Google Search Console: A Guide for SEOs (2022 Update)

Blog / Google Search Console: A Guide for SEOs (2022 Update) ... Since then, there have been significant changes to Google Webmaster Tools, including a ... Doyouwantmoretraffic? Yes,Iwantmoretraffic No,Ihaveenoughtraffic Ihopeyouenjoyreadingthisblogpost. Ifyouwantmyteamtojustdoyourmarketingforyou,clickhere. GoogleSearchConsole:AGuideforSEOs(2022Update) Blog/GoogleSearchConsole:AGuideforSEOs(2022Update) WanttoknowhowyourSEOeffortsarepayingoff? GoogleprovidesafreetoolcalledGoogleSearchConsolethatoffersatonofdetailedinformationaboutyoursite’sperformance,securityissues,errors,andmore. Howdoesitwork?That’swhatwe’regoingtocovertoday. WhatisGoogleSearchConsole? GoogleSearchConsoleisasuiteoftoolsfromGooglethathelpsyoutrackyoursite’sperformance,findissues,andhelpyoursiterankhigherinGoogle.Itisapowerful,butcomplex,tool. Backin2010,wewroteathoroughbeginner’sguidetoGoogleWebmasterTools.Sincethen,therehavebeensignificantchangestoGoogleWebmasterTools,includingarebrandingasGoogleSearchConsole. We’veupdatedthisguidetoincludehowtouseGoogleSearchConsole,whatdatayou’llfindaboutyourwebsite,importantdatayoumighthaveforgottenabout,andhowtocontinuallymonitorforanyissuesthatmightaffectyoursearchenginerankings. HowtoSetUpGoogleSearchConsole Ifyouhaven’talready,thefirstthingyouwillneedtodoissetupyourwebsitewithGoogleSearchConsole. Todothis,visitthe SearchConsolewebsite,signinwithyourGoogleAccount,preferablytheoneyouarealreadyusingforGoogleAnalytics. ClicktheStartNowbuttontothelowerleft-sideofthescreen,andyou’llseethisdialoguebox: SelecttheURLprefix,asitgivesyoumoreoptionsforverification. Next,youwillhavetoverifythissiteasyours. Previously,thisinvolvedembeddingcodeintoyourwebsiteheaderoruploadanHTMLfiletoyourwebserver. Now,ifyoualreadyhaveGoogleAnalytics,itautomaticallyverifiesyoursiteforyouandyouwillseethis: Ifthisdoesn’tworkforyou,useoneofthese otheroptionsforverification. Oneofthenewestverificationoptions,DNSCNAMEverification,isactuallysomethingthatwasintheoldGoogleWebmasterTools,buthasbeenbroughtbackforGoogleSearchConsole. Onceyoursiteisverified,youwillwantto submitasitemap ifyouhaveoneavailable. ThisisasimpleXMLfilethatwilltellGoogleSearchConsolewhatpagesyouhaveonyourwebsite. Ifyouhaveonealready,youcanusuallyfinditbytypinginhttp://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xmltoseeitinyourbrowser. Tocreateasitemapifyoudon’talreadyhaveone,youcanuseonlinetoolslike XMLSitemaps. IfyouarerunningawebsiteonyourowndomainusingWordPress,youcaninstallthe GoogleXMLSitemapsplugin. Onceyouhaveactivatedtheplugin,lookunderyourSettingsintheWordPressdashboardandclickonXML-Sitemap. Thepluginshouldhavealreadygeneratedyoursitemap,sothere’snothingelseyouhavetodo. You’llfindyourURLattheverytopofthepage: CopythelinkaddressandheadbackovertoGoogleSearchConsole,thenpasteitunder“Addanewsitemap”inGSC. ItmaytakeafewdaysforSearchConsoletostartpullinginformationaboutyourwebsite. Besuretowaitabit,thenkeepreadingtofindoutwhatelseyoucanlearnfromGoogleSearchConsole! WhatDataCanYouPullFromGoogleSearchConsole? Onceyou’veaddedandverifiedyourwebsite,you’llbeabletoseetonsofinformationaboutyoursiteperformanceinGSC. Remember,thisisapowerfultool;theseareonlythehighlightsofnewtypesofdataandtheimportantdatayoushouldremembertocheckonoccasionally. GoogleSearchConsoleOverview WhenyouvisityourwebsiteinGSC,youwillfirstseeyourOverview. ThisisanoverviewoftheimportantdatawithinGoogleSearchConsole.YoucanvisitspecificareassuchasyourCrawlErrors,SearchAnalytics,andSitemapsfromthisscreenbyclickingontheapplicablelinks. Youcanalsonavigatetotheseareasusingthemenuintheleftsidebar. SearchResults Intheleftsidebar,you’llseeSearchResults. Thissectiongivesyouanoverviewofhowyoursiteappearsinthe SearchEngineResultsPage,includingtotalclicks,impressions,position,click-throughrate,andwhatqueriesyoursiteshowsupfor. Thefiltersatthetopallowyoutosortdatabasedonlocation,date,typeofsearch,andmuchmore.ThisdataiscrucialtounderstandingtheimpactofyourSEOefforts. IndexCoverageReport ThisreportgivesyoudataabouttheURLsGooglehastriedtoindexonyourselectedpropertyandanyproblemsGooglehashad. AsGooglebotcrawlstheinternet,itprocesseseachpageitcomesacrosstocompileanindexofeveryworditseesoneverypage. Italsolooksatcontenttagsandattributeslikeyourtitlesoralttexts. ThisgraphshowsabreakdownoftheURLsonyoursitethathavebeenindexedbyGoogleandcanthusappearinsearchresults. Asyouaddandremovepages,thisgraphwillchangewithyou. Don’tworrytoomuchifyouhaveasmallernumberofindexedpagesthanyouthinkyoushould.GooglebotfiltersouttheURLsitseesasaduplicate,non-canonical,orthosewithanoindexmetatag. You’llalsonoticeanumberofURLsyourrobots.txtfilehasdisallowedfromcrawling. AndyoucanalsocheckhowmanyURLsyou’veremovedwiththe RemovalTool.Thiswillmostlikelyalwaysbealowvalue.   Sitemaps Imentionedsitemapsearlier,soI’llcoverthisagaininbrief. InGSCunderSitemaps,youwillseeinformationaboutyoursitemap,includingwhetheryouhaveoneandwhenitwaslastupdated. Ifyounoticethelastdateyoursitemapwasdownloadedisnotrecent,youmightwanttosubmityoursitemaptorefreshthenumberofURLssubmitted. Otherwise,thishelpsyoukeeptrackofhowGoogleisreadingyoursitemapandwhetherallyourpagesareviewedasyouwantthemtobe. Removals IfforsomereasonyouneedtotemporarilyblockapagefromGoogle’ssearchresults,headtoRemovals. Youcanhideapageforapproximately90daysbeforethiswearsoff. IfyouwanttopermanentlyremoveapagefromGoogle’scrawling,you’llhavetodoitonyouractualwebsite. CoreWebVitals CoreWebVitals areasetofmetricsthatimpactyoursearchranking.Theyincludespeed,usability,andvisualstability.Thesearenowrankingsignals,soyou’llwanttopayattentiontothem. AcceleratedMobilePages (AMP) AcceleratedMobilePages isanopen-sourceinitiativedesignedtoprovidefast-loadingmobilewebsitesthatworkwithslowconnectionspeeds. Youcan goheretogetstarted creatingyourfirstpageifyoudon’thaveonealready. You’llgetaboilerplatepieceofcodeyoucancustomizetoyoursite. ToviewpagesinGSC,headtoEnhancements>AMP. LinkstoYourSite Curiousaboutyourbacklinks? GSCshowsyouthedomainsthatlinktoyouthemostaswellasthepagesonyourwebsitewiththemostlinks.ScrolldownintheleftsidebaruntilyouseeLinks.Clickandyou’llseeafullreportoflinkstoyoursite: Thisisprobablythemostcomprehensivelistingofyourbacklinks(andinternallinks!)youwillfind,forfreeatleast. It’sapowerfultooltoknowwhereyourcontentisbeingleveragedaroundtheweb,andwhatperformsbestinGoogle’seyes. ManualActions TheManualActionstabiswhereyoucanfindoutifanyofyourpagesarenotcompliantwithGoogle’s webmasterqualityguidelines. It’soneofthewaysthatGooglehastakenactionagainstwebspamming. MobileUsability OntheMobileUsabilitytab,youcanmakesureallyourwebsite’spagesarealignedwithwhatGoogleconsidersbestpractice. Asyoucansee,youcanhaveissueswithtextsize,viewportsettings,oreventheproximityofyourclickableelements. Anyoftheseproblems,aswellas othererrors,cannegativelyaffectyourmobilesite’srankingsandpushyoulowerontheresultspage.Findingandfixingtheseerrorswillhelpyouruserexperienceandresults. Whilereviewingthisinformation,Isuggestthatyoualsocheckyoursite’smobilespeed.Iuse Ubersuggest todoso. ThefirstthingyouwanttodoistypeyourURLintothesearchboxandclickSearch. AfterclickingtheSearchbutton,clickSiteAuditintheleftsidebarandthenscrolldownthepageuntilyouseedSiteSpeed. You’llseethesitespeedforbothdesktopandmobiledevices.Forthesakeofthisexercise,we’remoreinterestedinmobileloadingtime.Mysiteloadsonmobiledevicesintwoseconds,whichscoresintheexcellentrange. Inadditiontooverallsitespeed,there’salsoanadvancedbreakdownfor: FirstcontentfulpaintSpeedindexTimetointeractiveSEOauditopportunitiesFirstmeaningfulpaintFirstCPUidleEstimatedinputlatency Ifyouseeanyissueshere,fixthemimmediately,andthenre-testyoursite.Itmaybeenoughtoimproveyourloadingtime. CrawlStats Foramorein-depthanalysisofhowoftenGooglebotislookingatyoursite,youcanusethe CrawlStatsreport underSettings>Crawlstats. Here,you’llseehowoftenyoursite’spagesarecrawled,howmanykilobytesaredownloadedperday,andyoursite’sdownloadtimes. AccordingtoGoogle,thereisno“good”crawlnumber,buttheydohaveadviceforany suddenspikesordrops inyourcrawlrates.   FetchasGoogle(NowCalledURLInspection) ThistoolishelpfulasitletsyouactuallydoatestrunofhowGooglecrawlsandrendersaspecificURLonyoursite. It’sahelpfulwaytomakesurethatGooglebotcanaccessapagethatmightotherwisebelefttoguesswork. Ifyou’resuccessful,thepagewillrender,andyou’llbeabletoseeifanyresourcesareblockedtoGooglebot. Ifyouwantaccesstothecodeofyoursite,clickViewTestedPagetoseetheHTML,ascreenshot,andanycrawlerrors.(Note:Crawlerrorsusedtobeitsownreport;nowit’slocatedinURLinspectionunderCoverage.) Whenyougettothedebuggingpointofwebdevelopment,youcan’tbeatthisfreetool. Robots.txtTester Ifyou’reusinga robots.txtfile toblockGoogle’scrawlersfromaspecificresource, thistool allowsyoutodouble-checkthateverythingisworking. Soifyouhaveanimageyoudon’twanttoappearinaGoogleImageSearch,youcantestyourrobots.txtheretomakesurethatyourimageisn’tpoppingupwhereyoudon’twantit. Whenyoutest,you’lleitherreceiveanAcceptedorBlockedmessage,andyoucaneditaccordingly. URLParameters Googlethemselvesrecommendusingthistoolsparingly,asanincorrectURLparametercannegativelyimpacthowyoursiteiscrawled. Youcanreadmoreabouthowtoproperlyuse URLparametersfromGoogle. Whenyoudousethem,thistoolwillhelpyoukeeptabsontheirperformanceandmakesurethey’renotpointingGooglebotinthewrongdirection. FAQs WhatisGoogleSearchConsole? WhatisGoogleSearchConsole?TheGoogleSearchConsoleisacollectionoftoolsthatenablesyoutomonitortheoperationofyourwebsite,identifyproblems,andimproveitsGoogleranking.It’safreeonlinetoolGoogleofferswithdetailsaboutyourwebsiteandtheuserswhovisitit. HowtoUseGoogleSearchConsole WhenlearninghowtouseGoogleSearchConsole,firstaddyourwebsitetoGoogleSearchConsole.Then,setupoperationsyouwanttolooktoconsistentlyoptimize.Next,submitasitemap,andfinally,learnmetricsforrefiningandreportingpurposesafterputtingtheGoogleSearchConsoletowork.  HowtoSetUpGoogleSearchConsole StartbysigningintoyourGoogleAccount,openGoogleSearchConsole,andaddyoursite.Finally,addinyourdomainorURLprefixtoverifyyouraccountandbegintakingadvantageofthefeatures.   Conclusion GoogleSearchConsolegivesyoupowerfulinsightsintohowyoursiteperforms,aswellaswhatyoucandoto keepGoogle’sattention.Onceyouhavethebasicsdown,learnhowtouseGSCdatato increaseyourtrafficby28percentormore. DoyouuseGoogleSearchConsole?Whatareasdoyoufindmostuseful?Pleaseshareyourthoughtsinthecommentsbelow,andhappydataanalyzing! SeeHowMyAgencyCanDriveMassiveAmountsofTraffictoYourWebsite SEO-unlockmassiveamountsofSEOtraffic.Seerealresults. ContentMarketing-ourteamcreatesepiccontentthatwillgetshared,getlinks,andattracttraffic. PaidMedia-effectivepaidstrategieswithclearROI. BookaCall Share Doyouwantmoretraffic? Hey,I'mNeilPatel.I'mdeterminedtomakeabusinessgrow.Myonlyquestionis,willitbeyours? AboutNeilPatel Heistheco-founderofNPDigital.TheWallStreetJournalcallshimatopinfluencerontheweb,Forbessaysheisoneofthetop10marketers,andEntrepreneurMagazinesayshecreatedoneofthe100mostbrilliantcompanies.NeilisaNewYorkTimesbestsellingauthorandwasrecognizedasatop100entrepreneurundertheageof30byPresidentObamaanda top100entrepreneurundertheageof35by theUnitedNations. 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