Want a great tool to get your website more traffic? Then this article is for you. I’m going to tell you all about a free Google service called Search Console. And show how it can help you, and how you can set it up.
What you will learn
When it comes to your website, the more information you have, the better. In this video you’ll learn:
• What Search Console is, and how it can help
• Some of its useful features
• How to set it up.
What is Google Search Console?
Google search console is simply a service that gives you feedback about how your website is doing in Google search results.
Functions of Google Search Console
Google Search Console has two primary functions.
- It monitors your performance in Google Search results. And
- It also shows you how Google “sees” your site.
How Google Search Console works
Let’s say you run an online food store, and your website needs some updating. Let’s take a closer look at a few ways Search Console might be able to help you out.
- One way is through its “Search Analytics” reports. This can help you answer a few important questions like which searches bring people to your site. Or tell you when searchers click on your links. They can even let you know which other sites link to yours.
Why is this important?
Well, the “Search Analytics” report shows lots of things, including the most common searches bringing people to your site. Ideally, you’d see words and phrases relevant to your business, like:
‘Food store in Lagos’, ‘Ready-made food store near me, ‘Restaurants in Ikeja, or ‘Home delivery food store near me’.
If you review the report and see unrelated or irrelevant words and phrases, it’s a hint that the text on your website needs some attention.
- The number of clicks: Another way you can use Google Search Console is to know the number of clicks you get on your website. You’ll want to know how often your site appears but gets no clicks—that’s a sign your content doesn’t match what people are looking for.
- External Links to your site: This report shows websites that link to your site. Think of these as “referrals.” The list should include websites relevant to Food.
- Accessibility: Google Search Console will also help you know if your website is mobile-friendly. More and more people use mobile devices to access the Internet, so while you’re in Google Search Console you should also check out the “Mobile Usability Report”. This report will point out pages on your site that don’t work well on mobile phones, which you can fix to improve your website performance when people search on mobile.
There are two more features within Search Console to know about: “Crawl” reports, and “Google Index” reports.
Crawl
This report let you monitor whether Google can visit your web pages. This is important because if Google can’t access your web pages, then your content can’t be included in Google’s search results.
Google Index
The “Google Index” reports show what information Google recorded about your site and tell you if your pages are accessible.
To get started with Search Console.
- Go to www.google.com/webmasters.
- Once signed in, add your website and complete the verification to prove you own the website.
Ps: Search Console is free to use and generate reports for your site—for free! However, It might take a few days before you see useful information because it must first gather and process the data. If you see a “No data yet” message, check back later.
Conclusion
Now that your site’s set up in Google Search Console, you can use the reports to figure out how to improve your presence on Google. Using the reports, you can make changes to help Google better understand your web pages and as a result, make your website perform better.