How to Use Google Search Console (GSC) Efficiently in 2024

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) often feels like a tricky maze, filled with conditions and technical jargon. You meticulously craft content and target the perfect keywords, yet your site languishes in search obscurity. Frustration sets in, leaving you wondering, “What am I doing wrong?” What’s worse, identifying the actual culprit isn’t quite easy here. However, with tools like Google Search Console (GSC), it has become possible.

Forget the days of SEO guesswork. Google Search Console offers helpful insights into how Google perceives your domain, which lets you fix the bottlenecks and climb the search results ladder. This isn’t just another SEO tool collecting dust in your digital toolbox. Using data from Google Search Console will change your website from just being visible to having strategic SEO. This will attract more qualified visitors to your site and drive you towards search engine success that will last longer. Buckle up and get ready to unravel Google Search Console’s nitty gritty to use it and get maximum results this year.

Understanding Google Search Console and Its Uses

Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) is like a direct line of communication with Google. It offers a wealth of insights into how your website is performing in search, highlighting areas that are thriving and pinpointing opportunities for improvement and better optimization. Here’s a breakdown of the key functionalities that make Google Search Console such a valuable asset:

• Revealing the Performance: The “Performance” report is your go-to for gauging website traffic coming from Google Search. It sheds light on which keywords users are searching for to land on your pages, how many times your site appears in Google search results (impressions), and, most importantly, how often users click through to your website (clicks). This data allows you to identify your top-performing content and keywords, as well as pinpoint areas where you are missing out on potential visitors.
• Website Health Checkup: Google Search Console goes beyond traffic reports. It acts like a virtual doctor, scanning your website for technical glitches that could be hindering its search engine performance. The “Coverage” report identifies any indexing issues, such as pages that Google might be having trouble finding or indexing. This could be due to crawl errors (Google crawlers are like little robots that scan through your website) or server-side problems. Addressing these issues ensures that your website is fully discoverable in Google search results.
• Mobile Matters: With mobile browsing taking the internet by storm, Google Search Console recognizes its importance. The platform provides a dedicated “Mobile Usability” report, highlighting any mobile-friendliness issues on your website. This might include text that’s too small to read on a smartphone screen or buttons that are difficult to tap with a finger. Fixing these issues improves the user experience and gives your mobile ranking a push.
• Backlink Analysis: Backlinks, those precious links from other websites pointing to yours, are one of the most important aspects of ranking. Google Search Console’s “Links” report offers a glimpse into your backlink profile, revealing which websites are linking to you and the specific text used in those links (anchor text). Such intel allows you to identify high-quality backlinks that are boosting your SEO and also helps you spot any low-quality or irrelevant links that might be negatively affecting your search rankings.
• Indexing Game: Creating fantastic content and publishing it only to find that Google has no clue it exists feels disappointing. That’s where GSC’s “Sitemap” functionality comes in. A sitemap acts as a roadmap, guiding search engines to all the important pages on your website. While Google can usually discover your content without a sitemap, submitting an updated sitemap in Google Search Console can expedite the indexing process, especially for new or updated pages.

GSC is a powerful tool, but integrating it with Google Analytics using the Google Analytics Tracking Code makes it even more potent, helping you dive deeper into user behavior, engagement time, bounce rate, and other important metrics.

Steps to Set Up Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool that lets you understand how your site appears in search results and fine-tune your SEO strategy for success. But before you unlock a wealth of data within, you need to set it up. Here’s a clear and concise process to get you started:

Gear Up With The Essential

No fancy equipment is required, just a Google search console account and your website’s URL. If you haven’t already, create a free Google account; it’s the key to unlocking Google Search Console’s potential. Now, grab your website’s URL, which users type in to access your online domain.

Step 1 – Navigate To Google Search Console

Head over to https://search.google.com/search-console/about and you’ll be greeted by the friendly interface with a CTA saying “Start Now.” Hit that button to land on a page saying, “Welcome to Google Search Console.” Here’s where the magic begins.

Step 2 – Add Your Property

Once verified, Google Search Console will ask you to add a property type. Typically, you’ll want to select the “Domain” property, which ensures you track data for your entire website, not just individual pages. For specific tracking, you can go with the URL prefix property.

Step 3 – Verify Website Ownership

Google Search Console needs to confirm you’re the rightful owner of the website you’re trying to manage. There are multiple verification methods available, each catering to different website setups. Commonly used options include:

• Uploading an HTML File: This method involves adding a specific code snippet to your website’s files. It’s a quick and easy approach for those who are comfortable editing website code.
• Verifying Through Google Analytics: If you already have Google Analytics set up on your website (and it’s linked to the same Google search console account), verification can be as simple as a few clicks.
• Adding a Meta Tag: Similar to the HTML file method, this involves adding a meta tag to your website’s header section. This approach requires access to modify your website’s header code.

Step 4 – Explore and Conquer

Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up the Google Search Console. Now, delve into the various sections this powerful tool offers. Explore the data on search performance, identify crawl errors, and optimize your website for mobile users. Google Search Console becomes your personal SEO command center, giving you insights to make informed decisions and elevate your website’s search engine visibility.

What Data Can You Pull From Google Search Console?

With so much information at your fingertips, getting started with Google Search Console can feel tricky (especially for beginners). Let’s start understanding the different data points that Google Search Console provides to increase the visibility of your website on search engines.

Google Search Console Overview

Before scanning through the specifics, let’s get acquainted with the overall structure of the Google Search Console. It’s a free tool provided by Google that is accessible through your Google account. Once you’ve verified ownership of your website, you’ll be greeted by a user-friendly interface with various sections. These sections can be broadly categorized into four main areas:

• Performance: This section dives deep into how your website appears in Google search results. You’ll find reports on impressions (number of times your website appeared in search results), clicks (number of times users clicked through to your link appearing on SERPs), and average position for specific keywords.
• Index Coverage: In Index Coverage, you can diagnose any issues preventing Google from indexing your website’s pages. It reveals crawl errors, blocked pages, and server errors that might be hindering discoverability.
• Enhancements: This section focuses on optimizing your website for technical SEO and the user experience. You’ll find tools to assess mobile usability, core web vitals (loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability), and structured data implementation.
• Security and Manual Actions: This section monitors your website for any security issues or potential violations of Google’s webmaster guidelines. It’s essential to stay alert for any manual actions that could negatively impact your search ranking.

Performance Reports

The name says it all. Performance reports are all about generating search console reports on how your pages and keywords are performing on search results, along with other things like countries, dates, and Google News. Here’s what you’ll find in this section:

• Keywords: This report reveals which keywords users are searching for that land them on your website, which allows you to identify your top-performing search terms, discover potential long-tail keyword opportunities, and analyze keyword performance over time.
• Pages: This report dives into individual page performance. You can see impressions, clicks, average position, and click-through rate (CTR) for each page on your website. Analyze which pages are generating traffic and pinpoint areas for improvement, like optimizing titles and meta descriptions for better CTR.
• Countries: This report shows how your website performs in different geographic locations, which is valuable for businesses with a global audience or targeting specific regions.
• Devices: This report shows how your website performs on different devices, like desktops, mobiles, and tablets. It’s important in today’s mobile-first world to ensure your site offers a seamless user experience across all screen sizes (especially the smaller screens).
• Dates: The Date section shows you the number of impressions, clicks, page position on Google search results, and CTR according to the date. You can either select a specific date range to check the search performance within that period or go without selecting the date to view the historical search performance.

Index Coverage Analysis

• Status: This report in the Index Coverage section provides a detailed overview of your website’s indexation health. It categorizes URLs into various statuses, like “indexed,” “error,” or “excluded.” This allows you to identify any pages that Google is struggling to crawl or index.
• Valid With Warnings: This category highlights URLs that are currently indexed but may have potential issues that could affect their ranking or user experience.
• Removed: This index coverage report reveals URLs that have been intentionally removed from Google’s search index using the URL inspection tool.

Sitemaps

• Submit and View Sitemaps: Google Search Console allows you to submit your website’s sitemap, which acts like a blueprint for search engines, guiding them to all your important pages. You can also view previously submitted sitemaps and monitor their processing status.
• Sitemap Coverage: This report highlights any errors or warnings within your submitted sitemap, ensuring it accurately reflects your website’s structure and content.

URL Removals

• Temporary Removals: This allows you to temporarily remove specific URLs from Google’s search results for a limited period of time, which can be useful for pages under maintenance or containing sensitive content.

• Permanent Removals: This option permanently removes URLs from Google’s search index. Use this with caution, as it essentially hides the page from Google’s search results.

Core Web Vitals Assessment

• Field Data: This report provides real-world data on your website’s core web vital metrics, including Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

• Lab Data: This report shows how your core web vitals perform in a simulated environment. While valuable for initial testing, field data offers a more accurate picture of real-world user experience.

Links To Your Site

• External Links: This report reveals which websites are linking to your site and the anchor text they’re using. The data here is invaluable for understanding your backlink profile and identifying high-authority sites that can boost your SEO authority.
• Internal Links: This section sheds light on how well your website’s internal linking structure is organized. You can see which pages have the most inbound links and identify any orphaned pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them). Well-structured internal linking architecture helps search engines understand the hierarchy of your website and improves user navigation.

Manual Actions Monitoring

This section is vital for maintaining a healthy website. Google can take manual actions, like blocking your website from appearing in search results if it detects issues like spammy content, unnatural backlinks, or security vulnerabilities. Google Search Console promptly notifies you of any manual actions, allowing you to address the issue and request a re-evaluation.

Crawl Stats

• Crawl Requests: This report shows how frequently Googlebot (Google’s web crawler) is attempting to access your website’s pages. A sudden drop in crawl requests could indicate a problem with your robots.txt file or serve issues hindering Google’s ability to crawl your website.
• Download Kilobytes: This metric indicates the amount of data downloaded by Googlebot during the crawling process. A significant increase in downloaded kilobytes suggests bloated pages or inefficient resource usage, impacting loading speed.

URL Inspection Tool

• Fetch As Google: This feature in the URL inspection tool allows you to see how Googlebot sees a specific page on your website. This can be helpful for identifying crawl errors, blocked resources, and potential indexing issues for individual URLs.
• Mobile-Friendliness: Analyze how Google perceives your website’s mobile-friendliness, including identifying any layout issues that can hinder user experience on mobile devices. 

Robots.txt Tester

This tool allows you to test your robots.txt file, which instructs search engines on which pages to crawl and index. You can ensure your robots.txt file isn’t accidentally blocking important pages from Google’s reach.

Harnessing the power of Google Search Console can transform your website from a passive presence in the online world to a strategic SEO powerhouse. SEO is a continuous journey, and Google Search Console is your trusted companion along the way. Keep tabs on the data regularly to identify areas for improvement, optimize your website for search engines, and ultimately attract more quality traffic to your site to achieve your online goals.

How to Use Google Search Console to Increase Your Traffic

Here’s how you can leverage Google Search Console to attract more qualified visitors to your site this year:

Optimize Results That Don’t Get Clicks

You’ve crafted in-depth content and sprinkled the right keywords, but still, your search ranking isn’t translating into clicks. Here’s how Google Search Console can help:

• Diagnose low Click-Through rates: Navigate to the “Performance” report and filter by “Impressions“ (number of times your site appeared in search results) and “Clicks” (number of times users clicked on your listing). Pages with a high impression-to-click ratio might have underwhelming titles or meta descriptions.
• Craft Compelling Titles and Descriptions: Head back to your content management system (CMS) and revisit those low-performing pages. Analyze top-ranking competitor content for those keywords. What elements make their titles and descriptions stand out? Craft clear, concise, and benefit-oriented titles that entice users to click.
• Target Long-Tail Keywords: GSC’s “Performance” report reveals the specific keywords users searched for that landed them on your page. Look for long-tail keywords (more specific searches) with decent impressions but low clicks. This indicates the potential for optimizing your content to better address those specific queries.

Find Your Mobile Keywords

Mobile usage has grown massively. Reports prove that around 59% of all website traffic worldwide comes from mobile devices. So, with mobile browsing dominating internet usage, optimizing for mobile is essential. Popping on top of the search results on those small screens leads to big results for your site.

Here’s how to leverage Google Search Console to identify mobile-specific keywords:

• Segment Your Search Data: In the “Performance” report, click the “Search Type” tab. Here, you can segment your data by desktop, mobile, and tablet. Analyze which keywords drive the most mobile traffic.
• Focus on Mobile User Experience: Google Search Console doesn’t directly assess mobile usability but uses this data to prioritize mobile-focused SEO efforts. Ensure your website loads quickly, has a responsive design, and is easy to navigate on smaller screens. Tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights can pinpoint areas for improvement.
• Address Mobile-Specific Indexing Issues: The “Mobile Usability” report in Google Search Console highlights any mobile-friendliness issues that could be hindering your search appearance. This might include text that’s too small to read or buttons that are difficult to tap. Prioritize fixing these issues to improve user experience and potentially boost mobile rankings.

Find Performance Drops

Traffic dips can be frustrating. Google Search Console helps you pinpoint potential causes:

• Analyze the “Performance” Report Over Time: Look for sudden drops in clicks or impressions, which could indicate a Google algorithm update impacting your search appearance or technical issues on your site.
• Investigate Core Web Vitals: Core Web Vitals are essential website performance elements that influence search rankings. GSC’s “Core Web Vitals” report flags any issues with loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. Address these issues to potentially recover lost traffic.
• Check for Indexing Issues: The “Coverage” report reveals any issues preventing your pages from being indexed by Google. This could be due to crawl errors, blocked pages, or server issues. Fix these issues to ensure your content is discoverable in search results.

Analyze Your Backlink Profile

Backlinks (links from other websites to yours) are a significant ranking factor. Here’s how to leverage the Google Search Console for backlink analysis:

• Explore the “Links” Report: This report provides an overview of websites linking to yours and the specific anchor text used. Look for low-quality or irrelevant backlinks, as these can negatively impact your SEO.
• Disavow Low-Quality Backlinks: Google Search Console allows you to submit a disavow file that instructs Google to disregard specific backlinks. This is especially important if you suspect spammy links are hurting your search appearance.
• Build High-Quality Backlinks: GSC doesn’t directly help you build backlinks, but the data it provides can be used strategically. Identify high-authority websites in your niche that link to your competitors. Analyze their content and see if you can create something even better that would entice them to link to you as well.

Troubleshoot Indexing Issues

Ensuring your website is properly indexed by Google is crucial for search traffic. Here’s how to use Google Search Console to identify and fix indexing problems:

• Use the URL Inspection Tool: Enter the specific URL you’re concerned about in the tool. It reveals whether Google has indexed the page and, if not, why not. Common reasons include crawl errors (issues preventing Google from accessing the page), robots.txt blocking, or indexing flagged due to thin content (lack of valuable information).
• Fix Crawl Errors: The URL inspection tool provides details on specific crawl errors, while GSC’s “Crawl Stats” report gives a broader picture of crawling activity on your site. Address any errors, like broken internal links or server-side issues, to ensure smooth crawling and indexing.
• Optimize for Content Quality: If a page is flagged for “noindex” due to thin content, it’s time to revisit your content strategy. GSC doesn’t provide specific content quality guidelines, but you can leverage the “Search Results” feature in the URL Inspection Tool. This reveals how Google understands your page content. Analyze top-ranking competitor content for the same keyword and see how they provide in-depth information, address user intent, and leverage rich media. Revamp your content to offer a more comprehensive and engaging experience.
• Submit a Sitemap: A sitemap acts as a blueprint for your website, guiding search engines to all your important pages. While Google can generally discover your content without a sitemap, submitting an updated sitemap in GSC can accelerate the indexing process, especially for new or updated pages.

Adding these strategies to your plan and capitalizing on the valuable data provided by GSC can transform this tool into a powerful weapon in your SEO arsenal. While incorporating these hacks, remember that SEO is a slow-and-steady process that brings results with time. Being impatient will result in disappointment. Keep calm, maximize the power of GSC, and you’ll outrank your competitors in search results.

Conclusion

Google Search Console is not merely a reporting tool; it is like your SEO compass, guiding you through the chaotic and dynamic search engine scenario. By delving into the numbers, it can transform your site from a completely passive to an active SEO powerhouse.

SEO is a process that never stops. With Google Search Console, you can regularly revisit previous steps to analyze what is going on and adjust your approach according to those helpful inputs. Embrace the data, experiment with different approaches, and follow resources like Google News to stay updated on the latest trends to watch your website climb the search engine rankings.