Google Search Console is the only place Google directly tells you what it sees about your site: which queries you rank for, which pages it indexed, what errors it found, and what manual actions exist. It's free, official, and the most underused SEO tool in most programs. This guide walks through every report that matters.
Google Search Console (GSC) is Google's free, official tool for monitoring how your site performs in Google Search. It surfaces what queries you rank for, which pages get indexed, what technical issues Google sees, and what spam or quality penalties exist. Every website should have GSC verified and monitored monthly at minimum.
Google Search Console is the only place Google directly tells you what it sees about your site: which queries you rank for, which pages it indexed, what errors it found, and what manual actions exist. It's free, official, and the most underused SEO tool in most programs. This guide walks through every report that matters.
Verify your domain via DNS (preferred) or your URL prefix via meta tag, file upload, or Google Analytics. DNS verification covers all subdomains and protocols at once.
Submit your XML sitemap immediately after verification. Set up users (not by sharing logins) for everyone who needs access.
The Performance report shows clicks, impressions, average CTR, and average position by query, page, country, device, search appearance, and date. It's the most useful single SEO report on the planet.
Use it to find: queries you rank for but don't get clicks on (CTR optimization opportunity), pages with high impressions but low CTR (title/description rewrites), pages losing rankings over the past 90 days (refresh candidates), and queries you don't have content for (content opportunities).
Page Indexing shows every URL Google has discovered, categorized as Indexed or Not indexed (with specific reasons). This is the single best diagnostic for indexing problems.
Common categories to investigate: "Crawled — currently not indexed" (often quality issues), "Discovered — currently not indexed" (crawl budget or link equity issues), "Duplicate without user-selected canonical" (canonical conflicts), "Page with redirect" (redirect chains).
Confirms which sitemaps Google has read, how many URLs were submitted, and how many were indexed. A large gap between submitted and indexed flags quality problems on submitted URLs.
Reports for each rich result type (FAQ, Product, Recipe, Article, etc.) showing which pages are eligible, which have warnings, and which have errors. Warnings can become errors over time, so address them proactively.
Aggregated CrUX field data showing LCP, INP, and CLS performance grouped by URL pattern. URLs grouped as "Poor" or "Needs improvement" are the prioritization queue for Core Web Vitals work.
Manual Actions surfaces penalties applied by Google's spam team. If this report ever shows anything, drop everything and investigate. Security Issues surfaces hacked content, malware, or social-engineering content. Both are emergencies when active.
URL Inspection lets you check the exact status of any URL: indexed or not, last crawl date, canonical Google chose, mobile usability, structured data detected, and the option to request indexing. Use it constantly when diagnosing individual page problems.
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