How to Use Google Search Console (GSC): The Complete Beginner’s Guide 2025

Do you want to know how your website is doing on Google? Google Search Console is a free tool that can help you see how well your site is performing. Whether you have a blog, a business site, or any kind of webpage, this tool shows you how people find and use your site. This guide will help beginners learn how to start using Google Search Console and make the most of it. Let’s explore how this tool can be really helpful!

What Is Google Search Console (GSC)?

Google Search Console is a free tool for people who own websites. It shows you how Google sees your site and helps make your site show up better in search results. You can see things like which sites link to yours, how your site works on phones, special features in search results, and which questions and pages get the most visits. Google Search Console gives you important details straight from Google about how well your site is doing.

Google Search Console gives you helpful reports to see how your small business website is doing. Here are some important ones:

• Impressions and Clicks: Shows how many times your site shows up in search results and how often people click on it.
• Indexation Status: Lets you know which pages of your site are added to Google’s search list.
• Links to Your Site: This shows which other websites link to your site, which can help improve your site’s ranking.
• Manual Actions: Notifies you if Google finds problems with your site that could affect how it appears in searches.
• Core Web Vitals (CWV): Check your site’s speed, how quickly it responds, and how stable it looks for a good user experience.

With Google Search Console, you can also perform various actions, such as:

• Submitting a sitemap
• Removing URLs from Google’s index
• Checking URLs for indexing problems

Google Search Console emails you if your website has problems like crawl errors, issues with access, or performance worries. It saves your website’s data for 16 months, but it only starts doing this after you prove you own the site. This helps you easily watch how well your website is doing.

So, How to Set Up GSC for Your Website?

To start using Google Search Console, you need a Google account. This can be a Gmail account or one from Google Workspace. Then, you have to add some code to your website or change your domain name settings with your hosting provider. Doing this is important to learn how Google Search Console works and how to use it for SEO.
After you have your Google account, you can log into Google Search Console. This will take you to your dashboard. From there, you can set up your account and finish the verification process.

How to Verify Site Ownership in GSC?

To keep your website’s data safe in Google Search Console, Google asks you to prove that you own the site. This means you’ll need to verify your site. You can easily do it by just following a few simple steps. This way, you can use all the valuable tools and features Google Search Console offers:

1. Visit the Google Search Console page.
2. Click on “Start Now.”
3. Choose the type of property you want to verify.

In Google Search Console, you can verify two types of properties: Domain and URL Prefix. Each one is used for different reasons, so it’s important to choose the right one for your needs. This helps you use Google Search Console better for improving your site.

1. Verification by Domain

When you’re setting up Google Search Console, pick the domain property type. This makes sure your website is checked completely, including all subdomains, secure sites (like http:// and https://), and all subfolders.

Verification Methods

There are two main ways to verify your website: TXT and CNAME. To use these methods, you need to access your DNS records. You might need help from a website engineer to do this.

Steps for TXT Verification:

1. Get the TXT Record: In Google Search Console, find and copy the text in the TXT record section.
2. Go to DNS Settings: Log into your hosting account to open your DNS settings.
3. Make a New DNS Record: Add a new record, and make sure it’s a TXT type.
4. Put in the Verification Code: Paste the TXT record you copied into the right spot.
5. Save Your Work: Don’t forget to save the changes!

After you make these updates, it might take some time for the DNS records to refresh. In Google Search Console, you can click “Verify” to see if the TXT record is added. If it doesn’t work right away no need to worry yourself. You can choose to “Verify Later” because it might take a few minutes to a few days for the changes to take effect.

By finishing these steps, you’ll be ready to use Google Search Console. This tool helps you check and improve how your website performs.

2. Verification by URL Prefix

If you can’t get to your domain’s DNS records or want to check certain web pages, use the URL Prefix method. This way, you can still verify and look after your website easily.

What is URL Prefix Verification?

This verification method allows you to confirm ownership of:

• Different Protocols: You can check both http:// and https:// separately. This is useful if you haven’t put all your URLs together.
• Subdomains: These are like m.domain.com or community.domain.com.
• Subdirectories: These include www.domain.com/products or www.domain.com/articles.
• Custom URL Prefixes: These are any group of URLs that follow a certain pattern.

When you use the URL Prefix method, it only shows data for that specific part of your website. For small websites, checking just one part might be enough. But for big websites, it’s helpful to look at each part, like subdomains and sections, separately. This way, you get better details about how each section is doing.

Verification Options with Google Search Console

Google Search Console gives you five easy ways to prove you own your website or parts of it with the URL Prefix method.

1. Upload an HTML File: Place a specific .html file directly in your site’s root directory via an FTP client or your hosting provider’s file manager.
2. Add an HTML Tag: Add a verification tag to the part of your homepage. If you use platforms like WordPress or Wix, this is usually easy to do.
3. Use Google Analytics: If your site is in Google Analytics, you can use it for Google Search Console too. No need to do it again.
4. Employ Google Tag Manager: If you use Google Tag Manager, you can check your site with the tags you already have.
5. Utilise DNS Configuration: If you checked your site with TXT or CNAME, you can use it for subdomains or subdirectories too.

Setting up owners, users, and permissions

It’s important to keep your Google Search Console data safe. Some tools, like the Removals feature, can be dangerous if not used right. Make sure only trusted people can access it. User Permissions in Google Search Console

GSC has different user types with varying levels of access to ensure security:

• Owner: This user can control everything in the Google Search Console. They check they own it or someone gives them ownership. They can even delete the ownership if they want to.
• Full User: This user can do almost everything an Owner can in Google Search Console. But if they remove the property, it only goes away from their list, not for everyone else.
• Restricted User: This user can only look at the data in Google Search Console. They can’t change anything.

Google made Google Search Console safer by adding a new tool. This tool helps you manage ownership tokens. To find it, go to Settings, then Users and permissions, and look for Unused ownership tokens.

Ownership tokens are special codes. They help prove you own something in Google Search Console. You can get them in different ways, like using HTML tags, putting up HTML files, or using DNS TXT records.

Submitting a sitemap

Even though Googlebot will find your site’s XML sitemap by itself over time, you can make it faster by adding the sitemap directly to Google Search Console. Follow these simple steps to include your sitemap:

1. Copy the Sitemap URL: Find your sitemap and copy its URL. Most XML sitemaps look like this: https://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml. If you’re using something like WordPress, it might look like this: https://www.domain.com/sitemap_index.xml.
2. Access GSC: Now sign in to the Google Search Console account you wanna use.
3. Go to Sitemaps: Click on “Sitemaps” in the left menu.
4. Submit Your Sitemap: In the “Add a new sitemap” field at the top, paste your sitemap URL and click “Submit.”

You can add lots of sitemaps in Google Search Console. This helps when a website has different things, like videos, articles, portfolio pages and images. Each type can have its own sitemap.

Benefits of Submitting Sitemaps

You can see how many pages you told Google about and how many pages Google knows. This helps when you add sitemaps in Google Search Console.

To see which pages Google knows and which ones it doesn’t click the three dots next to your sitemap. Then choose “See page indexing.” You will see how many pages are found and how many are not. It also tells you why some pages are missing.

Understanding dimensions and metrics

In Google Search Console, data is organised into Dimensions and Metrics, which are essential for evaluating your site’s performance.

• Dimensions are details that describe your data. In the Performance report, you might see dimensions like Pages, Queries, Countries, and Devices. These help organise the data into useful groups.
• Metrics are numbers that show how things are going, like Impressions and Clicks. They help you understand how people are interacting with your site and how often they see it.

In the Pages report, a dimension might show why some pages weren’t indexed. A metric would tell you how many pages were affected by this issue.

In Core Web Vitals, dimensions sort page performance into groups like Poor, Needs Improvement, and Good. Metrics tell you how many pages are in each of these groups.

Before diving into Google Search Console (GSC), it’s helpful to understand a few key terms:

Key Terms in Google Search Console

1. What is a Google Search Console Query?
   A query refers to a specific search term that led to impressions of your page on a Google search results page (SERP). You can find this query data in GSC, but not in Google Analytics.
2. What’s an Impression?
   An impression occurs every time your URL appears in a search result, regardless of whether the user scrolls down to see it. Simply showing up counts as one impression.
3. What’s a Click?
   A click is counted when a user selects a link that takes them away from Google local Search. If a user clicks on a link, goes back, and then clicks the same link again, that still counts as one click. If they then click a different link, that would be two clicks. However, if a user clicks a link that runs a new search within Google, it doesn’t count as a click. Additionally, paid Google results are not included in this count.
4. What’s the Average Position?
   Average position refers to the mean ranking of your pages for specific queries. For instance, if your page ranks #2 for “SEO software” and #4 for “keyword tools,” the average position would be 3 (assuming it ranks for no other queries).
5. What’s CTR?
   CTR, or click-through rate, is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions and then multiplying by 100. For example, if your post appears in 20 searches and receives 10 clicks, your CTR would be 50%.

Utilising This Data

By looking at the data in the Performance report, you can learn important things about your site’s health. This helps you make smart choices to improve your website SEO, which is how well your site shows up in search results. You can work on making sure more pages get indexed, increasing the number of people who click on your site, and making sure visitors have a good experience. The organised data in Google Search Console gives you the tools to make your site better.

Knowing these terms and how data is organised will help you use Google Search Console better. It lets you watch over your site and make it work well. This way, you can keep an eye on how your site is doing and make it even better.

Adding filters

Google Search Console lets you look at and study your data in many ways. It has special filters that help, but they might seem tricky when you start.

Search Type

Google Search Console has three ways to search: web, image, and video. If most people visit your site from the web, use the “web” option. But if many come from pictures or videos, change it to image or video. You can also see how the two types compare. Click “Compare,” pick two, and hit “Apply.” You might learn fun things, like a post being seen more in image search but clicked more in web search.

Date Range

Google Search Console now shows data for up to 16 months. Before, it was only 90 days. You can pick a time that Google gives you or make your own. You can also compare two times by clicking “Compare.”

Additional Filters

In Google Search Console, next to the Date filter, there’s a “New” button. This lets you add up to five filters: query, page, country, device, and search look. You can use these together to learn more. For example, you can check how many people search for “NDIS web design“ on their phones.

Use Google Search Console to Boost Your Traffic

Want to boost traffic to your website? Google Search Console (GSC) is a great tool to help you do that. It gives you insights into your site’s performance in search results, helping you spot areas for improvement. In this, we’ll look at easy ways to use Google Search Console to increase your traffic.

Monitoring Site Performance

Google Search Console (GSC) is a helpful tool that shows you how your website looks in search results. The Performance Report in GSC tells you important things, like how your site is doing in special search areas called featured snippets.

Search Types Overview

In the Performance Report, you can analyse four key search types:

1. Web
2. Image
3. Video
4. News

By default, the report displays the Web search type, but you can easily switch between them using the Search Type button.

Important Metrics to Review

At the top of the Performance Report, you’ll find four crucial metrics:

• Total Clicks: The number of times users clicked your link in search results.
• Total Impressions: This shows how many times your site showed up in search results.
• Average CTR (Click-Through Rate): This is the percentage of impressions that led to clicks.
• Average Position: This indicates your site’s typical ranking in search results.

You can click on each metric to view it in a bar chart for clearer visualisation.

Maximising Click Potential for Invisible Results

That’s a solid approach to optimising your keywords! Here’s a step-by-step breakdown to help you identify those underperforming keywords:

Step 1: Run the Report

• Open Google Search Console (GSC) and navigate to the Performance report.
• Click on the filters for Clicks, Impressions, CTR, and Position.
• Select the Queries option to view keyword performance.

Step 2: Identify Underperforming Keywords

1. Look for keywords with:
   
   
   a) High Impressions (indicating they’re being seen)
   b) Few Clicks (suggesting they’re not converting)
   c) Low CTR (showing they might not be appealing enough)
   d) Position (ideally on the first page but not in the top spots)
2. Make a list of 5-10 keywords that fit these criteria.

Step 3: Analyse SERP Results

• Open a new tab or incognito window and search for each of the identified keywords.
• Review the SERP results to see how your listing appears compared to competitors.

Step 4: Optimise Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

1. Title Tags:
   a) Make sure they are straightforward, brief, and contain relevant keywords.
   b) Make them compelling to encourage clicks (e.g., pose a question or use action words).
2. Meta Descriptions:
   a) Keep them under 160 characters.
   b) Summarise the content effectively and make it intriguing.
   c) Include a call-to-action when appropriate.

Step 5: Monitor and Adjust

• After making adjustments, monitor the performance of keywords ranking over the next few weeks. Check for improvements in clicks and CTR.
• Continue refining your strategy based on ongoing data from GSC.

Discover Your Mobile Search Keywords

If you want to boost your site’s ranking on search engines, it’s important to spend time researching keywords that people use on their phones. Google Search Console helps by showing you which words mobile users use to find your site.

To access this data:

1. Navigate to the Devices Option: In GSC, locate the Devices section above the performance graph.
2. Filter by Device Type: Click on “new” and select “device.” You’ll see options for Desktop, Mobile, and Tablet. Choose Mobile to filter the results.
3. View Mobile Keywords: Now, you’ll have a clear view of all the keywords that mobile users are searching for when they land on your site in the SERPs.

Understanding these mobile keywords allows you to effectively implement them into your mobile SEO strategy.

Speed Up the Indexation Process for Fresh Content

Googlebot is good at finding new pages quickly. But if you have an important page that needs to be shown in search results right away, you can use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console. This tool lets you check the page and ask for it to be added to Google’s list quickly. Here’s how to request indexing:

1. Access the URL Inspection Tool: In the left sidebar of GSC, click on URL Inspection.
2. Enter the URL: Paste the URL of the page you want indexed into the search box at the top of the page.
3. Initiate Inspection: Press Enter to analyse the URL.
4. Request Indexing: On the results page, if the URL is not indexed, click the Request indexing button.

When you put your URL in Google’s priority list, it tells Google to look at your page soon. But remember, this doesn’t mean Google will definitely list your page in its search results.
If your page still isn’t showing up after you ask for it to be indexed, you might need to look into it more to find out what’s wrong.

• Important Note: Each verified property in GSC is limited to 50 indexing requests daily.

Download Data Sets in Bulk

Google Search Console gives you useful information, but it only keeps data for 16 months. To save more data for a longer time, you can send your GSC data to BigQuery. This way, you can keep and look at old data whenever you want.

Set up data export early to make sure you save all important information over time. This helps you see patterns, check how well things are going, and make smart choices with a full set of data.

Benefits of Using BigQuery for GSC Data

• Unlimited Historical Access: You can keep and look at data for more than 16 months, which is longer than what Google Search Console allows.
• Advanced Analytics: Use BigQuery to ask complex questions and get more detailed answers.
• Data Integration: Mix GSC data with information from other places to get a complete picture of how well your business local SEO is doing.

Detect Performance Decreases

Google Search Console is a must-have tool to check how well your website does in search results. But, it’s important to know that it has some limits that might make it harder to understand all the details.

The Time Frame Limitation

By default, the Performance Search Results report covers only the last three months. While you can look back up to 16 months, this can mask longer-term trends and performance fluctuations.

If you see a keyword in 14th place, you might think that’s pretty good. But it might have been in 10th place a few months ago. Knowing how your rankings have changed over time is important for managing SEO well.

Adjusting Date Ranges for Deeper Insights

One of the best things about Google Search Console is that you can set your own date ranges. This lets you see how your site’s performance changes over time.

1. Accessing Date Settings: Start by locating the “Last 3-6 Months” dropdown in the GSC interface. Just click on the button and see the options.
   
2. Custom Date Range: Choose “Compare” and then pick “Custom…” to set the exact dates you want to look at. This tool is very flexible and can show you important information.
3. Interpreting the Data: Once you set your dates, you’ll see how performance has changed over time. You can also change other settings and still keep your date selections, which helps you track specific keywords easily.

Real-World Application: Analysing Rankings

To use this feature well, try doing a Google search for the keywords you want to rank for. If you notice that a keyword has fallen a lot in the search results, it means you should work on improving its ranking.

By looking at changes over time, you can find out when any problems with performance began. This helps you know where to start fixing them.

Review Your Backlink Health

In Google Search Console (GSC), you can check who is linking to your new website. Just go to the Links section. Here, you can see which outside websites connect to your site and find out which of your pages have the most links. This gives you important information about your site’s connections.

Key Benefits

• Identify Link-Building Opportunities: Look for chances to make new connections for future links to your site.
• Assess Quality: Check how reliable and relevant your backlinks are.
• Uncover Spam Links: Find and get rid of bad links to keep your site healthy.

Insights Offered

The Links report includes:

• Top Linking Sites: Discover which domains refer to the most traffic.
• Anchor Text: Analyse common text used in backlinks to inform your strategy.
• Backlinks by Page: See which pages receive the most external links.
• Internal Linking: Review which pages link to specific content on your site.

To Sum Up

Google Search Console (GSC) is a great tool to help you understand how your website shows up in search results. By following some simple steps, you can set up GSC and start using its features to see how well your website is doing. It helps you find and fix problems and make your content better. The more you use GSC, the better you’ll get at improving your site and getting more visitors. So, check out the tools, explore them, and watch your website grow! With GSC, you’re on your way to success online. Happy exploring!