Search Console for beginners
Google Search Console is a free service from Google that helps you monitor, maintain and troubleshoot how your site appears in Google Search. You don’t have to sign up for it to be included in Google’s results, but to use it you add your site as a property and prove that you own it.
This first stop covers getting on board: the two kinds of website property, the ways to verify, who should hold which permission, and the handful of reports worth opening in your first week.
General information, not business advice. This page explains Google’s published documentation in plain words. Google’s tools change: check Search Console Help, Google Search Central and web.dev for the current version, and ask a qualified professional about your own site.
01.1
Before you board
Search Console runs in a web browser. Google lists what you need: a recent version of Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari, with cookies and JavaScript turned on, and a valid Google account.
Google writes for four kinds of reader: business owners, SEO specialists and marketers, site administrators and web developers. It suggests that business owners who won’t use the tool themselves should still know it exists and what it can show. It is also candid that a small business on a hosted platform, with little time for its website, might not need Search Console at all, and points those owners to short guides and a simpler Insights report instead.
01.2
Choose a property
A property is Search Console’s word for one thing you examine or manage. For a website, there are two types, and the choice decides what the reports cover.
| Domain property | URL-prefix property | |
|---|---|---|
| Written as | example.com, with no protocol and no www | https://example.com/, protocol included |
| Covers | Every subdomain (www, m and others) and every protocol (http, https) | Only URLs that begin with exactly that prefix |
| Verified by | A DNS record only, unless the site is on a Google product such as Blogger or Google Sites | Several methods (see below) |
| Good for | One view of the whole site | Watching one section, such as a blog folder, on its own |
Google’s examples make the difference concrete: a URL-prefix property for http://example.com/ does not include https://example.com/ or the www version, because the protocol and subdomain don’t match. A Domain property for example.com includes them all. You can hold both, and Google suggests extra URL-prefix properties when you want to track sections of a site separately. One account can hold up to 1,000 properties.
Adding a property doesn’t change anything about your site in Google Search; Google says it only lets you track performance, and that an unfinished setup won’t hurt your website.
01.3
Prove you own it
Verification shows Google that you control the site. Search Console offers these methods, and the verification page lists which ones are available and recommended for your site.
- HTML file upload. Upload a file Google gives you to a set address on your site. Relatively simple, but it needs the ability to publish a file there, and it works for URL-prefix properties only.
- HTML tag. Add a <meta> tag to your home page’s source code.
- Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager. Simple if the page already carries a tracking code or container snippet from an account you can access.
- Google Sites or Blogger. Use the method recommended for that platform.
- Domain name provider. Add a DNS record where your domain is managed. More complex, but the only way to verify a Domain property.
Sites on a hosting platform like WordPress, Wix or Squarespace may not be able to use some methods, but the platform may offer its own plugin or setting that verifies the site for you, so Google suggests checking the platform’s help first.
Verification isn’t a one-off. Search Console periodically checks that your token is still present and valid, and tells you if it can’t confirm it. Removing the verification file, for example, loses verification. Google also suggests adding a second method in case one fails, such as when someone changes a tracking code.
01.4
Permissions: who can do what
Each person on a property gets one permission. Only an owner can grant permissions to others.
- Owner
- Full control: adds and removes users, changes settings, sees all data and uses all tools. A verified owner proved ownership with a token; a delegated owner was added by another owner.
- Full user
- Sees all data and can take some actions.
- Restricted user
- Simple view rights on most data.
A property must have at least one verified owner, or nobody can reach it. If the only verified owner leaves your team, Google’s advice is to verify ownership again to keep or regain access. Who should own the accounts when someone else works on your site is a contract question; Google’s own page on hiring an SEO covers what access to give at the audit stage.
01.5
The reports to open first
Search Console has many reports. These are the ones a beginner meets first, with what Google says each is for.
| Report | What it shows | Note from Google |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | Clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position in Google Search | The default view covers the past three months |
| Page indexing | Which pages Google can find and index, and the problems it met | With fewer than 500 pages you probably don’t need it; a site: search can do |
| URL Inspection | Google’s indexed version of one page, a live test, and a way to request indexing | Doesn’t test for manual actions or security issues |
| Core Web Vitals | How pages perform for real visitors, from field data | Explained at stop 4 |
| Manual actions | Whether a human reviewer found pages that break Google’s spam policies | A green check mark means none |
| Security issues | Hacked content, malware and unwanted software, social engineering | A green check mark means none |
| Crawl stats | Google’s crawling history on your site | For advanced users; under a thousand pages you shouldn’t need it |
01.6
A first week, stop by stop
- Day one
Add the property and verify it. Then open Manual actions and Security issues: each shows a count at the top, or a green check mark when there is nothing to report.
- Day one
Inspect your home page with URL Inspection. For a new website, Google calls requesting indexing of the home page the best first step.
- The first days
Be patient with a new site. Google says it can take a week or so to start crawling and indexing a new page or site. The Core Web Vitals report can take a few days after a property is created to show data it already holds.
- After that
Open the Performance report and learn its four numbers. Google’s own beginner page recommends reading the full documentation for a tool at least once before using it, because the subtle parts cost more time later if misread.
The four numbers are the next stop on the line.