Search Console: how Google sees your site

01

What it is, and how it differs from Analytics

Google Analytics tells you what visitors do once they arrive on your site. Search Console tells you what happens before they arrive: the searches where your site appeared, how many times it was shown, how many people clicked and your average position. It also reports technical problems that stop Google from showing your pages.

Both are free, and they work best together.

02

Setting it up

Sign in with your business Google account and add your website as a property. The domain property option covers every version of your site (with and without www, http and https), and is verified by adding a record to your domain's DNS settings. Your web designer or domain provider can do this in a few minutes.

Make sure the account is yours. If a designer set it up under their own account, ask them to add you as an owner.

Submit your sitemap (usually yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) once it is set up. It helps Google find all your pages.

03

Report 1: Performance

The performance report shows the search queries that brought up your site, with impressions (how often you appeared), clicks, click-through rate and average position. It is the most useful report for a small business. You see the exact words customers use, which pages answer them, and where you are close to page one.

Look for queries with many impressions but few clicks. Often, a clearer page title and description is all that is needed to win more of those clicks.

04

Report 2: Pages (indexing)

This report shows which pages Google has indexed and which it has not, with reasons. Some exclusions are normal, such as redirects or duplicate versions. But if important pages like your services or contact page are not indexed, they cannot appear in search. Common reasons include a "noindex" tag left on by mistake, pages Google has found but not yet crawled, or thin duplicate content.

05

Report 3: Core Web Vitals and mobile

These reports flag pages that are slow or have layout problems on mobile. They group issues by type, so you can see whether one problem, such as large images, affects many pages. Fixing them improves the experience for visitors and can help search performance.

06

Report 4: Security and manual actions

Rarely used, but critical when it matters. If your site is hacked, or Google applies a manual penalty for spam, it appears here. A hacked WordPress site can show spam pages in search results for weeks before the owner notices. Search Console often catches it first and emails you.

07

When Search Console emails you

Google sends emails about new issues: pages not indexed, mobile problems, security issues. Not every email is urgent. Indexing notices about a few unimportant pages can wait. Security and manual action emails need immediate attention. If you are unsure, forward the email to your web designer and ask what it means for your site specifically.

Ten minutes a month

Once a month, check the performance report for the last three months compared with the previous three, look at the top queries and pages, and glance at the indexing and security reports for new problems. That is enough for most small business websites.

Search Console shows you the words customers type before they find you.

Those words are also a goldmine for content. If people find you by searching a question your site barely answers, a clear page or blog post answering it properly is an easy win.

What is Google Search Console used for?

It shows how your website appears in Google search: which queries show your pages, how often people click, which pages are indexed and any technical or security problems Google finds.

Is Google Search Console free?

Yes. It is free for any website owner. You verify ownership of your site and Google shares the data.

How long does Search Console take to show data?

Data usually starts appearing within a few days of verification. The performance report builds up over time, so check trends after a few weeks.