Google Search Console; what is it?

Chances are, you’re already familiar with Google Search Console if the word ‘Webmaster Tools’ sure doesn’t seem like a dazzling mirage to you. Before 20^th May 2015, Google Search Console was formerly Google Webmaster Tool.

In its simplest definition, Google Search Console or GSC is more like a hub where you’re allowed to make use of various Google free tools to track, monitor, and maintain the excellent health of your website.

After signing up, will my rank go to the first page?

Google Search Console has become an ideal go-to product which is used by many website owners to optimize the visibility of their website on google, to learn about the people that visit their site as well as to check the indexing status of their website. A common misconception is that after signing up that your page will be ranked higher! Incorrect!

Contextually, Google Search Console is a powerful tool for thorough ‘Diagnostic,’ ‘Exploratory,’ ‘Prescriptive,’ and ‘Descriptive’ analytics of a website’s overall performance both online and offline. It can also be likened to the G-suite of tools, diagnostic and data – which is used to improve how Google sees your website.

There’s always something new to expect in GSC as Google has remained steadfast in making its product a lot better than it previously was each year. As of January 2018, Google introduced a brand new version of Google Search Console.

Signing up and installing the Google Search Console will neither double the number of organic traffic your site attracts nor improve your SEO. To unlock the possibilities that abound in using GSC, you need to understand how it works first before you start seeing the beauty in it.

If you’re still unsure how SEO works, you should check out this article Understanding SEO: What it is; and What It’s Not.

GSC is a powerful SEO tool to use; not just for SEO experts but also for app developers, digital marketers, site administrator, and other business owners. So here are some of the reasons why you should start using Google Search Console.

Monitoring Site Performance in the Google Search Engine

• It’s used to track the SEO performance of a website
• Used to submit sitemaps and individual URL for crawling
• Used to optimize your content with search analytics
• It helps to improve your site performance on the google
• It’s also used to monitor total indexed pages and indexing errors
• Used to receive alerts and updates from Google as regards issues that require fixing in your website.

Gives you an insight into how Google sees your Website

• It reveals unindexed pages and why they aren’t indexed yet
• It shows you the site(s) that linked to your web
• Tells you the most visited webpage in your website
• It also tells you how compatible and mobile-friendly your website is
• Gives you a round-up overview on the number of backlinks your site has and the number of internal links that are in your website
• It’s used to compare your overall site performance on all platforms (mobile, desktop and tablets)

Driving Traffic to your Website

• Track the impressions generated by your website
• It gives you up-to-date analysis on your traffic source, how much traffic you’re getting from each source and the reason why you’re getting such traffic from a given source.
• Used to find and follow your site’s average CTR (Click Through Rate)
• Tells you when the rank of your website increases or decreases in google search
• It gives you in-depth analysis and comparison of your traffic source, as well the countries where your visitors are coming.
• It’s used to monitor the progress of your marketing effort
• It’s used to optimize results that aren’t getting clicks on google search
• It can be used to integrate google analytics into your site.

Marketing and SEO don’t have to be stressful; with Google Search Console you can improve your SEO tactics, build a better sales funnel, and develop great marketing strategies for better leads and customer retention.

More so, you don’t have to sign up for GSC before your Google index your website in its search engine. However, Google Search Console is to SEO what oxygen is to human. So, in essence, you need to make use of GSC if you want your website to stay healthy.

In our subsequent post on Google Search Console; which has been scheduled for next month, we’ll discuss more on how to set up your Google Search Console effectively to achieve the best result.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!