Do I need a Google Search Console Account?

Much as you technically do not have to spend any money on AdWords to use it, you also don’t need a Google Search Console Account. Even without one, your ad will still appear on Google’s searches. It would be a mistake to say that just because you don’t need a Search Console Account you shouldn’t have one. You are better served making one because you and your campaign stand to benefit from it in a number of ways.

What is the Google Search Console?

The Google Search Console offers a way to be attentive to a site’s position in Google Search results. The ability to keep track of how your website is doing and sustain it gives you a further understanding of how it is assessed in Google’s system. This familiarity will also make it easier to improve your overall presence in the search results. The Search Console is a free service which enables insight into the indexing of your site and allows for better visibility.

What, exactly, can it do for me?

The Search Console gives you access to a lot of information. If you are interested in the volume of visitors you are getting and how those visitors go about finding your site––on a mobile device or a desktop––or which or your pages are visited most, making a Search Console Account is in your best interest. The Search Console also aids in discovering errors on your site as well as uploading a sitemap and both making and reviewing a robots.txt file.

Anything else?

In fact, yes. It will help ensure your content is accessible and give you more direct access to customizing the contents of your prospective search results and make it more immediately available for Google’s crawling Googlebot spiders. You’ll be able to do all of it and more with very little interruption of your performance on Google Search. You can also observe and correct any issues with malware and spam. Ever think of finding out who is linking to your site?

But wait––there’s more!

While the Search Console is excellent for updating your content, it is also good for remaining apprised of the current state of your site. The way you accomplish this is with Search Analytics. The Search Analytics Report will tell you how your visitors are evolving, letting you know where they are coming from and which searches are leading to you. Other metrics include Clicks, Impressions, CTR (click-through rate), Position (topmost result), and more.

Who is the Search Console intended for?

The Google Search Console is intended to help all kinds of people with a variety of needs and expectations. Nevertheless, Google specifics a number of potential users with the caveat that “Anyone with a website!” will find the Search Console an asset. They suggest a “Business owner who delegates,” an “SEO specialist or marketer,” a “Site Administrator,” a “Web Developer,” and an “App Developer” will all have immediate and substantive use for the Search Console.

How do I install it?

The first thing you’ll need to do is verify your site in Search Console in order to see all of the great information at your fingertips. If you have a Google Account, use it to sign in. Next, add a site and verify. You do this by doing one of four options: uploading a specific file to your server, adding a certain meta tag to your HTML, including a new DNS record, or using either a Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager account.

Now what?

As mentioned, you can use Google Search Console for all kinds of things. One example is checking a report on all four aforementioned metrics (Clicks, Impressions, CTR, Position). Click on Queries and look at the keywords performing for each of them. If you find you are making a lot of impressions, so to speak, but few of those impressions end in a click––do a search with any of these keywords and determine how the results differ from your content.

Conclusion

While revising your website for better search positioning is another ballgame, the Search Console will help you get going. Linking Google Analytics with your Search Console Account is even more powerful. Because Google Analytics is more about the people visiting your site and the Search Console is about internal information, they make effective complementary pieces, which is why they are often used in tandem.