Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool provided by Google that helps Frogg Designs website clients monitor and maintain their site’s presence in Google Search results. This guide will help you set up Google Search Console, track your website traffic, and understand key metrics like traffic sources, page views, and visitor behaviour.
Step 1: Set Up Google Search Console
Go to Google Search Console:
- Visit the official Google Search Console page.
- Sign in using your Google account.
Add Your Website (Property):
- Once signed in, click the Start Now button.
- On the Welcome to Google Search Console page, you’ll need to add your website (property). You can do this in two ways:
- Domain: Covers all URLs across subdomains (e.g., www and non-www) and protocols (http, https).
- URL Prefix: Track only specific URLs (e.g., https://www.yourwebsite.co.za).
- Enter your website URL and click Continue.
Verify Your Website:
- Google needs to verify that you own the website before showing you any data. You can verify ownership in several ways:
- HTML File Upload: Download the HTML file provided and upload it to your website’s root directory.
- HTML Tag: Add the meta tag to your website’s
<head>section. - Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager: If you have already set up Google Analytics or Tag Manager, you can verify using those accounts.
- Once verification is complete, you can access your Search Console dashboard.
- Google needs to verify that you own the website before showing you any data. You can verify ownership in several ways:
Step 2: Understanding the Google Search Console Dashboard
Once your website is verified, the GSC dashboard will show you an overview of your website’s performance. Here are the main features you’ll be using:
Performance Report:
- This is the most important section for tracking website traffic and search visibility. It shows metrics like clicks, impressions, and average position in Google Search results.
Coverage Report:
- This section tells you how Google indexes your site and highlights any issues that prevent proper indexing.
Enhancements:
- This section provides insights on areas like Core Web Vitals, Mobile Usability, and Speed, which are crucial for improving user experience and rankings.
Step 3: Track Website Traffic Using the Performance Report
The Performance tab in Search Console gives detailed insights into how your website is performing in Google Search.
Access the Performance Report:
- In the left-hand menu, click on Performance.
- By default, you’ll see data from the last 3 months. You can change the time range to compare performance over different periods (7 days, 6 months, custom date ranges, etc.).
Key Metrics to Track:
- Total Clicks: This shows how many times people clicked on your site in the search results.
- Total Impressions: This tells you how many times your site appeared in the search results.
- Average Click-Through Rate (CTR): This is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click. A higher CTR means more people are choosing to visit your site when they see it in search results.
- Average Position: This shows the average ranking position of your website for the selected search queries. A position of “1” means your page appeared at the top of search results.
Step 4: Analyse Traffic Sources and Visitor Behavior
Check Queries (Search Terms):
- In the Performance report, click the Queries tab to see the specific keywords or phrases users searched for before clicking on your website.
- You’ll see metrics for each query such as clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position.
- Use this data to identify which keywords are driving the most traffic and which ones have the potential for improvement.
Analyse Pages:
- Click the Pages tab to see which pages on your website are receiving the most traffic.
- This will show you the number of clicks and impressions for each page. You can analyse which pages are performing well and which may need optimisation.
Country Data:
- The Countries tab shows where your traffic is coming from geographically.
- This is helpful if you want to track your performance in specific regions or are running international SEO campaigns.
Device Usage:
- Click on the Devices tab to see if users are visiting your site via desktop, mobile, or tablet.
- This is important for understanding how well your site performs across different devices and for mobile optimisation efforts.
Step 5: Explore Indexing Data with the Coverage Report
The Coverage report helps you monitor how well Google is indexing your website. Proper indexing ensures that your site appears in search results.
Access the Coverage Report:
- In the left-hand menu, click on Coverage.
Check for Errors:
- The report will show any issues with crawling or indexing your pages (e.g., 404 errors, server issues, or redirect errors).
- Fix any errors listed to improve your site’s visibility and performance.
Valid Pages:
- The Valid tab shows which pages have been successfully indexed by Google.
- If certain pages aren’t indexed but should be, investigate why (such as missing sitemap entries or noindex tags).
Step 6: Improve User Experience with Enhancements
Google Search Console provides insights into different aspects of user experience on your site, which are important for SEO rankings.
Core Web Vitals:
- The Core Web Vitals report assesses the loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability of your website. Pages that perform well in these areas tend to rank higher.
- Google will flag any pages with poor scores and suggest improvements.
Mobile Usability:
- This report identifies mobile-specific issues that could harm the user experience, such as text that’s too small to read or clickable elements that are too close together.
- Fix any mobile usability issues to enhance SEO and provide a better experience for mobile users.
Step 7: Submit and Monitor Your Sitemap
Submit Your Sitemap:
- To help Google crawl your website efficiently, submit your website’s XML sitemap.
- Go to the Sitemaps section in the left-hand menu.
- Enter the URL of your sitemap (usually found at
https://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml) and click Submit.
Monitor Sitemap Submission:
- Once your sitemap is submitted, Google will continue to crawl your website regularly. You can monitor its status in the Sitemaps section to ensure Google is indexing all relevant pages.
Step 8: Use Search Console Insights for Content Performance
Google Search Console also offers Search Console Insights, which gives an easy-to-understand overview of how your content is performing.
- Go to Search Console Insights:
- Click on the Search Console Insights tab in the left-hand menu.
- Analyse Key Content Metrics:
- See how individual content pieces are performing in search.
- Track your most popular content, how people find it, and which external sources link to it the most.
Step 9: Set Up Alerts for Issues
- To stay on top of any problems or performance issues, set up email alerts.
- Go to Settings in the left-hand menu.
- Under Preferences, enable notifications to receive emails when Google detects indexing issues or major changes in site performance.
Step 10: Track Progress and Make Improvements
- Regularly check your performance data to monitor growth in clicks, impressions, and search queries.
- Use the information from Search Console to adjust your SEO strategy:
- Identify high-potential keywords to target.
- Improve content on underperforming pages.
- Resolve technical issues that could be impacting your rankings.
By using Google Search Console consistently, you can optimise your website’s performance, increase visibility, and drive more traffic from organic search results.
By following this step-by-step guide, you can effectively track and improve your website’s performance using Google Search Console, ensuring you stay on top of important traffic metrics and site health.
