What is Google Search Console? Why do you need it?
Google Search Console is an official tool and service provided by Google to check your performance in Google search results. It’s a waste not to use it because it’s free.
Google Search Console is a powerful tool for influencing website conversions. You can check Google’s accurate data such as the number of times a website page is displayed, the number of clicks, etc., and it can also help you find future issues and problems for your business.
This page explains how to use Google Search Console and what to look for in an easy-to-understand way for beginners. It is okay if beginners do not understand now. First, get into the habit of looking at Google Search Console and get used to it little by little.
What data can you see in Google Search Console?
Examples of data that can be viewed in Google Search Console
- Number of times the search result is displayed
- Number of clicks
- Click rate
- Average listing position
- Search queries (keyword searches) etc.
Useful features of Google Search Console
- URL inspection
- Submit sitemap
- Removal of content from search results
- Evaluation of page experience (Core Web Vitals / SSL for enhanced security / mobile-friendly usability, etc.)
- Check for manual penalties
- Checking of Backlinks etc.
What should you check in Google Search Console?
Google Search Console “Performance”
↑The image above is the actual Google Search Console screen. The part you see most often is the ”Performance” section on the left.
①[Total clicks]: Number of clicks on search results
②[Total impressions]: Number of times displayed (including those not clicked)
③[Average CTR]: Click-through rate / The percentage of clicks out of those displayed.
④[Average position]: It’s called search rankings; how high up in the Google search results you are listed.
In the “Performance” section, you should check to see if the number of views and clicks is increasing.
If the number of views and clicks is not increasing, it means that the site is not being evaluated or indexed by Google, so it must be indexed.
Check to see if the number of views and clicks is increasing over a period of several months.
QUERIES
↑In the “Performance” section, scroll down and you will see the query “Website is searched for these queries”.
⑤QUERIES: You can see how much these queries are viewed on the site (IMPRESSIONS) and how many Google search results are available (Average Position). This fluctuates on a daily basis.
Sometimes you may find keywords that are not the ones you were targeting. In this case, the keywords that appear in the query are what the user is looking for, so changing the keywords in the website and rewriting the text will improve the usability of the website.
⑥PAGES: You can check the queries, rankings and etc, on each page of the website.
Google Search Console “URL Inspection”
↑In the “URL Inspection” section, you can enter the URL of the page you want to check on the website to ⑦ and see the status of that page.
The area that appears in red is an error and should be corrected.
After correcting the page, submit a request to Google using “REQUEST INDEXING” to be indexed with priority and have Google come around more easily.
Google Search Console ”indexing”
The “Indexing” section will appear in red if an error occurs, so check it often.
Use “Removals” if you have a page indexed by Google but want to remove it immediately; if it is a Word Press site, you can also change the page from “Public” to “Private” to prevent it from being displayed.
Google Search Console ”Experience”
↑This is where Google determines if the website is comfortable for the user.
Example…
- Is the security HTTPS (SSL)?
- Is the page loading time (LCP / Largest Contentful Paint) optimal?
- How long does it take for the user to be able to interact with the site? (FID / First Input Delay)
- How long did it take for the layout to become usable?(FID / First Input Delay)
- How many layout deviations and display corruption occurred? (CLS / Cumulative Layout Shift)
Core Web Vitals, etc. can be checked.
Errors, if any, are indicated in red and can be corrected. Correcting them according to Google’s evaluation is an efficient SEO strategy.
Google Search Console ”Security & Manual actions”
Sometimes a Google person (not automatically) manually and visually penalizes a site.
In such cases, the manual penalty is listed in the “Manual actions” section. When a site receives a manual penalty, the rankings that had been rising may drop.
Conversely, if your website’s ranking suddenly drops, you can find hints for improvement by checking the “Manual actions” section here.
Incidentally, Google also has “automatic” penalties due to its algorithm, but in the case of automatic penalties, it is not possible to check.
What to look for in Google Search Console？
Now that you know what Google Search Console does, what should you really look at and think about?
“Performance”
“PERFORMANCE” section to see if the number of views and clicks are increasing properly over a period of months.
“QUERIES”
Check the “Queries” section to see what queries are coming to your website. Check to see if you are using well-targeted keywords.
In addition to that, check to see if there are any queries that have not come up before. You may find a new market by noticing keywords you were not aware of.
If you ask “search ranking check tools” to the browser, you and found that there are some other tools besides Google Search Console that can be used to check website rankings.
How to Register for Google Search Console
3 Steps to Google Search Console Registration
① Create a Google account
② Register with Google Search Console
③ Verify ownership
① In here, we will skip the Google account registration procedure.
② Register with Google Search Console
https://search.google.com/search-console/about
↑Click “Start now” on this Google Search Console link
↑Either “Domain” or “URL prefix” can be used, but here we choose “URL prefix” and enter the URL of the site you wish to register.
↑Verify ownership to see if you really own this site. Copy the HTML tag that appears in the red frame section and paste it into your website.
Leave this screen and paste the copied code just before the </head> tag in the HTML code of your website.
…but
It is difficult for beginners to modify the code directly, so I will show you how to set it up, which can be done using a WordPress plugin.
【Use Word Press Plug-in for setting Google Search Console】
Here we will set up Google Search Console on your website using the WordPress plugin “All in One SEO”.
Install and activate the WordPress plugin “All in One SEO” if it is not already installed.
Open the WordPress admin page.
Select Ⓑ”General Settings” from the Ⓐ”All in One SEO” section to display the General Settings screen.
Press the Ⓒ”Webmaster Tools”, and click Ⓓ”Google Search Console” to open the Ⓔ”Google Verification Code” entry field.
Paste the code you copied from the Google Search Console screen into the Ⓔ”Google Verification Code” entry field.
③ Verify ownership
Return to the screen above in Google Search Console and click the ”Verify” button to complete the process, which will display “Ownership Verified”.
Google Search Console is necessary for website management
Google Search Console is very useful to see if your website is running smoothly and looking for areas for improvement.
Please get used to it little by little and do your best to manage your website well.
