For both beginners and experienced marketers alike, one of the most popular ways to improve SEO is to use Google Search Console.
What exactly is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console (GSC) is an online platform, provided by Google, that’s designed to help users assess and optimise their website’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Like Google Analytics, it’s a free service and includes a number of valuable tools that can provide insights into how a website is ranking. It also offers recommendations for making improvements, as well as guides to troubleshoot common SEO issues.
Google Search Console is a user-friendly tool that can be used by business owners and website owners who have only basic SEO skills. Yet, there are also more advanced ways to mine valuable insights from the GSC data, which makes it a favourite resource for SEO experts and marketers too.
So Why is Google Search Console Important for SEO?
Google Search Console is important for SEO because it gives website owners a wealth of data that can help to improve the site’s rankings in the Google search results. These improved rankings can be pivotal for effective online marketing, increased organic traffic, and business success.
One of the most valuable features of Google Search Console is that it allows for long-term monitoring of your organic search traffic, so that patterns and trends that occur over time can be assessed and evaluated. SEO is a long-term game, so this access to data from extended periods can provide priceless insights into what’s working well and where there are opportunities for improvement.
Being able to review which posts or pages are ranking, as well as the specific keywords or phrases that they’re ranking for, is vital for making informed decisions about future optimisation and content creation.
Another key advantage of having access to Google Search is the trouble-shooting resources. Google has provided a wealth of information, tips, and solutions for fixing any issues that may be adversely affecting a site’s ranking positions. These helpful guides also provide useful information about how SEO works, as well as Google’s preferred practices. Understanding the basics of how websites are ranked by Google can be pivotal in planning future optimisation goals and allocating resources to SEO marketing.
By regularly using Google Search Console, it’s possible to learn more about what works in SEO, fix any technical issues that occur, monitor past results and assess patterns, and look for new opportunities to help your website perform more effectively online.
Using Google Search Console to Improve SEO
Here are seven easy ways you can get started with Google Search Console data and tools and begin seeing improvements to your website’s rankings online.
Setting Up Your Google Search Console Account
The first step in accessing the benefits of Google Search Console is to set up an account for your business. This can only be done by the owner of the site, or someone who is granted access, such as an SEO agent or web developer. While there are a few technical steps involved in setting up a GSC profile for your website, there are some online guides to help you through the process. The required verification steps ensure that only the website owner (or agent) can set up GSC and access the insights and data.
Adding a Sitemap
Sitemaps are a key aspect of SEO, as they provide important information to search engines regarding what your site is about, how it is structured, and who it is for. In Google Search Console, you can submit the sitemap for your website, so that Google has a clear reference of the content and hierarchy of your site – which can be key to making sure all pages are indexed, rather than just relying on the search engine crawling your internal links. You can also monitor your sitemap data, which enables you to check that relevant pages are being crawled and indexed, as well as checking for any technical issues that may impact your SEO and rankings.
Checking Top Performing Search Queries
One of the most valuable features of the Google Search Console interface is that you can access information about how online users are finding your website by viewing your site’s search performance. By reviewing the Queries tab in the Performance / Search Results section, you can see at a glance the most popular keywords and phrases that your site is ranking for. There is also a visual representation of how your search traffic has changed over time, and this can be adjusted to reflect Clicks, Impressions, Click-Through-Rate (CTR) and Average Position. This is priceless information for optimising pages and assessing results.
Checking Top Performing Pages
Another valuable area within the Performance/Search Results section is the Pages tab. This data reveals which pages on your website are performing the best, in terms of search engine rankings and traffic. Again, this data can be filtered by Clicks, Impressions, Click-Through-Rate (CTR) and Average Position, depending on which metrics you need for your assessments. It’s also possible to click on each of these top-performing pages to access page-specific insights, such as which keywords the page is ranking for.
Identifying New Keyword Opportunities
When you can access the data about your website’s rankings, it’s possible to identify new keyword opportunities that you may not have previously considered. For example, one of your top blog posts may be targeting a specific keyword, yet Google may be ranking it for something else. If this alternative keyword is relevant for your business, you may see improved rankings by optimising the page for the new keyword instead. This new keyword has the advantage that it’s already ranking and Google has already ascertained that your site is a good resource for this topic.
Checking & Indexing URLs
If you want the pages of your site to rank well they need to be properly indexed. Google Search Console provides clear information about which site pages are indexed, along with recommendations for any pages that have failed to be indexed. Being able to check individual pages using the URL inspection tool and request indexing of the pages you want to rank in Google’s search results is crucial for good SEO and a great feature of GSC.
Finding & Fixing Search Issues
Google Search Console provides insights about any potential indexing issues and technical issues that could be affecting your site’s performance against Google’s Core Web Vitals, as well as guides and tips for resolving these problems. By regularly checking into your GSC portal, you’ll be able to monitor the effectiveness of your site, identify any issues, and fix them so that the pages are indexed appropriately.
Google Search Console is a free service that’s available to any website owner, and there are many advantages to setting up a profile. As such, it’s a highly recommended step for any marketer or business owner looking to reach customers or clients online. Now that you have a basic overview of how it works and how it can benefit your business, you can begin accessing the valuable data and insights that will uplevel your SEO and improve those all-important online rankings.