How to Use Google Search Console? Google Search Console is an essential tool for SEO, and this guide will teach you how to set it up, its core functions, and the latest 2025 updates to help you optimize your SEO strategy and increase traffic!
What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool offered by Google, designed for website owners, digital marketers, and SEO experts.
It helps users monitor their website’s health and performance in Google search results.
Through GSC, you can access reports on your website’s performance in organic search, as well as technical SEO metrics.
The data provided by GSC helps you understand how visitors find your site, which pages perform best, what technical issues need fixing, and how to optimize content to attract more targeted traffic.
Compared to other paid SEO tools, GSC provides first-hand data directly from Google, making it one of the most reliable sources for SEO information.
It is useful for personal blogs, e-commerce websites, and corporate websites alike.
This information is crucial for improving a website’s visibility in search results.
How to Use Google Search Console: Tracking traffic changes
One of the key SEO metrics is organic search traffic. If traffic drops, you’ll want to identify the cause quickly. By analyzing the data in Google Search Console, you can pinpoint the factors affecting search traffic.
Here are four reasons why traffic might change, as shown by charts:
1.Large drop from an algorithmic update, site-wide security or spam issue
2.Seasonality
3.Technical issue across your site, changing interests
4.Reporting glitch
New Google Search Console Feature: 24-Hour View Mode
Google Search Console regularly updates, and two new features were recently added. The first is the “24-hour view mode.”
In the past, if you wanted to see today’s data, you had to wait 2 to 5 days.
In December 2024, Google introduced the “24-hour” view mode, allowing users to monitor content performance in real-time. The new mode shows data from the past 24 hours, with only a few hours of delay.
As before, users can view clicks, impressions, average click-through rate (CTR), and rankings, and filter data by query, webpage, country/region, etc.
This feature is available for search results, Explore, and Google News reports, with data displayed according to the user’s time zone.
Source: Google Search Central
New Google Search Console Feature: Optimization Suggestions
Google has also launched optimization suggestions for web pages.
After gathering data like indexing, retrieval, and content delivery, Google will now offer optimization advice.
Users can then decide which issues to prioritize in order to improve search rankings. For example, using structured data to help Google understand your content, adding a sitemap, and reviewing popular queries and pages.
These suggestions appear on the overview page, and the system regularly analyzes issues and automatically updates content details over time.
Source：Google Search Central
How to Set Up Google Search Console
If you haven’t used Google Search Console before, follow this guide to create an account.
To get started, you’ll need a Google account and link it to your website. There are two methods for adding and verifying your site: Domain or URL prefix.
Domain Verification
Adding a domain gives you more detailed information, including data for all URLs under the domain, covering both HTTPS and HTTP URLs. However, it requires DNS verification.
Domain verification involves proving that you own the domain by adding DNS records to your domain provider’s record list.
You can refer to Google’s official video guide for detailed steps.
URL Prefix Verification
For URL prefix, there are five verification methods to choose from:
●HTML file: Upload an HTML file to the root directory of the site.
●HTML tag: Add a meta tag to the homepage.
●Google Analytics: Verify through a Google Analytics account.
●Google Tag Manager: Verify through a Google Tag Manager account.
●Domain name provider: Link DNS records with Google.
The Importance of Submitting a Sitemap
After verification, the basic setup is complete. Before exploring the functions of Google Search Console, it’s essential to submit a sitemap.
A sitemap is essentially a map for search engines, listing all pages and content on your site, helping search engines crawl the site more efficiently.
If your site is large, has rich media, or is new, submitting a sitemap is particularly important.
Key Features of Google Search Console
Here are some key functions and how to use them:
1.URL Inspection
This feature is used to check the indexing status of webpages. GSC lets you inspect any URL within your domain, helping to identify issues and ensure pages are discoverable by search engines.
Just enter the full URL in the top field, and Google will provide four important details: indexing status, last crawl date, mobile usability, and structured data. These metrics help check if a page is indexable, mobile-friendly, and includes structured data.
If the page isn’t indexed yet, you can request indexing.
2.Performance Report
The performance report tracks SEO results and shows the four key metrics in SEO:
●Clicks (blue): The number of people who visited the site through search results.
●Impressions (purple): How many times the site appeared in search results.
●Click-through rate (CTR) (green): The percentage of clicks relative to impressions.
●Average position (orange): The site’s average ranking in search results.
These metrics can be traced back up to 16 months, and you can filter data by preset time periods or custom ranges.
3.Index Coverage Report
The index coverage report shows which pages Google has crawled and indexed, and whether there are any indexing issues on your site.
Through the report, you can see all the pages Google has indexed or tried to index. It’s important to review the list and address any errors or warnings.
4.Page Report
Pages marked in green are indexed, while those marked in gray are not.
Google’s tools are crucial for SEO. After this basic introduction, you should be able to handle and analyze website data effectively.
You can also combine Search Console and Google Analytics for a more comprehensive understanding of your website’s data, allowing you to optimize your site with clearer information.
Search Console provides data on clicks, impressions, etc., while Google Analytics gives insights into user interactions with your site. Together, they offer a complete analysis of your website!
