How to Use Google Search Console?
If you are familiar with Google webmaster tools (GWT) then you have a clear picture of Google Search Console. It is also known as google webmaster tools (GWT). Google decided to change the name of Google Webmaster tools and changed it in May 2015 rename it to Google search console that is its current name. Today Google Search console becomes a valuable resource for any type of people around the world including SEO Experts, Marketers, small and large businesses and many more.
If you are not familiar with Google webmaster Tools GWT or Google Search Console then let me tell you. It is a service providing by Google itself. In Google search console you can find lo of information about your website and also about the people who wisting your website like, it tells you how many people are visiting your website and from which source they are coming on your website. It also tells you about pages and posts of your website and makes you clear that which pages or posts are most popular, moreover help you to check and fix the error of the website as well. So many and many features you can see let me discuss them in the post.
A Guide to New Search Console
in 2018 Google launched a new search console for the user. In the new Google search console, google fetched most of the old features and skip some of the old entries and add some new features, and launched in 2018 with a new look.
Adding and verifying site in Google Console
If you are new in Google search console then, first of all, you will need to add and verify your site in Search console, verification in search console is a proof for Google that you are the owner and authorized person to use your website, so after verification, you will get a full access to console and can check a detail report on performance of your site. Google will not share that detail with anyone and only available for you as the owner of the website.
Adding a website is very simple, you just need an email account to login and after logged in search console you will see a box in the center with the heading Welcome to google serac console. Add property mean add your website URL.
There you will see 2 boxes, you have to select the box from the right side that says URL Prefix. Enter your website URL with https and click on continue. Congratulations you have added your site successfully
After adding the site you will be asked for verification of the site. There are different verification methods and you can choose any method which will suit you and looking simple for you. Let us discuss each method.
Uploading the HTML File
It is the first verification method you will see in the new Google Search Console to verify your site, in this method you must have access to your site root directory. You can do via Cpanel via FTP, again you have to go on manage site and then click on verify this site.
in the new Google Search console, the HTML file upload method is listed under the recommended method, you will see there. After selecting it you will be asked to download the file, download the HTML File in your computer and then go to the root directory of the website and simply upload this file, keep in mind one thing, don’t change the information in the file and even don’t change the file name. If you changed anything regarding the HTML file your site will not be verified.
When file uploaded complete then go back to search console and click on Verify, if your file was successfully uploaded then you will see a page that will tell your site has been verified.
Once you have verified your site using this method then don’t delete the file from the root directory of your website, if deleted your site becomes unverified again.
Adding the HTML Tag
This site verification method is only good for the site owners who have experience in HTML Codes and have the experience to edit their site from source code.
You will see this site verification method under the headline of other verification methods.
It will provide you an HTML code that is also called HTML tag, simply you need to copy the code and then open your website home page source code in HTML editor and paste that code in the head section of the home page. No matter where to place code in the head section, anywhere in the head section you can place the code, if there is no head section in your website home page then you need to add a head section just to verify your site. Once added in the head section save and publish your site, after publishing your site open your home page URL In browser and go to the source code. IN source code you can see the HTML tag code in the head section.
Once you confirmed that code is located in the head section then go back to Search Console and click on verify. Google will check that code on your website, if found then you will get a message the site has been verified if not you will see the error message about verification code.
Once your site has been verified in Google search console then don’t remove that code. If you removed that code from the website your site will be unverified and you need to verify again that by any method.
Adding Google Analytics Code
It is the easiest method if you are already using Google Analytics GA to track your site traffic, so firstly you need to go to your site home page HTML editor and check the analytics code in head section of your home page, if not there then you have to place GA code in head section of home page for the purpose to verify the site.
In the new search console box, you will see this verification method under the headline of other verification methods in 2nd position, here you will see the series of instructions to read and follow. Once you have verified your site, don’t remove the Google analytics GA code form your site otherwise it will cause your site to become unverified.
Verify by using Google Tag Manager
If you are using Google Tag Manager GMT it is also the easiest way to verify your site in Google search console, so before verification, you must have the access to your google tag manager account and check your site home page for GMT code immediately after the Body Tag.
In the new search console box, you will see the google tag manager method under the headline of other verification methods in the 3rd position. Select Google Tag Manager, click on verify, if the tag manager code found then your site will be verified and you will see a page that will tell you your site has been verified. Don’t remove the code from the site otherwise, your site becomes unverified again.
Verify via Domain name provider
It is 5th and the last site verification method, in this method, you will prove not only the ownership of the site but also prove that you have access to all subdomains and subdirectories of the site. Domain name provider the company from where you purchased your domain name. If you are the owner of a large company then it is the best option to verify the site.
In the new search console, you will see this verification method under the headline of other verification methods in the 4th position. When you select the domain name provider it will show you the list of domain name provider companies, you have to select the company from the list from where you purchased this domain and then ask you to log in to your domain penal after logged in it will automatically verify your site.
URL Inspection
The old feature fetches as google is now replaced with URL Inspection in the new Google Search Console. When you click on it the upper search bar will be highlighted where you can put your site URL to check the status. The Console will tell you whether your URL is in Google or not, Your URL can be indexed or not, and you can test live URL moreover, you can Request for indexing that URL.
Coverage
in the coverage section, you can see how many your site pages have been indexed. You can see how many of your site pages have been indexed but have some problems. You can also check how many pages are not indexed due to some errors., moreover you can see how many pages are not indexed on your instructions to Google in rebots.txt file. The coverage provides you a lot of information that was in the old search console. Google really improve and launched the new search console with better user experience, but everything is not always perfect. So Google needs to improve many more things still and they will do it as time passes.
Adding a Site Map
In simple words, the sitemap is the structure of a website. A site map presents the list of pages on your website. It is useful for both, for the user and the search engines. The sitemap will provide the information of pages on your site to search engines. A site map is a way for webmasters to inform search engines about the pages available on your website.
You can find online many XML sitemap Generator websites from where you can generate an XML sitemap for your website one of them is listed here. you can generate an XML sitemap easily from the website. Generate the XML sitemap and download it to your computer by using www.xml-sitemaps.com.
In the search console dashboard select the site you need to submit the sitemap for it. On the left bar, you will see the sitemap under the coverage, click on it, you will see a button marked as submit on the upper right corner, here you need to type the name of your sitemap mostly an XML file name with sitemap.xml and click on submit, congratulations you have submitted the sitemap successfully.
International Targeting
In the new Google search console dashboard on the right sidebar click on Legacy Tools and Reports. A drop down new menu will appear where you have to click on the first heading that is international targeting. A new window will open from where you can set your targeted country. The targeted country is the country where you need to target your business. so Google will give preference in search engines for that country.
Links
in the links section, you can check how many external backlinks exist on your site pages. You can check how many external links on each page of your site, moreover you can also see that where your pages are linked. It also provides you complete detail about internal backlink. How many pages of your site linking each other. Which website is providing you the most backlinks. In short, it provides you with a detail report about the backlinks of your site. You can also check which anchor text linked the most on external backlinks.
How to Link Goog Analytics with Google Search Console?
Google Analytics GA and Google Search Console might seem to provide the same report to you but in reality, these are 2 different products by Google and they providing different information to you. Google Analytics providing you information regarding your visitors, ho many visitors are on your site, from where your traffic is coming and from which source people are visiting your website and soo on, on the other hand, Google Search Console provides you information where your site is linking, from which keyword you are getting the most traffic, where is the problem in website and how to resolve it. So these are 2 different products by google with different information. Might be looking the same to you but there are a lot of differences.
If you need to links both accounts then you need to log in with google analytics and most importantly you must be the administration rights in both Google Analytics and Google search console to links both accounts.
In your google analytics account click on admin which will be listed below on the right sidebar and then select the property in which you need to link search console account data.
after clicking on admin there will be 3 columns shoes and in the center, column selects the property settings, then scroll down and click on adjust search console. It will bring you on the new page where you can see the URL of your website which confirms that your website is verified in search console, if not then you need to verify it first. under the search console, now select the reporting view from it and click on save. That’s Done
