Google Search Console – The Definitive Guide for 2021

For any business that wants to be successful online, they should have specific metrics to measure their performance. If you have an ad campaign, your focus will be on the performance and the ROI. If you have a branding campaign, you may want to see its effect on sales and revenue. The same goes for measuring the performance of your website.

For most people, measuring the performance of a website is a difficult job. How do you measure the actual performance of specific pages? Even more important, how do you know whether there is an error on your site?

Many websites have errors that go unnoticed for a long time. These problems often lead to the failure of on-site SEO as well. A site that is getting crawling errors or other similar issues will not benefit from higher rankings. You might have created the best strategy to rank on Google’s first page, but there is no use if your site has fundamental issues.

Fortunately, Google Search Console can help you monitor the performance of your site effectively. It uses an automated process that can detect any crawling errors. It will also be synced with your Google Account so that you get a notification when such errors arise.

Adding your site to Google Search Console is quite simple. You can choose from a range of methods and even integrate it with your Google Analytics account.

Here are the steps that you need to follow when setting up Google Search Console:

How to Create a Google Search Console Account

To set up a new account or add a new one, you’ll need to click on ‘add a new property, found on the top right bar. Next, copy and paste your domain name without any subdomains, and this will trace everything related to that domain.

This process is quite simple. After this, the only thing left to complete this step is verifying that you’re the site owner or webmaster. There are a few options available to how you want to verify, but the domain only accepts DNS verification.

How to register your site on Google Search Console

Add an HTML tag

Adding an HTML Tag is a good option if you have an experienced team. A good web developer will help you add the HTML tag to Google Search Console. It is an effective process, which is guaranteed to get your business noticed quite quickly on the search console.

However, one thing you should keep in mind is not to change the code in the file. Once you download the HTML file, you should place it exactly as it is in Google Search Console. Any changes that you make to this file will cause an error during the uploading process. It would help if you also took care not to delete the HTML file. If you do so, Google will not be able to verify you anymore. You should also make sure to place the HTML tag in the header section of your website.

An HTML file is like a name. If you change it, you won’t be recognized anymore, mainly if you’ve used it to verify your site.

Verify through domain name provider

One of the best ways to verify your site on Google Search Console is to use the domain name. When you register your website through your domain name, you are essentially confirming that you own the website. If it is a more extensive website, then you may have several subdomains as well. All of these will come under the registration of your primary domain name.

This process is relatively easy. Go onto the options under “alternate methods” on the registration page. Click on the “Domain name provider” option. You will then have to sign in using your account from which you registered the domain. You may see your service provider’s name on the list of options. If their name is not there, you can manually add it using a DNS CNAME or TXT record.

Use the built-in Google Analytics code

While all these steps are valid, The best way to verify your website is to use the Google Analytics code. However, you should already be using Google Analytics on your website. Inserting the code is relatively easy, although you may want to verify twice that you inserted it in the right section.

When you go onto the recommended options list, you will see an option to verify your site using Google Analytics code. However, there are two things to keep in mind when using Google Analytics Code. Firstly, you should have the edit permissions on the Analytics web account. Secondly, you should make sure that the code is in the <head> section of the site’s homepage.

How to Use Google Search Console

Once you’ve registered your website on Google Search Console, you can monitor the performance of your site in two ways:

Clicks and impressions

You can use Google Search Console to monitor the number of clicks that you get. You can also look at the impressions, which tell you the number of times your site comes up in the search rankings. It also shows you the average CTR rate, which gives valuable insights into individual pages’ current performance.

Coverage – Fixing site errors

The other way to use Google Search Console is to fix any site errors. Google will monitor the number of times a specific page gets an error and show you the results. You can use this to monitor technical errors with your site and fix any sitemap issues that may arise. You can also check whether your URL is registered and watch the number of inbound links to your site.

Submit a sitemap to Google Search Console

Submitting a sitemap is relatively easy. All you need to do is go onto the sidebar section on the website. You’ll notice a “sitemap” option. You can follow the simple instructions, and you will have it submitted to Google.

Removing bad links

You can remove bad links and broken URLs from your website using the Removals tool. This option works if the link on your site is no longer relevant. You can also use it to remove or block links that contain sensitive information.

Final Words

For any business that operates a website, having a Google Search Console account is a must. Not only is it great for monitoring your website performance, but it also helps identify any site issues as well. How have you benefited from Google Search Console? Let me know in the comments below!