Google Search Console is the free tool Google gives every website owner to see how their site performs in Google Search. It shows which searches bring people to you, which pages Google has indexed, and what is stopping others from appearing. This beginner's guide to Google Search Console walks you through setup step by step, explains the reports that matter in plain English, and lists the first fixes worth making.
Key takeaways
- Google Search Console is free and shows which searches bring people to your site and which pages Google has indexed.
- Choose a Domain property if you can edit your DNS, because it covers all subdomains and both http and https.
- Submit your XML sitemap, but remember it helps Google discover URLs and does not guarantee they will be indexed.
- Look for queries with high impressions and low CTR, then rewrite those titles and meta descriptions to match the search.
What Google Search Console does (and doesn't do)
Search Console is Google's own record of your site in its search results. It tells you:
- How people find you: the search queries, clicks, impressions and average positions for your pages.
- What Google has indexed: which URLs are in Google's index and why others are not.
- What is broken: crawl errors, page experience problems, security issues and manual actions.
It does not track visitors once they land on your site; that is the job of an analytics tool such as Google Analytics. And it does not change your rankings. Search Console is a diagnostic tool: it shows the problems, and you fix them on your site.
Step 1: Add and verify your site
Go to search.google.com/search-console, sign in with a Google account and select Add property. You will be asked to choose between two property types.
| Domain property | URL-prefix property | |
|---|---|---|
| Example | example.com |
https://www.example.com/ |
| Covers | All subdomains (www, shop, blog) and both http and https | Only URLs starting with that exact prefix, including the protocol |
| Verification | DNS record only | HTML file, HTML tag, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager or DNS |
| Best for | Most businesses: one view of the whole site | Sites where you cannot edit DNS, or for tracking one section |
Choose a Domain property if you can edit your DNS. It catches everything, so you will not miss data from http:// or a forgotten subdomain.
Verifying a Domain property with DNS
- Search Console gives you a TXT value starting with
google-site-verification=. - Log in to wherever your DNS is managed: your registrar (such as 123 Reg, IONOS or GoDaddy), your host's cPanel Zone Editor, or Cloudflare's DNS tab.
- Add a new TXT record. Leave the host/name blank or enter
@, and paste the value. - Return to Search Console and click Verify. Google says manually added records can take up to two or three days to be served, so if it fails, wait and try again.
Keep the TXT record in place after verification. Search Console rechecks it periodically, and you lose access after a grace period if it disappears. Our guide to DNS records explains where these live.
Verifying a URL-prefix property
If you cannot edit DNS, add a URL-prefix property and use the HTML tag method. On WordPress, most SEO plugins (Yoast, Rank Math, All in One SEO) have a field for the Google verification code. Shopify, Wix and Squarespace also offer a field or a built-in Search Console connection in their SEO settings. Data usually starts appearing within a few days.
Step 2: Submit your XML sitemap
A sitemap lists the pages you want Google to find. Most platforms create one automatically:
- WordPress:
/wp-sitemap.xml(core) or/sitemap_index.xml(Yoast, Rank Math) - Shopify, Wix and Squarespace:
/sitemap.xml
In Search Console, open Sitemaps, paste the sitemap URL into Add a new sitemap and click Submit. Within a few days the status should read Success. "Couldn't fetch" means Google could not retrieve the file, and "Has errors" means parts of it could not be read.
Submitting a sitemap tells Google where the file is; it does not guarantee every URL will be crawled or indexed. Check that the sitemap lists only real, indexable pages. Our XML sitemap guide explains what belongs in it, and the sitemap checker tests yours.
Step 3: Understand the Performance report
The Performance report is where most people spend their time. It shows four headline metrics for Google Search:
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Total clicks | How many times someone clicked through to your site from Google Search |
| Total impressions | How many times a link to your site appeared in results the searcher saw |
| Average CTR | Clicks divided by impressions |
| Average position | The average of your topmost position across the searches where you appeared |
Below the chart, tabs break the data down by Queries, Pages, Countries, Devices, Search appearance and Dates.
How to read it as a beginner
- Set the date range to the last 3 months and select all four metrics.
- Click the Queries tab to see what people searched before clicking. You will usually find your brand name at the top, followed by service or product terms.
- Click the Countries tab and choose your country (for example, United States or United Kingdom) if you only serve customers there. This removes noise from other countries.
- Click a page in the Pages tab, then switch to Queries to see which searches that one page ranks for.
Look for queries with high impressions and low CTR. Those are searches where you appear but people choose another result, often because your title or meta description doesn't match what they wanted. Our guide to title tags and meta descriptions shows how to rewrite them.
Data normally appears within two to three days, and the newest days may be preliminary. Daily figures follow Pacific time, so they will not line up exactly with analytics set to your own time zone.
Step 4: Check the Pages (indexing) report
Under Indexing > Pages, Search Console shows how many URLs are indexed and lists the reasons others are not. Not every page should be indexed, and Google says so itself. Login pages, filtered category URLs, thank-you pages and redirected URLs are fine to leave out.
The statuses you will see most often:
| Status | What it means | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Crawled - currently not indexed | Google crawled the page but chose not to index it yet | Improve the content if the page matters; see our guide to crawled, currently not indexed |
| Discovered - currently not indexed | Google knows the URL but has not crawled it | Add internal links to it; check your server is responsive |
| Duplicate without user-selected canonical | Google picked another URL as the main version | Fine unless Google picked the wrong one; set a canonical tag |
| Excluded by 'noindex' tag | The page asks not to be indexed | Correct if intended; remove the tag if not |
| Not found (404) | The URL returns 404 | Fine for deleted pages; 301 redirect if the page moved |
| Page with redirect | The URL redirects elsewhere | Usually fine; make sure internal links point to the final URL |
| Blocked by robots.txt | robots.txt stops Google crawling it | Check you meant to block it |
After fixing an issue across all affected pages, open it and click Validate fix. Google says validation can take up to about two weeks.
Step 5: Use the URL Inspection tool
Paste any URL from your site into the search bar at the top of Search Console. URL Inspection tells you whether that page is on Google, which canonical Google selected, when it was last crawled and whether structured data was detected.
- Test live URL fetches the page as it is now, useful after you have made a fix.
- Request indexing asks Google to recrawl the page. It is subject to a daily limit and doesn't guarantee indexing, so use it for new or significantly updated pages, not your whole site.
- View crawled page shows the HTML Google saw, which helps diagnose pages that rely heavily on JavaScript.
Our guide on how to check if a page is indexed covers this in more depth.
Step 6: Check Core Web Vitals
The Core Web Vitals report (under Experience) groups your URLs as Good, Need improvement or Poor on mobile and desktop separately. It uses field data from real Chrome users, so a new or low-traffic site may show no data at all. The thresholds, measured at the 75th percentile of visits, are:
| Metric | Good | Poor |
|---|---|---|
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | 2.5s or less | Over 4s |
| Interaction to Next Paint (INP) | 200ms or less | Over 500ms |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | 0.1 or less | Over 0.25 |
Our guide to Core Web Vitals explains what each one measures and how to fix it.
Step 7: Look at the Links report
The Links report shows your top external links (sites linking to you), your top linked pages and your internal links. Two useful checks for beginners: make sure your most important service or product pages appear near the top of the internal links list, and look for pages with very few internal links, which Google may struggle to find. It is not a complete backlink database, but it is Google's own view; see how to check backlinks for free to fill in the gaps with Bing.
Common first fixes after setting up Search Console
Most new Search Console users find some of the same issues. Work through these in order:
- Important pages not indexed. Check they are not set to
noindex, are not blocked by robots.txt and are linked from your menu or other pages. - Both
http://andhttps://orwwwand non-www versions indexed. Set up one 301 redirect to your preferred version. - Sitemap errors. Remove redirected, 404 and noindexed URLs from the sitemap.
- Low-CTR queries on page one. Rewrite titles and meta descriptions to match the search.
- Poor Core Web Vitals on mobile. Start with image sizes and third-party scripts.
- Check Security issues and Manual actions under Security & Manual Actions. Both should say no issues detected.
Search Console shows symptoms, but not always causes. To check titles, canonicals, robots.txt, redirects, speed and security headers in one scan, run a free website audit.
Make Search Console easier to act on
Search Console's interface is built for exploring data, which can be overwhelming at first. Our free Search Console dashboard connects with read-only access and shows your clicks, impressions, CTR and position compared with the previous period, your top keywords and pages, "quick win" keywords sitting in positions 8 to 20, and page-one titles with unusually low CTR. It also includes a free rank tracker and a weekly summary email.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Search Console free?
Yes. Google Search Console is completely free for any website owner. You only need a Google account and the ability to verify that you own the site.
Should I choose a Domain or URL-prefix property?
Choose a Domain property if you can add a DNS record, because it covers all subdomains and both http and https. Use a URL-prefix property only if you cannot edit DNS or want to track one section separately.
How long does it take for data to appear in Search Console?
Google says data usually starts appearing within a few days of adding a property, and new data normally arrives with a delay of two to three days.
Why does Search Console show fewer pages indexed than I have?
Google does not index every URL, and says you shouldn't expect it to. Check the Pages report for the reasons, focus on the pages that matter to your business, and ignore expected exclusions such as redirects and noindexed pages.
Does submitting a sitemap guarantee indexing?
No. A sitemap helps Google discover your URLs, but Google decides what to crawl and index based on factors such as content quality and site activity.
Sources
- Search Console Help: Add a website property
- Search Console Help: Verify your site ownership
- Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results)
- Search Console Help: Page indexing report
- Search Console Help: URL Inspection tool
- Search Console Help: Core Web Vitals report
- Search Console Help: Manage your sitemaps using the Sitemaps report
- Search Console Help: Data anomalies in Search Console
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Written by the MakeItFlow team
We build the website audit these guides are based on. Every fact is checked against the primary sources listed above and this guide was last reviewed on 31 October 2026 . How we research and check
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