If you’re a business website owner, you’ve probably heard of Google Search Console (GSC). But, what is Google Search Console? Simply, GSC is a free tool from Google. It allows you to monitor and analyse your website’s search traffic and performance. The attraction is, it’s free! But, is it beneficial?
In this article, KIJO will aim to unveil what Google Search Console is. We’ll also explain the advantages of using the complimentary platform.
Google Search Console (which was once known as Google Webmaster Tools) is a free web-based service. The service allows owners of websites to monitor, analyse and manage their presence in Google’s search results. It reveals data regarding your website’s traffic, its organic visibility, your best performing pages, and insights on how well your keywords are performing. The search console also hosts a collection of useful SEO tools. These might be helpful in identifying what might be stopping your website from ranking higher in search results.
GSC ultimately acts as a tool to help you understand how Google interprets your website. It does this alongside analysing how your SEO can be improved.
The product description is pretty compelling, but what are the exact advantages of engaging with GSC?
On Google Search Console, it will show you what your page’s Google result looks like. This is also known as a SERP (search engine result page). The sections shown on a SERP are called the meta title, the meta description and the URL. You’ll be able to check that these all look how you want them to. GSC will also inform you if they need improvement in order to make them more compelling to click on.
When you register your website with GSC, you can monitor your site’s performance in the Google search results. It will show you how many clicks your website receives, how many impressions it gets (impressions are how many people see your search result on Google), and how well it’s doing on the Google results pages. The search console will also tell you the keywords that people are using to find your website, which page on your website gets the most clicks, where your most frequent users are located, and what sort of device your users are using when they visit your website (mobile, tablet or desktop).
What’s really great about GSC is that it has a feature where you can compare the results with data from a previous period. This could be against the previous month, the previous year, the previous week etc. This is incredibly useful if you’re assessing the changes you’re making to your website or business. It also provides the needed/wanted data to back up that your efforts are working.
If your page has been visited by the Google crawler, then that means it’s been analysed for its content and meaning. It is thus stored in the Google index. Once this has happened, GSC will show you how Google is indexing your website and if there are any issues. It will tell you which of your pages are:
It will also tell you which pages are showing error messages to users and much more. GSC will even send you notifications to make sure you’re definitely aware of the issues arising with any pages that have been crawled. These insights provide you with powerful knowledge. Then, you can adjust your pages and make sure that they’re all appropriately, and properly, crawled and indexed.
In the links section of GSC, you’ll be able to check out your website’s links and identify if any negative backlinks are impacting your rankings in SERPs. Backlinks are great; they show Google that your website is one of note and that its content is trusted. However, if a spammy website is backlinking to your website, Google may look at yours more unfavourably. So, this GSC insight is definitely an advantage. You can then use Google’s disavow tool; this removes the link from the spammy website.
You can see how many URLs are linking to your website, the text they’re using for the hyperlink, and the exact pages that are being linked too.
Read our related blog: KIJO’s Ultimate Tips for Improving Your Internal Linking.
Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that Google uses to measure your website’s loading speed, interactivity and overall user experience (UX). GSC provides a report on your Core Web Vitals across both mobile and desktop experiences. These allow you to see how Google is scoring your website across both devices. When 60% of web traffic comes from mobile devices, this insight is arguably integral. These metrics are also considered crucial indicators regarding user experience, and Google takes them into account when ranking your pages.
Improving these Core Web Vitals can lead to a better user experience for your user. It can also help improve your search rankings. So, they are worth paying proper attention to. However, actually improving them may take the expert knowledge of a website design team. Understanding where web design or functionality elements are getting in the way of organic visibility is critical for any SEO strategy. So, it may be worth looking at a professional optimisation package like KIJO Optimise.
The KIJO Optimise package offers an in-depth audit of your site’s performance, UX, traffic and conversions. Looking at 113 data points, our expert team will pinpoint exactly how to make your site rank higher on Google, boost traffic, and increase conversion volume and ratio. This includes improving your Core Web Vitals score too.
As you can see, GSC is a pretty comprehensive tool. However, its biggest advantage is that it’s all your necessary SEO tools stored in one location. It’s also completely free! So, it may be worth heading over to the search console login, setting yourself up and seeing what you can learn about your website.
Alternatively, work with a team of experts who can analyse these GSC insights for you. The KIJO team can work with you to optimise your website in a targeted, purposeful way. A way that will help you achieve your website goals, and thus help you toward your business goals too. Get in touch to discuss the KIJO Optimise package today.
