GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
Google Search Console or GSC was known as Google Webmaster's tools in its initial form. It is a free service offered by Google.
Google Search Console tells you everything you want to know about your website and the people that visit it daily.
Here's the definition of GSC by Google: "Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps you, monitor, and maintain your site's presence in Google's search results. You don't have to sign up for your site to be included in Google's search results, but doing so can help you understand how Google views your site and optimize its performance in search results".
Adding and verifying a site in GSC
New users should add and verify the site(s) before doing anything else.
Adding a site in GSC :
- Create an account in the GSC, and log in.
- Enter the URL of the website you want to add in the "Add Property" box.
Verifying a site in GSC:
There are a few different methods through which you can verify your site.
- Adding an HTML tag: Google gives you a simple HTML file. You can copy the code and paste it within the head section of the HTML page of your website. Once this is done, you can go back to the search console and click verify.
- Uploading an HTML file: Google gives you an HTML file. You can upload the HTML file on the root directory of your website. After uploading, go back to the search console and click verify.
- Via Domain Name Provider: Domain Name provider is the company from where you bought your domain, or where your website is hosted. This is a good option if you own a large website because this shows Google that you own the main domain, and subdomains and the subdirectories as well. You will be asked to create DNS TXT record for your provider to get it verified.
- Adding Google Analytics Code: If you already use GA for your site, this is the best method. You need to make sure in the HTML that the GA tracking code is placed within the head section of your homepage's code. If all these conditions are satisfied you can easily verify your site.
- Using Google Tag Manager: If you already use GTM for your site, this must be the easiest method to verify your site. You need to make sure that the GTM code is placed immediately after your site's body tag. If all these conditions are satisfied you can easily verify your site.
Google Search Console Reports
Google Search Console provides a set of statics that help webmasters analyze the overall performance of their website in the Google Search Engine. Let's dive a little deep into the features of Google Search Console.
1.Performance Report
This is one of the most important and useful tools provided by Google Search Console. It shows a statistic report that shows the number of clicks, impressions, the average click-through rates, and the position of the website over a particular time interval.
Also, you have the option to look at the data from a maximum of the last 16 months. Google Search Console even provides you the choice to compare the results over different time periods.
You can also compare how your website performs for certain queries, how your pages perform for them, and the overall number of clicks, impressions, click-through rates, and average position
Top Pages & Top Search Queries
You can see the top pages on your website and the top search queries that is getting the most traffic from. This can help you analyze the performance of your keywords and can guide you through your content marketing strategies.
Average CTR
The Click-through rate is the ratio of the number of clicks per impressions on a page. You can view the CTR of the pages with the largest no.of impressions and you can adopt similar content strategies for other sites with lower CTR.Average Position for Pages
This is an opportunity to know the average position of your pages in the Google search engine results page. Normally, Higher the average position of your page in the SERP the lower will be your click through rates.
2. URL Inspection
This tool helps you to know if your page is able to be indexed in Google, and request the search engine to crawl the page. It also helps in retrieving the information about Google's indexed version of your page.
It is very important to rectify any errors or coverage issues that are noted here to maintain your website reach.
3. Indexing- Coverage & Sitemaps'
The index represents the coverage of your website in the Google search results, you can make sure to submit your website in the Google.
Coverage
It is important to fix any coverage issues detected in your website as soon as possible. Also make sure that the no.of valid pages are increasing as you keep on adding content to the website.
Sitemap
By placing a formatted XML file with a sitemap on your web server, you enable the crawlers to find out what pages are present, and which have recently changed, and to crawl your site accordingly.
After creating a sitemap you can add it in the search console and submit it. This keeps your website up-to-date in search results without errors.
4. Enhancements
This section in the Google Search Console shows any type of enhancements that were found on your website when it was crawled the last time by the bots. If no enhancements were made, this section will be empty.
Mobile Usability
This section shows any kind of mobile usability issues detected on your website.
You can see information about any rich result types (structured data) found on the page. This includes the number of valid items found on the URL, descriptions of each item, and details about any warnings or errors found.
5. Security And Manual Actions
This section in the Google Search Console shows any kind of security issues associate with your website. Google can tell you what to fix, identify hacks, detect flaws, and will send you an email when these issues pop up.
6. Links
This shows up all the types of external and internal sites linking to your website. This helps to analyze the backlinks of your website. You get a clear idea about the sites linking to your website, how your internal links are performing etc.
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