Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) is a free online tool by Google consisting of a series of dashboards showing you how your site is performing on Google. It allows you to access a wide range of important data about your website, including how your page is performing in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP)
Find new keywords to optimize for Google Search
Focus keywords
- If you rank on the 2nd or 3rd step for a focus keyword, you should think about ways to improve the content of the page.
- Think about how to make your content: more up-to-date, specific, engaging, visually appealing
- Secondary keywords are keywords you rank for even though you did not optimize for them at all
Identify articles competing for the same keyword
Use the Query variable from the filter at the top
- Enter your focus keyword into the input field
- Click on the Pages tab below the graph
- This will show you all your pages that rank for this keyword
Manual Actions report
If a manual penalty has been applied to your site by a Google employee, then the penalty will appear in this tab.
- It is crucial to resolve any manual link penalty if you want to avoid SEO problems
- By default, it will show No issues detected.
Structured data report
For structured data to appear on Google, the search engine needs to understand the code you use
- Issues with structured data will appear on the Structured Data Report
- A good resource for reviewing and fixing issues is Google’s structured data testing tool
Users, owners and permissions
There are three different permissions levels in the Search Console: Owners, Full Users, and Restricted Users
- To add a full or restricted user, follow these instructions: Press Settings, then Users and Permissions
- Hit the Add User button
- Enter the email address of the person you want to add
- Choose the level of access you want
- Press the three dots beside the current site owner
Overview
This is the first page that loads when you access Search Console. The dashboard contains a snapshot of key information about your site.
- From this dashboard you can see: Site performance report, Site coverage report, Coverage report, Enhancements report, Manual actions report, and a manual penalty report.
3 quick tips to get more organic traffic with the Performance report
Use the Performance Report to improve your SEO and gain access to new customers
How to setup Google Search Console
Go to its welcome page and log in with your Google credentials.
- After signing up, you will be asked to enter your web address in one of two boxes: Domain Property or URL Prefix Property
- Domain Property: You’ll get the information on how your whole website is performing on Google, including all the URLs, subdomains, and web protocols
- You can also use this option if you only want to cover an exact URL format
Legacy tools and reports
Some features from the old Search Console
Ownership verification
If you selected the Domain Property, you’ll need to verify the ownership via the DNS record.
- Steps to follow: Go to your domain’s DNS record settings
- Add a new DNS record and paste the code that appeared in the Search Console
- Go back to GCS and click on “Verify”
- Verification with an HTML tag
- One of the most popular ways is to use the HTML tag and copy the code into the section of your site.
Coverage report
Shows the total number of pages that appear in the search results
- If everything is green then things are good
- Red box where problem pages are displayed
- Sort issues by status, type, validation, and pages
- Keep on top of these issues and resolve them quickly
Sitemaps
An XML document that outlines how your website is structured.
- Helps Google crawlers navigate your site and find and index your content quickly
- Tell Search Console where your sitemap is located on your site by entering the URL.
- An extra benefit is that you’ll be alerted of any issues.
Find pages that need CTR optimization
The pages with low click-through rates are low-hanging fruit that can be optimized by making small changes.
- Here are some quick tips on how to improve the CTR: write an appealing title tag with optimal length
- improve the meta description of the page
- add structured data
Performance report
Shows how your website, and pages on your site, are performing in the search results
- There are 3 main sections you can adjust or click on to show the data you need
- Top filter
- 4 main metrics data tabs
- Filter selectors that enable you to add variables
- Search: filter results by web, image, or video
- Date: filter the results by date range
- Query: filter by specific keywords, or even exclude keywords
- Page: select a page that you want to focus on
- Country: filter search results by country
- Device: filter query results by the device used
- search appearance: Filter by looking at Rich Results and other variables
Mobile usability report
Assesses how your site works on mobile
AMP report
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are stripped-down versions of a page that are optimized for mobile use
- You can add AMP to your website using a plugin
- When implemented, people on a mobile phone will access an AMP version of your site from Google
- This may help your content to rank higher in the SERP
Links report
Through the links report, you can view the backlinks pointing to your website.
- The report is a great starting point to find: which pages of your website have the most links, what websites link to you the most, what are the most common anchor texts, etc.
