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Complete Guide

Google Search Console
for Beginners

The only guide you need to understand how Google sees your website

January 10, 2026 9 min read
Key Insight

Google Search Console is free and shows you exactly how Google sees your website. Think of it as Google sending you a report card for your site.

Google Search Console (GSC) is free. It shows you exactly how Google sees your website. And yet, most website owners never look at it. Let's change that.

What Is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that shows you:

Which searches bring people to your site
Which pages are indexed
Technical problems Google found
How fast your site loads
Who links to you
Setup Guide

How to Set Up Google Search Console (5 Minutes)

1

Go to Search Console

Visit search.google.com/search-console

2

Add Your Property

Click "Add property" and choose:

Domain

Covers all subdomains — requires DNS verification

URL prefix

Specific URL — easier to verify (recommended for beginners)

Enter your full URL: https://yoursite.com

3

Verify You Own the Site

Google gives you several options:

  • HTML file upload (easiest)
  • HTML tag in your <head>
  • Google Analytics (if already set up)
  • Google Tag Manager
  • DNS record

Pick one and follow the instructions.

4

Wait

It takes a few days for data to appear. Be patient.

Essential Reports

The 5 Reports Every Beginner Should Check

1

Performance Report

Performance → Search results

Most Important

What it shows:

  • Total clicks from Google
  • Total impressions (times you appeared in search)
  • Average click-through rate (CTR)
  • Average position

How to use it:

Filter by "Queries" to see which search terms bring traffic.

High impressions, low clicks Your title/description needs work
Position 5-15 "Almost ranking" pages worth improving
Declining clicks Something changed, investigate
Pro Tip

Sort by impressions. Find queries where you rank position 8-20. Those are your best opportunities—you're already close.

2

Pages Report (Indexing)

Indexing → Pages

What it shows:

  • How many pages Google has indexed
  • Why pages aren't indexed

Click "Why pages aren't indexed" and check each reason:

Status What It Means Action
Crawled - not indexed Google saw it but didn't add it Improve content quality
Blocked by robots.txt You're blocking Google Check your robots.txt
Noindex tag Page is set to hide Remove noindex if unintentional
Duplicate Google found a copy Add canonical tag
Not found (404) Page doesn't exist Redirect or remove

Important: Not every page needs to be indexed. Login pages, thank you pages, and utility pages are fine to exclude.

3

Core Web Vitals

Experience → Core Web Vitals

What it shows:

  • How your pages perform on real user devices
  • Which pages fail Google's performance standards

Check if you have URLs marked as "Poor" or "Needs improvement."

LCP Main content loads too slowly
INP Site responds too slowly to clicks
CLS Layout shifts while loading
Priority

Fix "Poor" URLs first—they might be hurting rankings.

4

Links Report

Links (left sidebar)

What it shows:

  • Top linking sites (external links to you)
  • Top linked pages (which pages get the most links)
  • Internal links (how your pages link to each other)

External links

  • See who's linking to you
  • More links from quality sites = better rankings
  • Spot spammy links you might need to disavow

Internal links

  • Check if important pages have enough internal links
  • If a key page has only 1-2 internal links, add more
5

Manual Actions & Security

Security & Manual Actions

What it shows:

  • If Google has penalized your site
  • If your site has been hacked

If you see a manual action:

  1. Read what the issue is
  2. Fix it
  3. Submit a reconsideration request

Good news: Most sites will see "No issues detected." Keep it that way.

Monthly Routine

5 Things to Do in Search Console Every Month

Set a calendar reminder. Spend 15 minutes checking:

1

Performance Trends

Are clicks going up or down? Any sudden drops?

2

New Errors in Pages Report

Any new "not indexed" pages that should be indexed?

3

Core Web Vitals

Any pages moved from "Good" to "Poor"?

4

Top Queries

What new keywords are you appearing for?

5

Manual Actions

Still clean? Good.

Search Console Pro Tips

Connect to Google Analytics

Link GSC to GA4 to see which organic keywords lead to conversions.

Use the URL Inspection Tool

Paste any URL to see if it's indexed, any problems, and request indexing for new pages.

Set Up Email Alerts

GSC can email you when critical issues appear. Turn this on.

Compare Date Ranges

In Performance, use "Compare" to see how this month compares to last month.

Export Data

Download your query and page data to a spreadsheet for deeper analysis.

Common Beginner Questions

How long until I see data?

2-3 days for basic data. 3 months for reliable trends.

Why do my impressions not match my analytics?

GSC counts impressions even if users don't click. Analytics only counts visits.

What's a good CTR?

Depends on position. Position 1 averages ~30% CTR. Position 10 averages ~2%.

Should I worry about "Crawled - not indexed"?

Only if they're important pages. Google doesn't index everything, and that's okay.

Your Search Console Checklist

Combine With Regular SEO Checks

Search Console tells you what Google sees. A full SEO health check tells you what to fix and prioritize.

Run Free SEO Health Check