How to setup Google Search Console: The Best Guide

How to setup Google Search Console.

Google Search Console is a free tool that is valuable for any webmaster. Who wants to understand how their website is performing in Google Search? And how to improve its visibility. It is a powerful tool that can help webmasters of all sizes to reach more potential customers and grow their online presence.

But why it is important to use the Google Search Console? The Google Search Console is a powerful tool that can help you to improve your website's performance in Google Search. By using the Google Search Console, you can identify and fix technical SEO issues, track your website's performance, and submit your website to Google Search.

In this guide, we will show you how to set up Google Search Console using four different methods: GoDaddy, cPanel, WordPress, and Google Analytics. And also, how to get started with and use Google Search Console.

Benefits and Features of The Google Search Console

Benefits of using Google Search Console GSC

Tools for tracking your website performance in search results over time: Google Search Console provides you with a variety of reports that can help you to track your site performance in Google Search. such as the performance report, the coverage report, and the index report. These reports can help you to see how many people visited your site from Google Search. Also, what keywords they used to find your site and which pages on your site are most popular
Tools to Identify and fix issues with your website: Google Search Console can also help you to identify and fix any issues with your site, such as crawl errors and duplicate content. This is important because issues with your site can negatively impact your site's performance in Google Search.
Submit your website's sitemap to Google: You can also use Google Search Console to submit your sitemap to Google. This will help Google to crawl and index your site more effectively.
Tools for Understanding how people are finding your website and what keywords they are using: It provides insights into how people are finding your blog or website. For example, the keywords people are using on Google to find your published content! So, you can use this information to improve your website content and SEO strategy.
Managing your website's rich results: Google Search Console can help you to manage your website's rich results. Rich results monitor and enhance search results that can include things like images, videos, and ratings.
Get notified of any issues with your website: Google Search Console will send you notifications if it encounters any issues with your website, such as crawl errors or security issues. This allows you to fix the issues quickly and minimize the impact on your website's performance.

Features of Google Search Console

Performance: Track your website's performance in Google Search results over time.
Coverage: Identify any pages on your website that are not being indexed by Google.
Index: Submit your website's sitemap to Google so that Google can crawl and index your site more effectively.
Links: Manage your website's backlinks.
Core Web Vitals: Track how your website performs on the Core Web Vitals metrics.
Enhancements: Improve the appearance of your website in Google Search results by adding structured data.
Security & Manual Actions: Identify any security issues or manual actions that have been taken on your website.
URL Inspection: Inspect individual URLs to see how they are indexed by Google and to identify any issues that may be preventing them from being shown in Google Search results.
Fetch & Render: Fetch and render a URL to see how Google sees it. This can be helpful for debugging issues with your website's content or code.
Robots.txt Tester: Test your robots.txt file to make sure that it is working as expected.
Sitemap Tester: Test your sitemap to make sure that it is valid and that all of the URLs in it are accessible.
Removals tool: Remove individual URLs or entire pages from Google Search results, temporarily or permanently.

I encourage you to explore all the Google Webmaster tools and features offered by Google. It is a powerful tool for console GSC Google that helps you monitor your site's performance in search results.

How to Set Up and Use Google Search Console

1. To set up and use Google Search Console, follow these steps: Go to the Google Search Console website. Then click the “start now” button. We recommend using the same Google account that you are using for Google products or Google sites.

2. To add your website, click on the "Add property" button.

Add a property in google search console

3. Enter your website URL, then select "Continue" to Verify in the Google Search Console.

Remember: If your site is secured, you want to add "https".

Enter your website URL to verify in Google Search Console.

4. In this step, you need to choose one method to verify your ownership. See the image below:

choose the method to verify your ownership

Choose one method to verify your ownership.

There are three methods for getting started with verifying your website in Google Search Console:

DNS verification: This is the most common method for verifying your website in Google Search Console. To use DNS verification, you will need to add a TXT record to your website's DNS records. The TXT record will contain a unique verification code that you will be provided with by Google Search Console. Once you have added the TXT record to your DNS records, you will need to wait for the changes to propagate. Once the changes have propagated, you will be able to verify your website in Google Search Console.
HTML file upload: This method is less common than DNS verification, but it is a good option if you do not have access to your website's DNS records. To use HTML file upload, you will need to download an HTML file from Google Search Console and then upload it to your website's root directory. Once you have uploaded the HTML file, you will be able to verify your website in Google Search Console.
HTML tag: This method is the least common method for verifying your website in Google Search Console, but it is the quickest and easiest method. To use HTML tag verification, you will need to add a meta tag to your website's header. The meta tag will contain a unique verification code that you will be provided with by Google Search Console. Once you have added the meta tag to your website's header, you will be able to verify your web in Google Search Console.
linked Google Search Console with Google Analytics method.

Which method you choose will depend on your specific needs and preferences. If you are not sure which method to choose, I recommend using DNS verification. DNS verification is the most common and reliable method for verifying your website in Google Search Console.

Verify Your Website in Google Search Console Using GoDaddy

To verify your site in Google Search Console by GoDaddy using DNS verification by adding a TXT record, follow these steps:

1. After completing steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 from the section "How to set up and use Google Search Console," continue with the below steps.

2. In this section we will use DNS verification method by adding the TXT record in to GoDaddy site:

3. Go to your GoDaddy Domain Portfolio.

4. Click on the "Manage" DNS button next to the domain name that you want to verify. Click on the "Add New Record" button.

GoDaddy site manage and add new record.

5. In this step, select "TXT" from the Record Type drop-down menu. Then, in the "Name" field, enter @. After that, in the "Value" field, enter the verification code that you received from Google Search Console. In the "TTL" field, enter 1 Hour. Now, click on the "Save" button. To clarify, the image below explains the above steps.

Adding new records to the GoDaddy site.

6. Once you have added the TXT record, it may take up to 48 hours for the changes to propagate. Once the changes have propagated, you can verify your site in Google Search Console.

7. Now, Go back to the Google Search Console to complete the last step "Verify" and then click on the "Verify" button.

If the verification is successful, you will see a message that says "Your website is verified."

Successful verification message from GSC.

Great!

Now, you have verified your website with GoDaddy. Start using Google Search Console to improve and boost your website's visibility in Google search.

If you are having trouble verifying your site, you can contact GoDaddy support for assistance.

Verify Your Website in Google Search Console Using cPanel

To verify your website in Google Search Console by uploading an HTML file to cPanel, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Google Search Console dashboard.
2. Click on the Add property button.
3. Enter your website domain name and click on Continue.
4. Select HTML file upload as the verification method and click on Continue.
5. Google Search Console will provide you with an HTML file.
6. Download the HTML file to your computer.

Google Search Console verification code HTML file.

7. Go to your cPanel account.
8. Click on the "File Manager icon".

File Manager icon in cPanel.

9. Select the "public_html" folder.

The public_html folder in cPanel.

10. Click on the "Upload" button.
11. Select the HTML file that you downloaded from Google Search Console and click on the "Upload" button.
12. Once the HTML file has been uploaded, go back to the Google Search Console dashboard and click on the "Verify" button.

The verify button in GSC.

If the verification is successful, you will see a message that says "Your website is verified.

A message from GSC says your website is verified.

Here are some additional tips for verifying your website using an HTML file:

Make sure that you upload the HTML file to the root directory of your website.
Make sure that the HTML file is publicly accessible.

Verify Your Website in Google Search Console Using WordPress

1. After passing steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 from the section "How to set up and use Google Search Console," continue with the following steps:

2. In this section we will use HTML tag method by using plugin in WordPress:

3. To verify your website, Google will give you a unique verification code. Copy the meta tag and add it to the <head> section of your website.

Using the HTML tag method to verify ownership in Google console.

4. After copying the verification code (HTML meta tag), You want to insert it in the head section of your website in WordPress. And we are going to do this through a WordPress plugin called "Insert Headers and Footers.". It is a very straightforward and simple process to follow.

5. So, from your WordPress dashboard, install a plugin. Simply navigate over to "Plugins" and click "Add New Plugin". Then simply search for "Insert Headers and Footers Plugin" and click "Install now" and then click "Activate".

Insert Headers and Footers Plugin.

6. Now that the plugin is activated, go to the plugin settings. In this step, navigate up to the scripts in the header and paste the verification code (HTML meta tag) that you copied from the Google search console. At this time, click "save".

Pasting a verification code from the Google search console.

Note: If you are using a different WordPress plugin, such as Yoast SEO, you can follow similar steps to add the verification code to the http header of your website.

7. After making sure to add the meta tag to the header of your website. Now, come back to the Google Search Console to complete the last step by clicking the "Verify" button. If you see a success message, your website has been successfully verified.

Popup for ownership verified in Google Console done.

Congratulations!

You have verified your website using the WordPress method. Start using the Google Search Console to track and maintain the visibility of your website in Google Search.

Verify Your Website Using The Google Analytics

Google Analytics verification: This method is the easiest and quickest way to verify your site. However, it only works if you have a Google Analytics account and have connected it to your Google Search Console account. So, if you don't have an account, create one in Google Analytics.

The first step is to connect Google Search Console to Google Analytics. Go to your Google Analytics account and click on the “Admin” button from the menu.

Under the “Property” column, scroll down to "Product links" and click on “Search Console links". Then click on "Link" button.

Connecting Google Analytics with Google Search Console.

Now, after clicking on “Choose Account”, you will see the name of your property. Select the property that you want to verify. Then, check in the box and select "Confirm".

After that, click the "Next" button. To complete the set-up, click on "select" under the web stream section. Then choose a data stream by clicking on the "Choose" button, and then click "Next" . To complete the last step, review and submit the link to the search console properties I manage and select the "Submit" button.

Submit the link to the search console properties.

Now you have linked and ownership verified your site using the Google Analytics method.

Noted: You can also establish the link between Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) from the Settings menu in GSC, under the Associations section. Once you have linked the two properties, the link to GA4 will show up in the Settings > Associations screen of the connected GSC property. As seen in the image below,

Link between GSC and Google Analytics 4.

Tips for getting started with Google Search Console

Make sure that you are using the same Google account to verify your site as the account that you are using to access Google Search Console.
If you are having trouble verifying your site, you can try using a different verification method.
If you are still having trouble verifying your site, you can contact Google Search Console support for assistance.
Whichever method you choose, once you have verified your site, you will be able to access all of the features of Google Search Console as a webmaster.

How to Use Google Search Console

How to use the URL Inspection tool to check the status of a specific page on my website?

To use the URL Inspection tool, go to the Google Search Console dashboard and click on the "URL Inspection" tab. Then, enter the URL of the page you want to inspect and click "Inspect".

URL Inspection tool in GSC dashboard

The URL Inspection tool will show you the following information about the page:

Crawl status: This shows you whether Google has crawled the page recently and whether there are any crawl errors.
Index status: This shows you whether the page is indexed in Google Search.
Mobile usability: This shows you whether the page is mobile-friendly.
Rich results: This shows you whether the page is eligible for rich results in Google Search.
Test live URLs: This can be helpful for troubleshooting technical SEO issues or for verifying that your website is being indexed correctly by Google.

As you can see in the below picture, the "URL Inspection Tool in GSC shows page information." If the page is indexed or can be indexed:

URL Inspection tool in GSC showing the page information's.

If the report shows that the page is not indexed, you can click on the Request indexing button. Google will then recrawl and index the page. It may take a few days for the page to start showing up in Google Search traffic.

How to use the Mobile Usability report to identify mobile usability issues on my website?

To use the Mobile Usability report, go to the Google Search Console dashboard and click on the "Mobile Usability" tab. This report shows you which pages on your website have mobile usability issues.

Mobile Usability report in GSC.

You can use the Mobile Usability report to identify and fix mobile usability issues. This can help to improve the user experience of your mobile website and may also improve your website's ranking in Google Search.

In addition, you can use the Mobile-Friendly-Test tool:

Mobile-Friendly-Test

How do I submit my website to Google Search with the Google Search Console?

To submit your website to Google Search with the Google Search Console, you can use the Sitemaps report. This report shows you a list of all the sitemaps that you have submitted to Google.

You can submit your website's sitemap to Google by clicking the "Add Sitemap" button and entering the URL of your sitemap.

Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console.

You might be thinking, "How do I get my business listed in Google search results?" after creating your account and verifying your website in GSC. You need to submit your sitemap to Google Indexed. See this post. How to Get Your Website or Blog Google Indexed: 13 Best Way ➤

How to use the Rich Results Test Tool

The Rich Results Test tool is a direct link from Google Search Console.

Rich Results Test Tool Page

To use this tool, follow these steps:

Go to the Rich Results Test tool page.
Enter the URL of the page that you want to test in the bar.
Click the "Test URL" button.

The tool will show you whether the page is eligible for rich results and, if it is, what types of rich results it is eligible for. The tool will also show you any errors or warnings that you need to fix.

If the page is eligible for high results, you can see how it might look in Google Search results by clicking on the Preview button.

If the page is not eligible, the tool will tell you why. You can then fix the issue and test the page again.

Here is an example of a test result:

URL: https://example.com/product/123456
Rich results eligibility: Yes
Rich results type: Product
Warnings:
* Your product description is too short.
* You do not have a price listed for your product.

To fix the warnings in this example, the website owner would need to lengthen the product description and add a price to the product.

Once you have fixed any errors or warnings, you can re-test your page using this tool.

Here are some tips for using the tool:

Make sure that the page title that you are testing is published and publicly accessible.
If you are testing a page on a subdomain or domain other than your main domain, make sure that you are signed in to the correct Google Search Console account.
You can test up to 50 pages per day with the Rich Results Test tool.

Conclusion

Google Search Console is a free web that enhances website search performance for any webmaster. It helps identify and fix website issues, enabling effective marketing campaigns. This free tool is valuable for website owners and SEO experts, enabling them to improve their website's visibility in Google Search and reach more potential customers. In the end, Search Console is a free service tool from Google that gives you full reports about search queries, search marketing, and your site's presence in Google search results.

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