Google Search Console, previously known as Google Webmaster Tools, is a free web service offered by Google that helps website owners monitor and maintain their website’s presence in Google search results. The tool provides a variety of features and reports to help website owners and SEO professionals improve their website’s visibility, performance, and overall user experience.
Here are some of the key features and benefits of Google Search Console:
- Site Verification: Before you can start using Google Search Console, you need to verify ownership of your website. This is done by adding a small piece of code to your website or uploading an HTML file to your server.
- Performance Report: The performance report provides valuable insights into how your website is performing in Google search results. It shows data such as total clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average position of your website’s pages in search results.
- Index Coverage Report: The index coverage report shows which pages on your website have been indexed by Google, and which pages have not. It also provides information about errors, warnings, and other issues that may be affecting your website’s indexing.
- Sitemap Submission: Google Search Console allows you to submit a sitemap of your website’s pages, which can help Google crawl and index your website more efficiently.
- URL Inspection Tool: The URL inspection tool allows you to inspect any URL on your website and see how Google crawls and indexes it. It also provides information about any issues that may be affecting the URL’s indexing.
- Mobile Usability Report: The mobile usability report provides information about any issues on your website that may be affecting its usability on mobile devices.
- Security Issues Report: The security issues report alerts you to any security issues on your website, such as malware or hacking attempts.
- Manual Actions: If your website has been penalized by Google, you will receive a manual action notice in Google Search Console. This can help you identify the cause of the penalty and take steps to fix the issue.
- Links Report: The links report shows which websites are linking to your website, and which pages on your website are being linked to the most. This information can be useful for identifying potential link-building opportunities and monitoring the quality of your website’s backlinks.
In summary, Google Search Console is an essential tool for website owners and SEO professionals who want to improve their website’s visibility, performance, and user experience in Google search results. Its features and reports can help you identify and fix issues that may be affecting your website’s indexing and ranking, as well as provide valuable insights into your website’s performance and user behavior.