What is Google Search Console (GSC)?

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool from Google that shows how your website does in Google Search. It tells you which searches show your pages, how often people click, if Google can find and index your pages, and what the problems are when it can't. Setting it up takes only a few minutes.

What you can do with Search Console

With Search Console, you can:

• see your search traffic: which searches show your pages, how often your site appears and how often people click
• check that Google can find, crawl and index your pages
• fix indexing problems and ask Google to look at a new or updated page again
• see which other websites link to yours
• check how fast and stable your pages are for real visitors
• get alerts when Google finds problems on your site, like indexing errors, spam or signs of hacking

The data covers Google Search only. That includes AI Overviews and AI Mode, which Google counts as normal web results. Visits from other search engines, social media or emails don't show up here.

Because of these features, Search Console is a great starting point for search engine optimisation (SEO).

How to set up Google Search Console

To set up Search Console, you need a Google account and access to your domain's DNS settings. If your domain is with one.com, you'll find those in the control panel.

Choose a Domain or URL-prefix property

Search Console calls each website you add a property, and there are two types.

Our advice: always set up a Domain property. It shows every version of your site in one place, so no visits or errors slip through. You don't have to choose between the two: you can add URL-prefix properties next to it for parts of your site you want to track on their own. If you can't change your domain's DNS settings, start with a URL-prefix property instead.

Add and verify your website

To set up a Domain property:

1. Go to Google Search Console and sign in with your Google account.
2. Choose Add property, select Domain and enter your domain without https:// or www, for example yourbusiness.co.uk.
3. Copy the TXT record that Search Console shows you.
4. Add the TXT record to your domain's DNS. If your domain is with one.com, you do this under DNS settings in the control panel. Our help centre shows how to add a TXT record.
5. Go back to Search Console and click Verify. If it doesn't work straight away, wait an hour and try again. A new DNS record can take up to a day or two to be picked up.

If you chose a URL-prefix property, Search Console offers other ways to verify. You can upload an HTML file or add a meta tag to your homepage, for instance. Google's verification guide explains each one.

Submit your sitemap

A sitemap is a file that lists the pages on your website, so Google can find them more easily. Your site probably has one already. Most website builders create one automatically, and a WordPress website has one at /wp-sitemap.xml.

1. In Search Console, open Sitemaps in the menu.
2. Enter the address of your sitemap, for example https://yourbusiness.co.uk/sitemap.xml.
3. Click Submit. Google reads the sitemap over the next few days.

The main reports, explained

Using Search Console for SEO mostly comes down to a handful of reports.

Performance: the searches that find you

This report lists the searches, or queries, that showed your pages in Google. For each one, you get four metrics:

• Clicks: how often someone clicked through to your site.
• Impressions: how often your site appeared in the results.
• CTR (click-through rate): the share of impressions that led to a click.
• Average position: where your site usually appeared, with 1 being the top result.

You can look back over the last 16 months. The data shows where there's room to improve. For example, if you sell candles online and the query "buy candles online" gets a lot of impressions but few clicks, people see your page in Google but don't click on it. That's a sign to optimise the page. The queries also show the words your customers actually search for, which makes them useful for keyword research.

Pages: is your site in Google?

The Pages report shows which of your pages Google has indexed, meaning stored and able to appear in search results, and which it hasn't and why. A long list of pages that aren't indexed is often fine. Not all your pages need to be in Google. Duplicates, filter pages and redirects are usually left out on purpose. What matters is that your important pages (your homepage, services and contact page) are indexed. If one isn't, the reason in the report tells you where to start, and you can read more about why a page isn't indexed.

URL inspection: check a single page

URL inspection checks one page at a time. Paste an address and it shows whether the page is in Google and when Google last visited it. After you publish a new page or change an important one, you can click Request indexing to ask Google to visit again. It can speed things up, but it doesn't guarantee the page gets indexed or ranks well. You can only send a limited number of requests a day, so save them for the pages that matter.

Core Web Vitals and HTTPS

The Core Web Vitals report shows how your pages score on Core Web Vitals, Google's measures of how fast and stable a page is for real visitors. Small sites often see "not enough data" here. That's normal for a site without a lot of visitors, and it doesn't mean something is wrong. The HTTPS report next to it shows whether your pages load over a secure connection.

Links

The Links report shows a sample of the other sites that link to yours, your backlinks, and how your own pages link to each other. It isn't a complete list, but it's enough to spot patterns. Look for important pages that few of your other pages link to. Visitors and Google find those less easily, so add internal links to them from related pages.

Manual actions and security issues

Both reports should say "No issues detected". If they don't, a Google reviewer has found spam on your pages (a manual action), or Google has found signs that your site has been hacked. You'll get a message about it too. Fix the problem first, then request a review from the same report.

Google Search Console vs Google Analytics

Search Console and Google Analytics are both Google tools, and they're easy to mix up. They answer different questions.

You don't have to choose between them. Use Search Console and set up Google Analytics as well. When you link the two, Google Analytics shows your Search Console queries next to the pages people land on.

Rather leave SEO to experts? Our SEO team does the work on your website for you.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google Search Console free?

Yes. There's no paid version. All it costs you is a little time each month.

Does Search Console improve my rankings?

Not on its own. It shows you what to fix. The changes you make to your pages are what help your rankings.

How long until I see data?

Search Console starts collecting data as soon as your site is added, even before you verify it. The reports usually fill within a few days. There's no data from before that, so it's worth adding your site early.

Can I give other people access?

Yes. Add them as a user in the Search Console settings, for example your web designer or a colleague, instead of sharing your Google login. Keep the owner role for yourself, so you stay in control.

Don't have a website yet? Build your website and set up Search Console from day one, so you have data from the start.