Google Search Console

The Google Search Console is Google's complimentary web analysis tool.

This tool allows both websites and apps to be analyzed and monitored. Users receive notifications about unnatural links, hacking attempts, and the overall status of their website or app through the Search Console.

From Google Webmaster Tools to Modern Analysis Tool

Initially, Google's search engine offered users the ability to analyze sites for free. The Google Webmaster Tools enabled analysis of essential on-page and off-page factors. On May 20, 2015, it was rebranded to Google Search Console, with added features focusing on search analysis.

The rebranding to Google Search Console was aimed at making the tool more accessible to beginners and small site operators who found the term "webmaster" intimidating.

Google encourages webmasters and SEOs to utilize this free tool to enhance website optimization, which in turn positively impacts search results. Additionally, the console allows Google to communicate directly with site operators if issues arise.

Components of the Search Console

• Dashboard: Offers central data on search analysis, sitemaps, and crawling errors, along with the latest notifications.
• Display in search: Includes analyses of meta info and checks of AMP websites, structured data, and more.
• Search queries: Provides data on click rates, rankings, and SERP impressions. It includes analysis tools for internal linking and backlinks.
• Google Index: Shows the website's indexation status, tools for temporary URL removal, and analysis of resources blocked by robots.txt.
• Crawling: Allows error and statistics retrieval, testing of robots.txt and sitemap.xml, and submission of URLs to the Google Index.

Requirements for use of the Search Console

To use the Search Console, a valid Google account is necessary. Once logged in, users can register their entire website, subdomains, directories, or apps. Verification is required to access full functionality, which can be done through a Google Analytics account, uploading an HTML file, or inserting a meta tag.

Verification can also be done via the domain name provider or Google Tag Manager. Once verified, data from Search Console can be linked to Google Analytics, enhancing analysis capabilities.

The most important functions of the Google Search Console

The Google Search Console allows for comprehensive analysis, checking, and monitoring of a website. Key functions include:

• HTML improvements: Located in "Display in search," it checks title and description lengths and identifies duplicate meta descriptions and meta titles.
• Data Highlighter: An alternative to structured data display, allowing users to tag areas on a website, which Google then uses to create a model for the site.
• Search analysis: Provides real ranking data on relevant keywords. Data can be segmented by region and device, and exported as CSV.
• Links to your website: Lists important links to the homepage and subpages, which can be analyzed for quality regarding offpage optimization.
• Internal links: Offers data on the quantity and targets of internal links, aiding in visitor and ranking management.
• Indexation status: Displays a graph of the site's indexation status, indicating potential issues if not continuous.
• Crawling errors: Identifies 404 or soft 404 errors that impact site usability, which should be resolved promptly.
• Crawling statistics: Shows how often Google crawls the site and the data quantities involved, indicating if content may be outdated.
• Retrieval as if by Google: Displays how the Googlebot views the site and allows URL submission to the Google Index, useful for major content changes.
• URL parameters: Allows exclusion of URL parameters to optimize the Googlebot's crawl budget.

Use (almost) a must

No need to worry about data protection with Search Console. The data is accessed by the search engine and isn't personalized. Webmasters concerned about Google Analytics can safely use Search Console. It's the only way to determine which keywords rank and how users navigate subpages. These insights are critical for all website administrators, technical or not.

Moreover, the ability for Google to contact site operators through the Search Console is invaluable, especially in cases of penalties, copyright issues, or other unusual circumstances. No website operator should overlook this tool.