Introduction to Google Search Console - The Most Important Tool for Search Engine Analysis

If you run your own website and are involved with the topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you can't get around the Google Search Console. What can the tool do, how can you use functions for your website and what advantages does the Search Console offer? You will find out here.

What is the Google Search Console?

The Search Console, formerly Google Webmaster, is a free service from Google. With the tool, you can determine how well a page ranks in the Google search. Website operators can use the tool to monitor their web presence and fix possible errors. This allows you to identify where improvements are needed to generate more traffic on the website.

Who is the Google Search Console suitable for?

The Google Search Console is suitable for everyone who runs a website. In online marketing, it helps to analyze the performance of the page and to make improvements if necessary. Administrators and developers are shown server - and loading errors that allow quick fixes. Also, maintenance work and other changes to the pages can be carried out in the search results.

Setting up the Search Console

First, you need to set up a Google account. You can use this to log in to the Search Console. After logging in, the dashboard appears.

The prerequisite for working with the Search Console is that the
ownership of the website is confirmed.

You need to take the following steps:

• Determine the website property (URL prefix property or domain property)

• Properties, i.e. the domains/URLS to be checked, have to be stored

• Select the verification method:

• Complete settings, i.e. check the URL, apply for indexing, submit the sitemap, check using the robots.txt tester).   

For more information on registration and the first steps, you can find in the article on the Setting up the Google Search Console.

Is the Search Console GDPR-compliant?

The use of the Search Console is unobjectionable for data protection reasons. The data collected by the Search Console comes exclusively from the
Google website. The user agrees to the collection of his data. If users switch to another website, no more data is collected.

The Search Console also does not pass on any personal data to the website operator. They are not individualizable and do not allow conclusions to be drawn about individual users. IP addresses are not collected.

In summary, it can be said that the Google Search Console is GDPR-compliant and can be used without any problems.

What advantages does the tool offer and how important is it for SEO?

What makes the Google Search Console so special? The biggest advantage is that it is a tool
from Google and therefore all important data is available that you need for optimal search engine optimization. For a comprehensive concept for SEO and SEA campaigns, you can link the GSC with other Google solutions such as Google AdWords. There is currently no comparable tool that draws on such a large amount of data.

What can I do with the Google Search Console? What functions does it have?

With the help of the search analysis, you can clearly determine via which search queries users get to your own website and analyze impressions, clicks and the
position of your own website.

The Google Search Console offers the following advantages:

• The website is found and crawled by Google.

• Impressions and clicks are displayed.

• The user-friendliness on mobile devices is analyzed.

• Indexing errors, spam or other technical errors are not only displayed, but the webmaster can also receive a current notification.

• The Google Search Console also shows which internal and external pages are linked.

What other functions does the GSC offer?

In order to achieve the optimal improvement of the pages, the Google Search Console particularly looks at the AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) and rich snippets.

AMP is a standard for the creation of websites that is important for fast loading times on mobile devices.

With rich snippets, an HTML markup in the source code shows what a rich snippet should look like. This means, rich snippets contain additional information that is not stored in the meta description of the relevant target page, but with the help of markups as structured data in its source code. The Google Search Console shows whether the structured data is correctly stated. If this is the case, there is a greater chance of appearing prominently through a search engine entry in the search results.

What is the structure of the Google Search Console?

The Google Search Console is very user-friendly. Users find their way around quickly.

Overview

The overview page shows a summary of the performance of the website through
the Google search. Here you can see at a glance how many clicks your web presence has brought in the last few weeks. The index coverage, the user-friendliness on the computer and smartphone as well as improvements are also shown here. In summary, it can be said that the overview page gives you an overview of your website and informs about all critical errors that should be fixed.

URL check

Here, multiple URLs of a website can be submitted and it is simulated how well the pages rank in the Google search. As soon as the pages are submitted to Google, users receive an overview of the current status, i.e. Google informs whether the URL has already been submitted for indexing and whether Google has already indexed it or not. There is also information about the date the page was last crawled. If a URL check is to be carried out for the first time or changes have been made to an existing page, Google can request that the page be indexed. If there are no errors in the live URL, the page
is treated with high priority for crawling.

A note: Each URL should have its own keywords assigned to it for which the page ranks.
Otherwise, the pages compete with each other and rank worse. None of the page then has the chance to reach one of the top positions in the search engines.

In the article about the Keyword analysis you will find detailed information on the topic.

Performance

The navigation point "Performance" shows the search queries of the page. These are
automatically sorted by clicks. Under impressions, you understand how often the pages have appeared in the Google search results. Clicks show how often the search result was clicked on. The click rate results from impressions and clicks. The click rate is an important ranking factor. Google interprets from this how much added value the page offers for its visitors.

Coverage

Under the navigation point Coverage, the current Google indexing status of all
URLs is displayed. As a website operator, you should regularly take a look at whether there are technical errors. This could be the case, for example, if changes or optimizations have been made to the site, e.g. navigation areas have been deleted or new pages have been added.

Sitemaps

This is where the sitemaps are uploaded. It is important that you upload the sitemap in the
correct format. The XML format applies. If changes have been made to
the website, the current sitemap as well as individual URLs can be uploaded for
Crawling. This always ensures a current indexing.

Removing

An address, a directory or the entire website - here elements can be simply and
quickly removed from the Google index.

User-friendliness of pages

Here, an overview of the user-friendliness of the page is displayed. The actual user data serve as the basis
for this. For this, Google analyzes measurement values, the result of which influences the ranking in the search results. But which criteria play a role here?

First of all, the Core Web Vitals. Here, Google evaluates the user experience of mobile and desktop views. The three metrics that are evaluated here are LCP, FID, and CLS. LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) measures the loading time of the largest element in the viewport. Usually, this is the first element that users perceive. FID (First Input Delay) records the first interaction of the user with the page. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) looks at unexpected layout shifts while the user interacts with the page. On the overview page of the Core Web Vitals report, the data is broken down by device. If you switch to the diagram, you can switch between the tabs "Bad", "Improvable" and "Good".

You want to know more about the topic? Then take a look at the article about the Core Web Vitals.

Mobile first - Google also looks at the user experience on mobile devices. Here, an examination of the previous user experience is carried out. A limited usability on mobile devices is given, for example, if texts are too small to read, control elements are arranged unfavorably or there are long loading times.

A website is only considered safe if it is available via HTTPS. If this is not the case, Google will classify the page as "bad" or "failed".

Overall, Google rates a
website as "Good" when the following criteria are met:

1. The Core Web Vitals report is classified as "Good".
2. There are no security problems and the internet presence
   is provided via HTTPS.
3. The user experience on mobile devices was respected.

By the way: The be-all and end-all for a good ranking of the website are meaningful and unique SEO texts.

Improvements

This menu item, for example in the area "Navigation paths", shows the position of the
sub-pages in the website hierarchy. You can also see how you can, for example, improve the AMP pages.

Security and manual measures

Under this navigation point, various types of security problems are displayed. These could be, for example, URLs inserted by hacking, harmful downloads or misleading pages. If a website violates the guidelines, a penalty can occur. This is also shown here.

Links

Here, the most linked external and internal links for your pages are
listed. On the other hand, you can look at top-referring websites and texts here.

Conclusion on the Google Search Console

If you want to do good SEO, the Google Search Console is just right. It offers all the advantages that a tool for checking a website needs. In addition, it is free and user-friendly. Even without tracking experience, users get by
the functions.

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