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What is Google Search Console?

3 min to read

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool that allows you to monitor the performance of your website in the Google search results.

It is similar to having direct contact with Google, as it allows you to see what Google knows about your site and how users find it.

This is a crucial tool since the high ranking in the search results fetches more traffic to your website and allows you to reach potential customers.

Key Takeaways:
  • Use Google Search Console to identify and resolve technical problems affecting your web performance
  • Track search traffic and keyword rankings to gain insights into SEO performance
  • Make sure that your website pages are accessible and are indexed by Google
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What is Google Search Console?

What is the use of Google Search Console in SEO?

GSC includes:

  • Tools and data that provide insights into the impact of your website on search results;

  • Tools to troubleshoot technical difficulties;

  • Measures that ensure Google is capable of discovering and indexing your material. 

GSC allows you to enhance the number of people who visit your site organically. It offers you the information necessary for making changes to your website so that it has a higher rating and visibility when users search for something.

Pro Tip:
Configure your Google Search Console settings so that you receive email notifications in the event there are any major alterations in your site’s performance or any crawl errors that exist.

What is the range of Google Search Console features?

GSC features include:

  • Tools to analyze your search traffic;

  • Tools to inspect individual URLs;

  • Monitor indexing;

  • Submit sitemaps. 

The mentioned features usually give a holistic view of the interaction of your site with Google Search.

What does Google Search Console do to help businesses with issues in their coverage report?

The coverage report in GSC allows organizations to identify and resolve issues with indexing that might keep web pages from being included in search results. The report finds issues like broken links or pages blocked by robots.txt and directs you to do the necessary work to enhance your website’s effectiveness. Rectifying indexing issues enhances Google’s ability to identify key pages on your website, potentially impacting their inclusion in search results.

Pro Tip: 
Supervise the ‘Excluded’ tab in the Coverage report carefully to understand why some pages might be taken out of the index and fix any technical problems at the root of the issue.

What steps do you take to improve your website’s mobile usability in Google Search Console?

The Mobile Usability report in GSC helps identify mobile performance issues on the website, including small font sizes or closely spaced elements that may need addressing. After making the necessary changes on the website, examine it again in the GSC using the “Validate Fix” button and verify the new results.

Pro Tip:
A mobile-friendly site is important for reaching the top of search engine rankings as Google favors sites that provide a pleasant experience regardless of the device used.

How do I set up Google Search Console?

Here are the necessary steps to set up your GSC: 

  1. Go to the Google Search Console website;
  2. Sign in with your Google account;
  3. Add your website;
  4. Verify ownership.

The process of site verification validates that you have ownership to the website in question and gives you access to the website’s data via GSC.

Pro Tip: 
For efficient and organized management, make sure you have included all the websites you want to have the analytics of.

Conclusion 

Google Search Console is a free tool that provides insights into how Google views your website. GSC allows you to understand and fix technical issues on your site, keep track of your website’s search traffic, and check if your website’s is readily accessible to search engines and indexed. In the end, knowing how to use Google Search Console tools correctly allows you to boost your website’s presence online and reach more visitors which are essential objectives of SEO.

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