Do you know that Google Search Console is the most powerful yet Free SEO Tool out there?
But have you used it for more than checking vanity metrics like clicks and impressions?
The response would be mostly, No.
As this tool comes with the “Free Tag”, we fail to realize how cool this tool can be.
This guide will help you learn all about setting the Google Search Console in your system and their special features.
Google Search Console? Never heard of that.
Google Webmaster Tools renamed as Google Search Console, is a free service from Google that assists you to look after and troubleshoot your site’s occurrence in their search results page. It is basically exercised to detect and stay put technical errors, yield sitemaps, witness backlinks and many more.
Set up Google Search Console in your machine
You can easily sign in to Search Console only with your Google Account.
You can notice a welcome note with two choices. You should select the first one, the domain or subdomain should be entered ( leaving out the http(s):// ). Click “Continue”.
Isn’t necessary to put on your whole domain?
Google quotes that “Properties of the domain display information for all URLs under the domain name along with all protocols, paths, and subdomains”
This is ideal if you desire a whole view of your website in search console, but what if you desire to curb information to an individual URL path?
The card is to use a URL prefix property instead. This sums only URLs subjected to the specific address and protocol (i.e.,HTTP/HTTPS,www/non-www)
Note that both domain and URL prefix properties for the same domain can be added.
Verify your domain in search console
Verification is a needed step to take in order to witness any data in the search console. This process varies in accordance with the property type we included
Go to the instructions that befit you
- Domain property is added
- URL prefix property is added
Domain Property Verification
Click the instruction dropdown. You will have to make sure whether your domain is registered with any of the listed providers.
If positive, the provider should be selected and click the “Start verification” button
A message like this should appear.
Select an option to type a TXT record, the record should be pasted from the Search Console and then saved
If the dropdown doesn’t contain your register, Click “ Any DNS Provider”
Sign in. Select your domain, search for an option to handle your DNS.
Return to Search Console and click “Verify”
The verification may fail. But Keep on trying. It may take a few minutes to be verified
URL prefix property Verification
Google provides a few methods to do this. Their default (and recommended) way is to upload an HTML file to your site. However, to stay things simple, we suggest choosing the Domain name provider option, then keeping up with the instructions given above.
Steps to add your sitemap to Google Search Console
Sitemaps convey Google where to find the main content on your site, and how they can go through that content. We suggest that everyone admit a sitemap to Google via the Search Console.
In order to do that, select “Sitemaps” present at the menu, paste the URL of your XML sitemap into the box named “Enter sitemap URL,” then select “Submit.”
You will find a message which confirms the addition
Steps to add a user to Google Search Console
Users are none other than the people with entry to some or all of the information in Search Console.
There are three kinds:
- Owner: possesses whole control over the means in Search Console, along with the power to add and discharge other users. There are two kinds of the owner: verified and delegated.
- Full user: Carry view rights to all information within the selected property and the power to execute some actions.
- Restricted user: retains restricted view rights. They may not be able to access all the information.
By default, at the times you check a property in Search Console, you own owner privileges.
To tag along with any another user, go to:
Search Console > Prefer a property > Settings > Users and permissions > Add user
Text their email address, then pick either full or restricted access.
If you have the necessity to modify their access, just return here.
Ways in which Google Search Console can be used to improve your SEO
Rather than seaming through each Search Console report in extremely boring detail, we’re concentrating on a few actionable ways to practice it to advance SEO.
- Enhance rankings for underperforming keywords
Keywords can attract tons of traffic but only when the content containing the keywords is ranked at the first or second position of the SERP. These are the position that makes the most out of the CTR. Underperforming keywords cannot be rectified overnight but using the Google search console tool, you can track the pages that make the most of the CTR and improvise the content related to the keywords. This way one can improve the ranking for underperforming keywords.
- Revamp pages with high keyword rankings, but shallow CTR
You might have optimized your content and would have been ranked at the third position. But still, there are chances of getting low CTR than an average third positioned result would get. The reason is that the advertisements, featured snippets, a video carousel and “people also ask” box all above the organically ranked search results where your site’s result is placed. So, it is necessary to track how google produces the result page for different keywords and have to optimize the page accordingly so that your content can appear at featured snippets and others that occupy the area above the organic results.
- Repair sitemap issues
Sitemaps help the crawlers to get the relevant searches on to to the result page. You can detect the errors at your sitemap submitted to Google by using the Google search console. On fixing the issue, the excluded pages don’t always imply the occurrence of an issue but errors and warnings are serious, so look out for them and tackle them first.
- Sort out the pages that need more internal links or to be removed
If you are creating a new blog to your site, don’t forget to interlink the related pages to the new page. It will make the job easier for the new page to get indexed faster and also to get placed at a higher rank in the SERP. Also, you got to search for the low performing outdated pages at your site using this tool. It is better to remove them but check for the CTR and if it has still got a fair amount of clicks, you can consider adding more internal links to the page and increasing its worth.
- Update pages that are losing organic traffic
You can’t expect your page to get the organic traffic forever. Becoming outdated and seasonality are the two reasons behind this. You can find the pages with diminishing traffic using the search console. You should necessarily optimize or update your pages accordingly in order to regain the organic traffic and stay up to date in the game.
- Learn which content types and topics get the most backlinks
One can’t deny the fact that backlinks play a prominent role in the ranking. This ranking factor forms an integral part of the Google algorithm and been stressed many times by Google. Directing more backlinks to your site should be your target if you wish to increase your organic traffic. To figure out what type of content you should publish in order to get more backlinks, you should analyze the content you have already published through the search console.
Considering the importance of the content in promoting any site, getting a blogger outreach service for doing this work is a more efficient and easier way.
Thus, it is a clever move to try the Google search console first and to sort any other additional tools if required.