HOW TO USE GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE

At Lillian Purge, we specialise in Local SEO Services and have produced a practical walkthrough on How to Use Google Search Console to help you unlock insights, fix indexing issues and boost your SEO performance.

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool that allows website owners to understand how Google views their site. It provides reports on search performance, indexing, mobile usability, and technical health.

Whether you’re running a small local business or managing a large ecommerce store, GSC is essential for tracking your SEO progress. It helps you monitor impressions, clicks, and ranking positions across Google Search, offering valuable insight into which keywords and pages drive the most traffic.

Why Google Search Console Is Important

GSC helps you bridge the gap between what you think your site is doing and what Google actually sees. It identifies errors, shows which pages are indexed, and reveals how often users click your listings in search results.

With this information, you can:

  • Measure the success of your SEO campaigns.

  • Identify underperforming pages.

  • Discover search queries that drive visibility.

  • Fix crawl and indexing problems.

  • Submit new pages for indexing faster.

Using Google Search Console regularly ensures your site remains optimised, accessible, and competitive in search rankings.

Step 1: Set Up Your Account

To begin, go to the Google Search Console website and sign in with your Google account. Click “Add property” and choose between two verification methods:

  • Domain property: Tracks all URLs under your domain (recommended for complete coverage).

  • URL prefix property: Tracks only a specific section or variation of your site.

If you’re using a domain property, you’ll need to verify ownership by adding a DNS record through your domain provider. For URL prefix properties, verification can be done using an HTML tag, file upload, or integration with Google Analytics.

Once verified, Google begins collecting data, which you can view in your dashboard within a few days.

Step 2: Explore the Search Performance Report

The “Performance” tab is one of the most useful sections in Search Console. It shows key metrics such as:

  • Total clicks: How many times users clicked your website in search results.

  • Impressions: How often your pages appeared for a query.

  • Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of impressions that resulted in clicks.

  • Average position: Your page’s average ranking for specific search terms.

You can filter by queries, pages, countries, or devices to understand how users are finding your site.

For example, you might find that a certain keyword brings high impressions but low clicks. This could mean your title or meta description needs improvement to attract more users.

Step 3: Check Index Coverage

The “Indexing” section helps you understand which pages on your site are included in Google’s index. If a page isn’t indexed, it won’t appear in search results.

Here you’ll see categories such as “Indexed”, “Not Indexed”, and “Excluded”. Common issues that prevent indexing include:

  • Duplicate content.

  • Pages blocked by robots.txt.

  • Noindex tags.

  • Redirects or broken links.

If you fix an issue, use the “Validate fix” button to tell Google to recheck the page. You can also submit a URL manually through the “URL Inspection” tool to request indexing after publishing new content.

Step 4: Use the URL Inspection Tool

This tool allows you to check how Google views a specific page. You can see whether it’s indexed, when it was last crawled, and if there are any technical problems.

To use it, paste your page URL into the search bar at the top of Search Console. If it’s not indexed, you can request indexing directly. This is particularly useful when launching new pages or updating existing ones with significant content changes.

Step 5: Review Mobile Usability

Since most searches now happen on mobile devices, Google prioritises mobile-friendly pages. The “Mobile Usability” report highlights any design or functionality issues that make your site difficult to use on smaller screens.

Common problems include text being too small, clickable elements too close together, or content wider than the screen. Fixing these improves user experience and helps your rankings.

Step 6: Monitor Enhancements and Core Web Vitals

The “Enhancements” section provides information on user experience metrics, including Core Web Vitals. These measure page loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.

The three main Core Web Vitals are:

  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): How quickly the main content loads.

  • First Input Delay (FID): How responsive the site is to user interaction.

  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): How stable the visual layout remains as the page loads.

If your site fails these metrics, Google flags them as “Needs improvement” or “Poor”. Addressing these issues can lead to better user experience and improved search performance.

Step 7: Analyse Links

The “Links” report shows all the backlinks pointing to your website and the internal links within your pages.

Backlinks (links from other sites) are a strong ranking signal. Reviewing this data helps you understand which external sources bring authority to your domain.

The internal link report shows how well your site connects its pages. Strong internal linking improves crawl efficiency and helps Google understand the hierarchy of your content.

Step 8: Address Security and Manual Actions

If Google detects security problems (like malware or hacked content) or penalties (manual actions for breaking guidelines), they appear in the “Security and Manual Actions” tab.

If you receive a warning, address it immediately. Google provides guidance for each issue, and once fixed, you can request a review to have any penalties removed.

Step 9: Submit a Sitemap

A sitemap tells Google which pages you want indexed. Submitting a sitemap helps new pages appear faster in search results.

Go to the “Sitemaps” section, enter your sitemap URL (for example, “https://www.yourwebsite.co.uk/sitemap.xml”), and click “Submit”. Once processed, you’ll see confirmation that your sitemap was successfully crawled.

If your site uses WordPress, SEO plugins like Rank Math or Yoast automatically generate and update sitemaps for you.

Step 10: Use Search Console Insights

Search Console Insights is designed to help you understand how content performs across Google Search and Discover. It combines Analytics and Search Console data into easy-to-read summaries.

You can see which content gets the most views, how new pages perform, and where users come from. This helps guide future content creation and SEO decisions.

Expert Tips for Using Google Search Console

  • Check your account weekly to monitor performance trends.

  • Focus on improving pages with high impressions but low CTR.

  • Use data from GSC to identify new keyword opportunities.

  • Link your Search Console with Google Analytics for deeper insight.

  • Validate and monitor fixes regularly to maintain a healthy site.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  1. Ignoring error reports or failing to fix index issues.

  2. Forgetting to submit new pages or sitemaps.

  3. Relying only on impressions instead of actual clicks and conversions.

  4. Not monitoring mobile usability and Core Web Vitals.

  5. Overlooking the impact of backlinks and internal linking.

Final Thoughts

Google Search Console is more than just a diagnostic tool it’s a powerful SEO companion that gives you direct insight into how Google views and values your website.

By using it regularly, you can detect problems early, optimise for better rankings, and track the impact of your SEO work with real data.

For local businesses, combining Search Console insights with your Google Business Profile and on-page optimisation can create a strong, sustainable online presence.

At Lillian Purge, we help businesses use tools like Search Console effectively to monitor performance, fix technical issues, and maximise visibility in local search results.

We have also written in depth articles on What is Google Search Console? and Do I Need Google Search Console? as well as our Google Search Console Hub to give you further guidance.