Key takeaways
- Google Search Console is the free, official view of how Google sees your site: queries, clicks, indexing, speed, links and problems.
- Set up a Domain property, submit your sitemap and check it weekly.
- Its most powerful uses: finding pages close to page one, diagnosing indexing problems and spotting issues before traffic drops.
If you only use one SEO tool, make it Search Console. It’s free, it comes straight from Google, and it answers questions no third-party tool can: which queries you actually appear for, why pages aren’t indexed and whether Google has found problems. Here’s how to use every important report.
Setting up#
- Go to
search.google.com/search-consoleand click “Add property”. - Choose Domain (covers http/https, www and subdomains) and verify with a DNS TXT record at your domain provider.
- Or choose URL prefix and verify with an HTML tag (paste it in this theme’s Customizer → SEO & Marketing), a file upload, GA4 or Tag Manager.
- Submit your sitemap under Indexing → Sitemaps.
- Add team members with appropriate permission levels (Settings → Users and permissions).
- Link GA4 for combined reporting.
The Performance report#
Shows clicks, impressions, average CTR and average position for Google Search, Discover and News.
- Queries tab: what people searched to find you.
- Pages tab: which URLs get traffic; click one, then Queries, to see its keywords.
- Compare dates to spot growth or drops.
- Filter with regex to separate branded and non-branded queries or find questions.
- Search type: Image/Video for media traffic.
The quickest wins Filter for average position 5–20 and sort by impressions. These pages already rank; improving content, titles and internal links often moves them onto page one.
Indexing reports#
| Report | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Pages | Indexed vs not indexed, with reasons (noindex, duplicate, soft 404, crawled not indexed) |
| URL Inspection | Check one URL: indexed?, Google-selected canonical, last crawl, mobile rendering; request indexing after updates |
| Sitemaps | Submission status and discovered URLs |
| Removals | Temporarily hide URLs urgently |
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Experience and enhancements#
- Core Web Vitals: real-user LCP, INP and CLS by URL group — see Core Web Vitals on WordPress.
- HTTPS: pages not served securely.
- Enhancements: structured data reports (breadcrumbs, products, videos, reviews) with errors to fix.
Links and security#
- Links: top linked pages, top linking sites and internal link counts — useful for internal linking.
- Manual actions and Security issues: check after any sudden drop — see manual action.
- Crawl stats (Settings): crawl requests, response times and errors.
A weekly routine#
- Performance: last 7 vs previous 7 days, and last 28 days vs the same period last year.
- Pages: any new spikes in “not indexed”?
- Core Web Vitals and Enhancements: new failures?
- Manual actions/Security: still clean?
- Pick one page in positions 5–20 to improve.
Search Console FAQ#
Why don’t Search Console clicks match GA4 sessions?#
They measure different things (clicks vs sessions), and analytics misses visitors who block tracking or don’t consent.
How fresh is the data?#
Usually 1–3 days behind, with up to 16 months of history.
Does requesting indexing guarantee indexing?#
No. It asks Google to recrawl; indexing still depends on quality and other signals.