What you can do with Search Console#
| Report | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Performance | See clicks, impressions, CTR and position by query, page, country and device |
| URL Inspection | Check if a page is indexed, which canonical Google chose, and request indexing |
| Pages (Indexing) | Find why pages aren’t indexed — noindex, duplicates, soft 404s, crawl issues |
| Sitemaps | Submit and monitor XML sitemaps |
| Core Web Vitals | Field data for LCP, INP and CLS across URL groups |
| Enhancements | Errors in structured data such as breadcrumbs, products, videos |
| Links | Top linked pages, linking sites and internal links |
| Manual actions & Security | Penalties and hacked-site warnings |
Setting it up#
- Go to search.google.com/search-console and add a property.
- Prefer a Domain property (verified by DNS) — it covers http, https, www and subdomains.
- Or use a URL-prefix property verified by meta tag — paste the code in this theme’s Customizer → SEO & Marketing.
- Submit your sitemap (
/wp-sitemap.xmlwith this theme). - Link it to GA4.
A weekly 10-minute routine#
- Performance: compare the last 28 days with the previous period.
- Pages: check for new “not indexed” spikes.
- Core Web Vitals and Manual actions: confirm nothing new.
- Pick one page in positions 5–20 to improve this week.
Full guide: Google Search Console guide. Related: indexing.