Google Search Console for Beginners: What It Is and Why You Need It
Google Search Console is Google telling you exactly how it sees your site. Ignoring it is like ignoring your business's bank statement.
What It Shows You
- Which search queries your site appears for
- What position you rank in for each query
- How many people click your result vs. scroll past it
- Technical errors Google finds on your site
- Which pages are indexed and which are blocked
Setting Up (10 Minutes)
- Go to search.google.com/search-console
- Add property (your website URL)
- Verify ownership — add the HTML tag via Draftly's custom code, or use DNS verification
- Submit your sitemap: usually `yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml`
Reports to Check First
Performance report: Shows queries, clicks, impressions, and average position. Filter by 'Queries' — look for queries in positions 8-20 with impressions. These are your easiest ranking opportunities.
Coverage report: Shows indexed vs non-indexed pages. Fix 'Excluded' pages that should be indexed.
Core Web Vitals: Shows real-world speed data for your URLs.
What to Do With This Data
- Queries at position 4-10: Improve those pages with more content, better formatting, or stronger E-E-A-T signals.
- High impressions, low clicks: Your title or description isn't compelling — rewrite them.
- Important pages not indexed: Fix technical issues (noindex tag, blocked by robots.txt, redirect loops).
