Google Search Console (GSC) is the only tool that gives you direct data from Google about how the search engine sees and processes your website. While third-party tools like Ahrefs and Semrush estimate traffic and rankings, GSC gives you the actual numbers — real queries, real impressions, real clicks, and real positions. It is free, it comes directly from the source, and it should be the first tool you open every morning. This guide walks you through every feature in GSC, from setup to advanced usage, so you can make data-driven decisions about your search engine optimization.
What Google Search Console is and why it is essential
Google Search Console is a free service from Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your website's presence in Google search results. It is not just a tool — it is the communication channel between you and Google. When Google discovers problems with your website, GSC is where you get notified.
According to Google, GSC is used by over 10 million verified websites globally (Google Search Central, 2025). It is the only tool that shows you exactly which queries drive traffic to your website, which pages Google has trouble indexing, and how your website performs on mobile devices. No third-party tool can replace this first-party data.
For anyone working with SEO — whether you are a marketing manager, developer, or agency partner — GSC is the foundation. It is where you validate that technical changes are working, that new content is being indexed, and that your website has not been hit by manual actions or algorithm updates.
Setup and ownership verification
The first step is verifying that you own or control the website. Google offers four main verification methods, and the choice depends on your technical access and preference. The most recommended method is domain verification via DNS, because it covers all subdomains and protocols in one step.
DNS verification is done by adding a TXT record to your domain's DNS settings. This method verifies the entire domain, including www and non-www, http and https, and all subdomains. Alternatively, you can use HTML file upload, where you upload a specific file to the root directory. The HTML tag method involves adding a meta tag to the head section, while the Google Analytics method verifies via an existing GA tracking code.
Choose domain property over URL-prefix property. Domain property aggregates all data regardless of protocol or subdomain, while URL prefix only covers the exact address you specify. Many people make the mistake of setting up four separate properties (http, https, www, non-www) instead of one domain property — this fragments the data and makes analysis unnecessarily complex.
- DNS verification (recommended): Add TXT record — covers all domain variants
- HTML file: Upload Google verification file to root — simple but covers only one URL prefix
- HTML tag: Add meta tag to <head> — requires source code access
- Google Analytics: Verify via existing GA tracking code — requires GA edit access
Performance report: Queries, pages, CTR, and position
The Performance report is the heart of GSC and the most important data source for SEO work. It shows four key metrics: total impressions, total clicks, average click-through rate (CTR), and average position. The data can be segmented by queries, pages, countries, devices, and date ranges.
A common misconception is that average position in GSC equals your ranking position. It does not — it is the average of all positions where your website had an impression for that query. If you rank at position 3 for some searches and position 45 for other variants, the average can be misleading. Always use position data together with impression data to get the accurate picture.
The most valuable analysis you can do in the Performance report is finding queries with high impressions but low CTR. According to a Backlinko study of 4 million search results, position 1 has an average CTR of 27.6%, while position 3 is at 11.0% (Backlinko, 2024). If your CTR numbers are significantly below these averages, it suggests that your titles and meta descriptions need improvement.
Coverage and indexing report
The Coverage report (now called "Pages" in GSC) shows you the status of all URLs Google knows about on your website. It is divided into four categories: error pages, pages with warnings, valid pages, and excluded pages. Each category tells you something important about your website's health in Google's index.
Error pages are critical — these are URLs Google wants to index but cannot. Common errors include server errors (5xx), redirect loops, soft 404s, and blocked pages. Server errors (5xx) should be resolved immediately because they signal instability. Soft 404s occur when a page returns HTTP 200 but the content looks like an error page — Google treats these as 404s regardless.
Excluded pages are not necessarily a problem. Many of them are pages you have chosen to exclude with noindex or canonical tags. But check regularly that important pages are not ending up in the exclusion list by mistake. Pay particular attention to "Discovered — currently not indexed" and "Crawled — currently not indexed" — these mean Google knows about the page but has chosen not to include it. Learn more about indexing and crawling in our glossary.
URL Inspection tool
URL Inspection is the tool you use to understand how Google sees a specific URL on your website. It shows you whether the URL is indexed, when it was last crawled, which canonical Google has chosen, and whether there are any enhancements or errors related to structured data.
The most practical feature is "Request Indexing," which lets you ask Google to re-crawl a URL. Use this when you have published new content or made significant changes to a page and want Google to discover them faster. Google limits the number of requests per day, so use it selectively on important pages rather than sending hundreds of requests.
URL Inspection also shows the rendered HTML content — that is, how Google sees the page after JavaScript execution. This is invaluable for websites that use heavy JavaScript, because you can verify that content is actually visible to Google. If important content does not appear in the rendered version, you have a serious technical SEO problem that must be addressed.
Sitemap submission and management
An XML sitemap is a map of your website that tells Google which pages exist and when they were last updated. You submit sitemaps through GSC under the "Sitemaps" section. Google confirms receipt and reports any errors in the sitemap file.
Best practice is to have one main sitemap (or a sitemap index pointing to multiple sub-sitemaps) that only includes canonical, indexable URLs. Do not include pages that are noindex, pages that redirect, or pages with a canonical pointing to another URL. The sitemap should update automatically when content is added or removed.
Monitor sitemap status regularly in GSC. The report shows the number of discovered URLs versus the number of indexed URLs from the sitemap. A large gap between these numbers indicates indexing problems. Combine this data with the Coverage report to find specific URLs that are not being indexed. Google recommends keeping individual sitemap files under 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed (Google Search Central, 2025).
Core Web Vitals report in GSC
The Core Web Vitals report in GSC is based on field data from real users (Chrome User Experience Report), not lab data. It shows how your website's pages perform on three key metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Pages are grouped as "Good," "Needs Improvement," or "Poor."
In 2025, Google confirmed that Core Web Vitals are part of the Page Experience signals that affect ranking (Google Search Central, 2025). The report in GSC is the best place to identify which pages need performance optimization, because it uses real user data instead of simulated tests.
The report groups URLs with similar structure, so you can fix issues in one template and improve hundreds of pages simultaneously. For example, all product pages in an online store might have the same CLS issue due to late-loading images. By fixing the template, you improve all pages in the group. Always prioritize groups with the most URLs, because these deliver the greatest overall impact.
Mobile Usability report
With Google's mobile-first indexing, mobile-friendliness is no longer optional — it is a prerequisite. The Mobile Usability report in GSC identifies pages with mobile issues such as text too small, clickable elements too close together, content wider than the screen, and viewport not configured.
The most common errors are "Clickable elements too close together" and "Content wider than screen." The first occurs frequently when buttons or links have insufficient spacing (Google recommends a minimum of 48 x 48 pixels for tappable targets). The second is usually caused by images or tables with fixed widths that overflow the mobile screen.
Although the Mobile Usability report has become less detailed in recent years (Google removed the separate Mobile-First Indexing report in 2023), it remains valuable for catching basic mobile issues. Combine it with PageSpeed Insights and manual testing on real devices for a complete picture of the mobile experience.
Links report: Internal and external link profile
The Links report in GSC provides two important overviews: external links (other websites linking to you) and internal links (how your pages link to each other). This report is valuable because it shows Google's actual perception of your link profile, not estimates from third-party tools.
Under "Top linked pages" you can see which pages on your website receive the most external links. These pages typically have the strongest PageRank and best ranking potential. Use this insight in your internal linking strategy: ensure that important conversion pages receive internal links from the pages with the most external link authority.
The internal linking report shows which pages have the most and fewest internal links. Pages without internal links (orphan pages) are nearly invisible to Google. Combine this data with a crawl from Screaming Frog for a complete overview of internal link flow and to identify weak points in your website's architecture.
Advanced features: Enhancements and international targeting
Under "Enhancements" in GSC you will find reports for structured data (schema markup), breadcrumbs, FAQ pages, and other rich result types. These reports show whether Google has discovered and validated your structured data, and whether there are errors preventing rich results in SERP.
The International Targeting report is essential for multilingual websites. It shows whether your hreflang implementation is correctly configured and whether Google detects errors in your language and region targeting definitions. Common errors include hreflang tags pointing to URLs that return 404, missing return tags (A points to B, but B does not point back to A), and use of incorrect language codes.
For Norwegian websites with both Bokmål and English content, correct hreflang setup is crucial for showing the right version in the right market. Google Search Console is the only tool that shows you exactly how Google interprets your hreflang tags. If you have questions about multilingual SEO setup, LeapJet can help through our SEO services.
Sources and further reading
This article draws on the following sources and industry reports:
- Google Search Central — Search Console Help Documentation (2025)
- Google Search Central — Core Web Vitals and Page Experience (2025)
- Backlinko — Google CTR Statistics: 4 Million Search Results Study (2024)
- Google — XML Sitemaps Specification and Best Practices (2025)
- Google — Mobile-First Indexing Best Practices (2024)
- Chrome UX Report — Web Performance Data Methodology (2025)
