Google Search Console is Google's free tool for website owners. It shows which searches display your site on Google, how many people click, which pages are indexed and which technical errors Google has found. The tool used to be called Google Webmaster Tools, and many people still use that name.
Search Console shows data you cannot get anywhere else, because it comes straight from Google. Analytics tools such as Google Analytics show what visitors do on the site. Search Console shows what happens before they click.
Getting started: add and verify your site
Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with a Google account. Ideally use an account that belongs to the business rather than an individual employee, so that access remains if someone leaves.
Domain property or URL prefix
When you add the site you choose between two types of property.
- Domain property covers the whole domain: all subdomains (www, blog, shop) and both http and https. It requires verification via DNS.
- URL prefix covers only addresses that start with exactly the prefix you enter, for example https://www.yourdomain.com/. More verification methods are available here.
For most businesses the domain property is the right choice. You get the full picture in one view and do not miss traffic that lands on another version of the address.
Verify with DNS, an HTML tag or an HTML file
Verification proves to Google that you control the site.
- DNS record: Search Console gives you a TXT record to add with whoever manages your domain, often the domain registrar or web host. This is the only method for domain properties. It can take a while before the record shows up, so wait and try again if verification fails the first time.
- HTML tag: a meta tag placed in the page's head. Works for URL prefix.
- HTML file: a file uploaded to the site's root directory. Works for URL prefix.
You can also verify via Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager if they are already installed with the same account. Leave the verification in place afterwards. If you remove the DNS record or the tag, you lose access.
If more people need access to the data, for example your web agency, add them under the users and permissions settings. Do not share your own login.
Submit your sitemap
An XML sitemap is a list of the pages you want Google to know about. Open the Sitemaps report, enter the address (usually yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) and submit. Search Console then shows whether the file could be read and how many addresses Google found in it.
What should go in the sitemap, and what should not, is covered in our guide to robots.txt and sitemaps.
Performance: clicks, impressions, CTR and position
The Performance report is the one you will use most. It shows how the site performs in Google's search results using four metrics.
- Clicks: how many times someone clicked through to your site from Google.
- Impressions: how many times a link to your site was shown in the search results.
- CTR: click-through rate, meaning clicks divided by impressions.
- Average position: where your pages ranked on average in the results for the searches where they appeared.
Below the charts you can break the data down by queries, pages, countries, devices and dates. The queries tab shows exactly what people typed when they found you, which is a good starting point for keyword research.
Bear in mind that average position is an average across many searches. A page that ranks first for one search and fiftieth for another gets an average that matches neither. So look at position per query and page rather than at the site's overall average.
Want to be more visible on Google? Read about SEO →
Page indexing: which pages are on Google
The Pages report, under the Indexing heading, shows how many of the site's pages are indexed and why the others are not. Click each reason to see which addresses are affected.
A page not being indexed is not always an error. Old addresses that redirect, filter pages and pages you have deliberately hidden should not be in the index. The problem arises when a page you want to be visible with ends up here.
Common statuses and what they mean
- Discovered – currently not indexed: Google knows about the address but has not crawled it yet. Common on new sites and sites with many pages. Strong internal links to the page help.
- Crawled – currently not indexed: Google has read the page but chosen not to include it. This often points to thin content, near-duplicates of other pages or pages without a clear purpose. Improve the content or merge the page with another.
- Page with redirect: the address forwards to another one. This is normal for old addresses. Check that your sitemap and internal links point to the final address and not to the redirect.
- Excluded by 'noindex' tag: the page has a noindex instruction. Right for thank-you pages, for example, wrong for service pages. If you find important pages here, it is often a setting left over from development.
Other statuses you may come across are blocked by robots.txt, not found (404) and duplicates where Google has chosen a different canonical address than you did. More on the causes in our guide to technical SEO.
URL Inspection and requesting indexing
At the top of Search Console there is a search field where you paste an address from your site. URL Inspection shows whether the page is in Google's index, when it was last crawled and which canonical address Google has chosen.
The button to test the live URL makes Google fetch the page again and show what it looks like right now. That is useful when you have fixed an error and want to see that the fix is visible to Google.
If you have published a new page or changed an important one, you can click Request indexing. The page is then queued for crawling. There is a daily limit on how many requests you can make, and the button does not guarantee that the page gets indexed. Use it for individual important pages. For many pages at once, an updated sitemap is the right tool.
The Core Web Vitals report
The Core Web Vitals report is based on measurements from real Chrome users and sorts the site's addresses into good, needs improvement and poor, separately for mobile and desktop. The metrics are LCP (loading), INP (response time when clicking) and CLS (how much the content jumps around).
The report groups similar pages, so a problem in a page template often shows up as many addresses at once. If the site has little traffic the report may be empty because there is not enough measurement data. In that case, use PageSpeed Insights for individual pages.
Find queries with many impressions but low CTR
This is one of the most practical ways to use Search Console. You look for searches where you already appear but few people click.
- Open Performance and select the last three months.
- Turn on all four metrics: clicks, impressions, CTR and position.
- Go to the queries tab and sort by impressions.
- Look for rows with many impressions, low CTR and a position on the first page.
- Click the query and switch to the pages tab to see which page is shown.
If the page ranks high but few people click, start with the title and meta description. Do they answer what the person searched for? Do they mention the service and the town? Also check that the page's content matches the search. If a blog article appears for a search where people want to buy a service, a service page may be the better answer.
If the page is in position 8 to 20, it is often the content and internal links that need strengthening, since CTR is naturally low further down. More on how keywords, content and ranking fit together in what SEO is.
More reports worth knowing about
- Links: which external sites link to you and how your pages link to each other.
- Manual actions: shows whether Google has penalised the site for breaking its guidelines. It should be empty.
- Security issues: warns if Google has detected, for example, hacked content or malicious code.
- Removals: temporarily hides an address from the search results. Permanent removal requires noindex or deleting the page.
Log in once a month and go through Performance and Pages. Search Console also sends email when new errors appear, so make sure those messages go to an address someone reads.
Want help?
Solva sets up Search Console, goes through the reports and fixes the errors that stop pages from being indexed. If you want to know where your site stands today, you can start with a free SEO audit, or read more about how we work with SEO.
Frequently asked questions
What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that shows how your website appears in the search results. You see which searches bring impressions and clicks, which pages are indexed and which technical problems Google has found.
Is Search Console the same as Webmaster Tools?
Yes. Google Webmaster Tools was renamed Google Search Console in 2015. The tool has been expanded since then, but the core function is the same.
Should I choose a domain property or a URL prefix?
Choose a domain property if you can add a DNS record with your domain provider. It brings all subdomains and both http and https together in one view. URL prefix is an alternative if you cannot access the DNS settings, as it can be verified with an HTML tag or HTML file.
What does "Crawled – currently not indexed" mean?
Google has visited and read the page but chosen not to include it in the index. Common causes are thin content or the page being too similar to other pages. Improve the content, link to the page internally and request indexing via URL Inspection.
Does Google Search Console cost anything?
No, Search Console is free. All you need is a Google account and a way to verify that you own or control the website.
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