Google Search Console (GSC) – Google's own SEO tool

Definition

Google Search Console (GSC) is Google's free tool for monitoring how a website performs in Google's search results – and an essential tool in any serious SEO workflow.

What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool from Google that shows how your website is indexed and performs in Google's search results. It is your direct line of communication with Google: here you can see what Google actually knows about your website, which problems it has detected and which search terms bring visitors to you.

Unlike Google Analytics – which measures what happens after the click – GSC measures what happens before the click: impressions, clicks, position and click-through rate (CTR) directly in the search results.

What can you see in Google Search Console?

• Search results data: Which search terms your website appears for, how many clicks and impressions each page gets, average position and CTR
• Indexing status: Which pages Google has indexed, which have been excluded and why
• Technical problems: Core Web Vitals status, errors in structured data and security issues. The mobile usability report was removed in December 2023
• Backlinks: Which external websites link to your website and with what anchor text
• Sitemap status: Whether your sitemap has been submitted and correctly read by Google

GSC and SEO – why it is irreplaceable

GSC is the only tool that shows how your website performs in Google Search using Google's own data. Third-party tools such as Ahrefs and Semrush estimate ranking data – GSC shows the real figures straight from Google.

Practical uses in SEO work:

• Identify search terms with many impressions but a low CTR – a sign that the title tag or meta description needs improving
• Find pages with falling positions – an early warning for content that needs updating
• Check indexing problems – make sure important pages are actually visible to Google
• Validate technical fixes – confirm that Core Web Vitals improvements have been registered
• Spot cannibalisation – several pages competing for the same search term show up in the query report

GSC and GA4 – use both

GSC and Google Analytics complement each other and should be used together. Link the two tools and you get the complete picture: GSC shows which search terms generate clicks, GA4 shows what those visitors do once they arrive on the website. The combination is the standard setup for every new website and SEO project.

How to set up Google Search Console

GSC requires you to verify that you own the website. The most common verification methods are an HTML tag in the page's <head>, a DNS record with your domain registrar, or verification via Google Analytics.

GSC should be set up whenever a new website launches – it is a basic part of any technical SEO setup.