Before we can begin discussing how Google Search Console is helpful for SEO beginners, we must first learn what Google Search Console is and what it entails.
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What Is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is a tool that provides the data necessary to monitor a website’s performance and help improve its search rankings as well. While there are a lot of platforms you can choose from to monitor your search rankings and performance, Google Search Console is free and easy, making it one of the better options.
This web service allows you to monitor how your site is doing in sales, search, and all other aspects of your business performance. The overall intention of Google Search Console is for users to be able to help improve their site’s ability to generate more traffic for their business. Publishers are able to effectively combine all relevant data metrics into one easy system instead of multiple diverse systems.
Features of Search Console
A few of the main features of Google Search Console is the ability to monitor the indexing and crawling on a site. It’s also used to help identify and fix errors as well as to see the overall performance of the site. You are also able to review both internal and external links and the indexing of updated pages on your website.
Google Search Console also happens to be a free tool for both business and personal use. While there are many programs out there that require a monthly subscription, Google allows you to use their tool completely free of charge.
How Does Google Search Console Help With SEO?
We’ve all heard of the term search engine optimization or SEO. This is basically the process of affecting the visibility of your website or webpage on search engines. So when a consumer searches for a phrase, term, or question relevant to your business, your website shows up in the results. SEO is instrumental in increasing your website’s views. You need to prioritize SEO if you want to help drive sales, traffic, and profit for your business. This is why using Google Search Console is so important for your business. Whether you want to view your sales or track your traffic on your site, SEO is going to be very important in this process.
Getting Started With Google Search Console
When you’re looking to set up Google Search Console, you first need to verify the ownership of your site. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to register your domain with Google. If you already have your website under a Google domain, then you’re automatically verified. As an SEO beginner, this is the easiest way to accomplish that. However, there are many other ways to verify your site if you are an SEO professional. SEO Design Chicago has many agents on staff to help you either register your domain, verify it, or even create the website itself. If you need that extra assistance, we are more than willing to help get that set up for you. However, if you are doing this on your own, then there are other easy ways to begin this process.
Four Methods of Site Verification
- Option One: Upload an HTML file
- Option Two: A Meta-Tag
- Option Three: Google Analytics tracking code
- Option Four: Google Tag Manager
The most common route is opening an HTML file. In that case, once you are on the Google Search Console page, you should open the property selector drop-down. Enter the URL of your site in the option labeled “property type.” Continue by selecting the HTML file upload method and then proceed by uploading your HTML file. Once you have uploaded the HTML to the root of your website, you can select verify within the search console.
Performance Reports
One of the most important jobs for an SEO beginner is to look at the performance of the website you’re working on and how you feel it is doing. The only way for you to better yourself and your webpage is to have the ability to monitor your site and how it is doing. The performance report that the Google Search Console tool provides important information on this, including the total amount of clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average position.
Impressions and Click-Through Rate
What we mean by “impressions” is the number of times the website has appeared in search results. Even if a user doesn’t have to physically click the link in order to see the URL, this will count as an impression on your page. Obviously, you want to strive for a high number of impressions. That likely means that Google is showing your site at the top of the page of search results, not at the bottom of the page.
The click-through rate is within that same spectrum. Your website’s click-through rate is the amount of times the users have gone from the search results to your website itself. By registering your site through Google Search Console, you can combine this data and more in one easy platform and report how well your site is doing.
Average Position
The term “average position” is something that every SEO beginner should learn. This tells you at which position on search results your website typically shows up. Earning a 1 to 10 means you are most likely to appear on the first search page of results. Anything after that means that there are things that you can do to get your site to that first page. That could be changing keyword phrases that will help your ranking or looking closely at the content/product descriptions on your site.
Dimensions
Within the performance report, there are also different “dimensions” of the website performance data. There are queries that will show the top result and the number of clicks or impressions that are associated with each keyword phrase on your page.
Within this section, the top-performing webpages and top-performing countries are provided for your analysis. This can help you see what aspect of your webpage is getting attention over others as well as where your site is being viewed more. It may tell you that your company should readjust your demographic targeting.
GSC also shows what type of device people use to access your website the most. For example, if you haven’t created a responsive website but many of your users are viewing your site on tablets or phones, you may want to invest in responsive design.
Get Help With Google Search Console
If you ever need help navigating Google Search Console, SEO Design Chicago’s experienced team is here to help guide you in the right direction. We can give you advice or take on managing Google Search Console for you. Check out all of our services today.
FAQ:
- What is Google Search Console?
- How does Google Search Console influence SEO?
- How can you verify your site on Google?
- What metrics can you find on Google Search Console?
- What does “average position” refer to?
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