There are many different tools to track your website's performance. Google Search Console (GSC) is one of them. We explain how to sign up for GSC and what you can do with it.
What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is a tool to track the performance of your website. You can do this with Google Analytics, but GSC is also an option. You can use the tool for free. With GSC you can view all kinds of data about your website. We will explain more about important parts in Google Search Console:
Performance
When you click on performance, you will see data such as the total number of clicks and impressions, the average CTR (click-through rate), and the average position of your website. The click-through rate is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click. The average position shows where your website is on average in the search results.
You can also see what the searches were for your website, which pages visitors land on, which devices people use to search and more information about users.
URL Inspection
In this aspect you can specify a specific URL. You will then see whether that page is indexed or not. If it is not yet? Then you can request indexing.
Indexing
- Pages
In this section you can see exactly which pages are indexed and which are not. You can also see the reason why the indexation was not successful. Think of pages with a 404 message or with a redirect.
- Sitemap
A sitemap provides a clear overview of all internal links on your website.
- Deletions
Here you can specify URLs that you do not want to show in search results. Think of old pages or sample pages. When you submit a new request for a removal, the page will be blocked for about six months. You can always remove the removal, and the page will appear in search results again.
Functionality
- Page functionality
Here you will find an overview of the user experience of website visitors. This functionality applies per URL. It is possible that there is no data available for your website, because it is only just in GSC or that there is insufficient data for GSC to provide an overview.
- Site Vitality
This report tells you how your pages are performing based on real-world data. Again, sometimes there is not enough data for GCS to provide an overview.
- Mobile usability
This section shows whether pages are usable on mobile. If not, why.
Links
Here you can see which external links refer to your website. This way you can see which websites link to your site and what the anchor text is for that. You can also find your internal links. The most important pages should of course have the most links. This way Google also understands which pages have the most priority.
What are the benefits of GSC?
After explaining the components of Google Search Console, we would like to tell you why the tool is so useful. It helps you with the findability of your website:
1. You can check the findability of your website in Google search results
This way you know which pages visitors come to your website via organic traffic. This can give you valuable insights. You know which pages you should focus on, where important keywords should be included and where the most important information for your visitors should be. You will learn more about your website visitors: for example, what their search query was or which page they ended up on. You will also see which websites refer to your site, and what the internal link structure is like.
2. You can solve discoverability issues
You will receive explanations in Google Search Console about problems with your website. You will find technical errors in the findability of pages. You can also request indexing for new pages, for example.
3. You will receive notifications about new errors
When you enable this option, Google Search Console will notify you when a new error is discovered. You can adjust this in the user settings, under email preferences.
Google Search Console Set up for your website: how do you do that?
Step 1 is to log in with your Google account Google Search Console go. There you enter the URL of your website.
You need to verify your website for Google Search Console. You can choose from different verification methods (when you choose 'URL prefix'). For each verification method, you can read what you need to do exactly:
- HTML file
- HTML tag
- Google Analytics
- Google Tag Manager
- Domain name provider
When the verification is successful, you will have immediate access to the data for your website. Now you can start optimizing the findability of your site. You can do it yourself, but if you don't know how or you don't have much time for it, we will gladly do it for you!
