Some may remember Google Search Console being called Google Webmaster Tools. Since the beginning of 2021, GSC has gone through a complete overhaul, adding a new modern look and a much improved UI. Google Search Console may be entirely new to you, or perhaps you never realized its full potential. I will briefly touch on the benefits in this article to hopefully persuade you to give it a try. There are plenty of in-depth how-to guide articles out there to help you get started. So what is Google Search Console? I will quote Google, who defines it well:
“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. You don’t have to sign up for Search Console to be included in Google Search results, but Search Console helps you understand and improve how Google sees your site.”
Google
Who should use GSC?
Google says anyone with a website should use Google Search Console. I have seen business owners, SEO specialists, marketers, site admins, and web developers all take advantage of the offerings of GSC. It is a free tool that tracks the performance of your website on Google, which will then help you finetune your SEO strategy.
How does it work?
GSC collects data that can be difficult to pull out of Google Analytics and that I bet some of you didn’t know was available. Perhaps my favorite: You can view the search traffic data for your site and see how often your site appears on the SERP, as well as which queries your site shows up for and how often users actually click through for those queries. The insight of seeing the actual queries that brought users to a site can be eye opening for a client.
Here are some other great GSC tools to take advantage of:
- Google will let you know of any issues with crawling your site, robots.txt, no-index, etc.
- If you add or change content or fix URL errors, you can request a reindexing of your site.
- You’re able to see the domain names of the sites linking to yours.
- Google troubleshoots any AMP, mobile usability, and other Search feature issues.
- GSC provides alerts when Google encounters any of the above issues. This is very handy because errors reoccur frequently.
So GSC is a must have for me in the SEO industry, but I agree with Google in that everyone should take advantage of Google Search Console. If you haven’t already verified your website to GSC, here is the most up to date version of Google’s official directions.
Google Search Console is just one of many tools that can make your digital marketing efforts easier to maintain. On Target, a digital marketing and SEO company in Orlando, has a team of experts who use all the tools available to make our clients’ online presence shine. If you need help getting seen online, give us a call at 407-830-4550 or contact us online.
