Want to know which search terms people use to find your website, which pages perform well and whether Google can read your site without problems? Google Search Console tells you, for free and straight from Google itself. In this article you will learn how to set it up and which three reports you really need to know.
What is Google Search Console?
Search Console is a free Google service for website owners. Where Google Analytics shows what visitors do on your site, Search Console shows what happens before the visit: for which searches your site appears in Google, how often people click on it and whether there are technical problems holding back your findability.
Step 1: add your website
- Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your Google account.
- Choose Add property. You get two options: Domain or URL prefix.
- Preferably choose Domain and enter your domain name without https or www (for example yourcompany.com). That way all versions of your site are measured together.
Step 2: confirm that the site is yours
For a domain property, Google asks you to add a so-called TXT record to the DNS settings of your domain name. That sounds technical, but it is just a matter of copying and pasting a line of text into the control panel of your domain registrar. If that doesn’t work, ask your host; for us as a host it is a job of a few minutes. If you use WordPress with an SEO plugin such as Yoast, you can also verify with a code in the plugin when you choose URL prefix.
After verification it takes a few days for the first data to appear. From then on, Search Console keeps up to 16 months of data.
Step 3: submit your sitemap
A sitemap is a list of all the pages on your site, made specifically for search engines. WordPress creates one automatically; with Yoast it is usually at yourcompany.com/sitemap_index.xml. In Search Console, go to Indexing → Sitemaps, enter the address and click Submit. That way Google knows which pages exist, including new articles.
Report 1: Performance, how do people find you?
This is the report that matters most. You find it under Performance → Search results. It shows four figures:
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Total clicks | How often someone clicked through to your site from Google |
| Total impressions | How often your site was shown in the search results |
| Average CTR | The percentage of impressions that led to a click |
| Average position | Where you ranked on average in the results (1 is the top) |
Click all four boxes so you see them together in the chart. Below that you will find the Queries tab (the terms you are found for) and the Pages tab (which pages appear). Here is how to get something useful out of it quickly:
- Queries with many impressions but few clicks: you are seen, but not chosen. Make the page title and description shown in Google more appealing.
- Queries at position 5 to 15: you are just below the top. It often helps to expand the relevant page with the answers people are looking for.
- Queries you didn’t expect: ideas for new pages or blog articles.
Report 2: Pages, is everything in Google?
Under Indexing → Pages you can see how many pages of your site are in Google and which are not, with the reason. Not every excluded page is a problem (a thank-you page doesn’t need to be in Google), but check that your most important pages (homepage, services, contact) are indexed.
Just updated or added a page? Paste the address into the search bar at the top of Search Console (URL inspection) and click Request indexing. That asks Google to look at the page again.
Report 3: Core Web Vitals, is your site fast enough?
Under Experience → Core Web Vitals you can see whether your pages load fast enough for real visitors, separately for mobile and desktop. If pages are marked “Poor” or “Needs improvement”, read our article on testing and speeding up your website.
New in 2026: in June 2026 Google announced separate reports for impressions in AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. They are being rolled out gradually, so not every site sees them yet. If they appear in your menu, they show which of your pages appear in AI answers.
Make it a monthly habit
You don’t need to check Search Console every day. A quarter of an hour a month is enough: compare the past three months with the period before, see which queries are growing or declining, and check for new notifications. Search Console emails you itself if something serious is wrong, so make sure the email address is correct.
Prefer someone to keep an eye on it?
Search Console tells you what is happening; the skill is knowing what to do with it. With us, setting up Search Console and reviewing the figures every month is part of findability in Google and AI. We turn the figures into concrete improvements, so your site brings in more enquiries.
Curious where your site is missing opportunities?
Leave your website address below. You will receive a personal report by email on findability, speed and security, with the three improvements that deliver the most. Free and without obligation.
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