What is Google Search Console - The Overview Part 1
Time to Read: 3m 35s
According to Google Webmasters, Google Search Console is “a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google search results….and helps you understand and improve how Google sees your site.”
Google Search Console is an excellent and insightful tool for search engine optimization. It is literally information from Google specific to your website. Google is constantly changing and developing a more sophisticated algorithm for search engine optimization to keep things on a level playing field. So why not take full advantage of the information Google is providing for your website.
In this blog, we will cover the overview section, including what these section metrics mean and how to effectively use them for SEO.
Google Search Console and the Various Tools to Effectively Use It
There are many tools and metrics within Google Search Console that provide detailed insights that help with the optimization of your website. As Google is continuously evolving as a search engine, that means your website is too, so it’s imperative to make sure your website is keeping up. Below we will break down what the various tools and metrics are in Google Search Console and how to use them.
Overview – Google Search Console
This section serves as an overview of your entire Google Search Console account. Within the Overview section you will find the following sections:
- Performance
- Coverage
- Enhancements
Performance – Google Search Console
This metric shows the overall performance of a website, including which pages and keywords are ranking. The performance section allows you to view data from the previous 16 months and compare specific time frames to analyze growth or decline.
Within the Performance section, there are four categories (Google Analytics Help):
- Total Clicks: Clicks that occurred within the Google search results
- Total Impressions: When a page/link appears in a Google search result for a user
- Average Click Through Rate (CTR): Click/Impressions for Google search clicks
- Average Position: Average position ranking for Google search results
Below the four performance categories exists another row with the following categories for further analysis (Google Analytics Help):
- Queries: Lists the Google Search queries that had impressions of your website URL’s in Google organic search results
- Pages: Lists the breakdown of impressions and clicks for pages within your website
- Countries: Lets you see which countries produce the best search performance and user engagement for your landing pages on your website
- Devices: Lets you see which category of devices (desktop, tablet or mobile) delivers the best search performance and user engagement for your website
- Search Appearance: Lets you see how your site may appear in search and learn more about the content or structure changes needed to influence the various elements, such as title, snippet, and URL
- Dates: A breakdown of clicks and impressions for specific dates
URL Inspection – Google Search Console
The URL Inspection tool is personally one of my favorite capabilities within Google Search Console. This tool allows you to inspect any URL on your website and analyze metrics specific to the page.
In the screenshot above, Request Indexing (#1) allows you to request indexing of this page. If any changes occurred on this page, such as new copy content or technical optimization, this is a great tool to let Google know the page has changed and to recrawl it.
Test Live URL (#2) is a great tool to test a specific page in real-time. For example, if you just made changes to the page this is a great way to ensure that everything appears as it should from Google’s perspective.
The URL Inspection tool also provides further insights through the enhancements section. In the screenshot above, you will see that the page is mobile-friendly, has detected breadcrumbs, and a logo has been detected.
Google Search Console for Search Engine Optimization
Google Search Console is a powerful and insightful tool to utilize when it comes to search engine optimization. The data that is compiled here is coming directly from Google, so it’s imperative to pay close attention to it to ensure you’re effectively managing your website.
Contact Ecreative
Our ECW team provides comprehensive digital marketing strategies that help business owners navigate the ever-changing requirements of Google and other search engines. Contact us for more information on our digital marketing program and options – and how we can help optimize your website for search engine optimization through Google Search Console.