What is GSC(Google Search Console)

Google is currently the largest search engine in the world, so it is fundamental to target Google to attract visitors to your website regardless of country. The tool you can use is GSC(Google Search Console), a free SEO tool provided by Google. The name changed from Google Webmaster Tools to Google Search Console in 2015.

Google Search Console lets you track your website's performance and provides a variety of metrics that can help you improve your search rankings. Therefore, it is an essential tool for all individuals/companies who want to increase organic traffic from Google searches or run a website.

This article introduces how to set up GSC and how to use GSC to improve your website and increase traffic from Google.

How to set up GSC

Step 1. Sign in

First, you need a Google account to use GSC. If you do not have an account yet, you need to create an account first. After logging in, click [Getting start] on GSC Home.

Step 2. Select property type

If this is your first time setting up GSC, you need to select the property type of the website you want to register as shown in the image below. At this time, you can select one of two types: “Domain” and “URL prefix”.

Add domain

Adding a domain property will provide the most comprehensive view of your website’s information. You’ll get data from all URLs under the domain name, including all protocols, subdomains, and paths.

URL prefix

If you do not yet have DNS verification or are only viewing data for a specific section of your site, we recommend that you select the appropriate option to add the site. At this time, unlike the domain option, write the entire URL including all prefixes and click [Continue].

Step 3. Verify ownership

After enter website address, verification of the owner of the website is required for data collection. Google provides various options for verifying. If you choose “Domain” type, verification is only possible in the “Domain name provider” format, and if you choose “URL prefix” type, you can select the desired verification method out of 5 types.

(If the property is registered using the domain method) How to verify the owner:

(If the property is registered using the domain prefix method) Five ways to verify the owner:

After performing verification according to each procedure, click the [Check] button to complete verification. Verification takes approximately a few seconds to several minutes, and if completed successfully, you can see a completion pop-up as shown below. Now, the settings to use GSC are complete.

How to optimize your website using GSC

If your website is registered, you can use GSC to optimize your website and content, also can check the indicators for increasing your content rank on Google SERPs. For this, introduce 4 method to utilize the main functions provided by GSC.

Submit Sitemap

Even if a website is registered, it does not mean that you can immediately check your website data. Submitting a site map to GSC is essential to check whether your website is well optimized and how it is performing in Google SERP. Submitting a sitemap is very simple.

Even if website is registered, it does not mean that you can immediately check data. Submitting a site map to GSC is essential to check whether your website is well optimized and how it is performing in Google SERP. Submitting a sitemap is very simple.

After pressing Submit, if it has been submitted properly, you will see the following pop-up. If there is an issue with registration, you can check the related issues in detail in the submitted sitemap section. In the case of our site shown below, the sitemap has just been submitted, so the indexing is not complete.

URL Inspection Tool

Enter a specific URL to see how Google indexes that page and identify any issues that may affect its visibility in search results. You can use this function simply by following the steps below.

1. Click [URL Inspection] in the navigation bar on the left
2. Then the search box at the top is activated. Enter a specific URL here and press Enter.

Afterward, Google conducts a brief search to test whether the URL can be indexed. If you find that the page you searched for is not indexed, you can request that the page be searched on Google by [INDEX CREATION REQUEST].

Performance Report

Analyze search performance data, including clicks, impressions, click-through rates, and average position, to understand how your website is performing in Google search results.

• Total clicks: The number of times people clicked on your site from the search results
• Total impressions: The number of times your site appeared in search results
• Average CTR (click-through rate): The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click
• Average position: The average rank position of your site in search results

Below the chart, you’ll see a table that shows which queries, pages, countries, and devices are driving traffic to your site.

In addition, by using the indicators provided by Performance, you can determine the following improvements and proceed with content optimization:

• Low CTR: If your pages rank well but don’t get many clicks, consider writing better title tags and meta descriptions. This will make your pages more appealing to users.
• Missing keywords: If you don’t rank for important keywords, your site might not have enough useful content that addresses them. In that case, you need to improve your content strategy and produce quality content targeting terms you want to rank for.

If your website receives traffic from Discover and Google News, you’ll also see specific reports for these two segments.

Page indexing report

The Page Indexing report shows the indexing status of all URLs that Google recognizes on your property. The report's "Top Summary Page" displays "Indexed Pages" and "Pages Requesting Indexing" and a graph. You'll also find a table showing "Why can't it be indexed" or "Other indexing improvements" for a URL.

As your site grows, the number of indexed pages should gradually increase. If the number of pages suddenly increases or decreases, you can troubleshoot the problem by referring to the table below. The "Why isn't it indexed" table on the page is sorted by what we believe are the most important issues to address.

• "Reasons not indexed" table: Shows issues that are preventing URLs from being indexed on your site. Clicking on a row will display a details page showing the URLs affected by this issue and the history of the site associated with this issue.
• “Improve your page experience” table: Shows you improvements you can make to make your page easier for Google to understand. Clicking on a row will display a details page focused on all URLs with the same enhancement.
• "Indexed Pages" table: Displays historical information about the number of indexed pages and a list of up to 1,000 example URLs that have been indexed.

Some of the most common indexing issues you may see in your reports are:

By referring to the tables, you can determine the reason for not being indexed, whether there is a problem based on your indexing goal, whether it is a problem that can be solved based on the source value, and set up an environment so that your website can be exposed well on SERPs.

Conclusion

Read this article to learn about the basic technical setup of Google SEO and what metrics to check. By regularly monitoring and utilizing Google Search Console, you can optimize your website's better visibility in Google search results, user experience, and overall performance.