Setting up Google Search Console: step by step guide
As a senior web developer with expertise in optimizing website performance, I specialize in creating fast, responsive and engaging websites.
Senior web developer
If you have a website, it's essential to know how to check and improve your search performance. An important tool for this is Google Search Console. In this guide, we'll show you how to set up Google Search Console and how to use it to improve your search performance.
Contents
What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that allows you to check and optimize your website for search engines. With this tool, you can see which search terms people are using to find your site, how much traffic you're getting from search engines, and whether there are any technical issues with your site that are affecting your search performance.
Setting up Google Search Console in 3 steps
To use Google Search Console, you'll need to set it up first. This is an easy process and can be done in just a few steps.
Sign in to Google Search Console
Go to Google Search Console and sign in with your Google account.
Add your website
Enter your website's address in the "Domain" field and click the "Continue" button. Make sure to check your website's address by visiting it. The address with or without "www" is considered a different URL. Some websites have a main address with "www", while others don't.
Verify domain ownership in Google Search Console
Verify your domain ownership by adding a DNS record. You can do this through your domain name's management site or ask your website administrator for help. Once your ownership is confirmed, you can start using Google Search Console.
How to use Google Search Console?
Now that Google Search Console is set up, you can use it to check and improve your search performance. Below are some important features of the tool.
Performance
In the "Performance" section, you can see how much traffic you're getting from Google, which search terms people are using to find your site, and how many clicks you're getting for each keyword. This information can help you understand which pages are popular and which search terms you should focus on to improve your search performance.
Pages
In the "Pages" section, you can see which pages are indexed and whether there are any technical issues with your site that may be affecting your search performance. These issues may include certain pages not being found or problems with your site's internal links. By fixing these issues, you can ensure that search engines can crawl and index your site better.
Sitemap
You can also add a sitemap using Google Search Console. This is a file that lists all the addresses of your website pages so that search engines can easily find and index them. By adding a sitemap, you can ensure that search engines can find your site faster and better.
Conclusion
By checking Google Search Console, you can stay in control of how your website performs in search engines. You can solve problems, discover search terms, and add a sitemap for better indexing. It's a powerful SEO tool!