Technical Seo
Google Search Console
Google's free tool for monitoring and troubleshooting your site's presence in Google Search results. It provides data on search performance, indexing status, crawl errors, Core Web Vitals, and manual actions.
Why Google Search Console Matters for SEO
GSC is the only source of truth for how Google sees your site. It shows you which queries drive traffic, which pages are indexed, where crawl errors exist, and whether you have any penalties. If you're doing SEO and not checking GSC regularly, you're flying blind.
How Google Search Console Works
You verify site ownership via DNS, HTML file, or tag. GSC then provides dashboards for search performance (clicks, impressions, CTR, position), index coverage, experience metrics, and more. The URL Inspection tool lets you check individual pages against Google's index and request re-indexing.
Common Mistakes
- Only checking the Performance report and ignoring Index Coverage errors
- Not setting up both domain-level and URL-prefix properties
- Never using the URL Inspection tool to diagnose indexing issues on specific pages
Sources & Further Reading: