For more on getting found locally, read what local SEO is and why it matters.