What Search Console is
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that shows how your website performs in Google Search — which searches show your pages, how many people click, which pages are indexed and what problems Google has found. Every business website should have it set up.
How to set it up
- Sign in at search.google.com/search-console with your business Google account
- Add your website as a Domain property (covers all versions of your domain)
- Verify ownership by adding a DNS record at your domain provider, or ask your developer
- Submit your XML sitemap under the Sitemaps section
- Give your developer or marketing partner access as a user rather than sharing your password
Reports to check every month
- Performance — clicks, impressions, average position and the search queries people used
- Pages (indexing) — which pages are indexed and why others are not
- Core Web Vitals — speed and stability issues on mobile and desktop
- HTTPS — any pages not served securely
- Enhancements — problems with structured data such as FAQs or breadcrumbs
- Manual actions and security issues — hopefully always empty
Quick wins from the Performance report
Filter for pages with many impressions but a low click-through rate — improving their titles and meta descriptions can bring more clicks without needing higher rankings. Also look for queries where you rank on positions 8 to 20; adding content and internal links to those pages can push them onto the first page.
Make it a habit
Spend twenty minutes a month in Search Console. Note any drops, new errors or growing queries, and share them with your website team. Small issues caught early are much easier to fix than big drops discovered months later.