How to Use Google Search Console: A Complete Guide for Beginners (2025 Edition

If you’re serious about improving your website’s visibility on Google, Google Search Console (GSC) is a must-have tool. It’s completely free and gives you direct insights into how your site performs in Google Search.

Whether you’re running a blog, an online business, or a portfolio site, this guide will walk you through how to use Google Search Console step by step — even if you're brand new to SEO.

✅ What Is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results. It shows you:

• What keywords people are using to find your site

• How your site is ranking

• How often people are clicking your links

• Errors that may be preventing Google from indexing your pages

• Mobile usability issues

• Backlinks and internal linking data

And much more.

🛠️ Step 1: Set Up Google Search Console

1. Go to Google Search Console.

2. Click “Start Now” and log in with your Google account.

3. Choose a property type:

• Domain Property: Tracks everything on your domain (example.com + all subdomains like www, blog.example.com, etc.).

• URL Prefix: Tracks only one specific URL path (e.g., https://www.example.com/).

📝 Pro Tip: Use Domain Property for a complete picture.

4. Verify ownership:

• Add a DNS record through your domain registrar (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap).

• Or use alternative methods like uploading an HTML file or connecting via Google Analytics.

Once verified, GSC will start collecting data. It may take 1–2 days for data to appear.

📊 Step 2: Understand the Dashboard

When you open your GSC dashboard, here are the main sections you’ll see:

1. Performance

This is where the SEO gold lives.

It shows:

• Total clicks: How many people clicked your link in Google search

• Total impressions: How many times your site appeared in search results

• Click-through rate (CTR): Clicks ÷ Impressions

• Average position: Your average ranking in search results

Click into “Queries” to see the keywords people use to find your site.

2. URL Inspection Tool

Use this to:

• Check if a specific page is indexed

• See how Google last crawled it

• Request indexing after updates

Just paste your page URL and hit “Enter.”

3. Coverage

This shows which pages are indexed—and which have errors.

You’ll see:

• Valid pages

• Pages with warnings

• Excluded pages (e.g., pages blocked by robots.txt)

• Errors (like 404 pages or server issues)

Fixing these helps improve your crawlability and SEO.

4. Sitemaps

Submit your XML sitemap here to help Google discover your pages faster.

Example:
https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

After submission, GSC will show you how many URLs were indexed from your sitemap.

5. Mobile Usability

Checks if your site works well on mobile.
You’ll see issues like:

• Text too small to read

• Clickable elements too close

• Content wider than screen

Fix these for better mobile experience and rankings.

6. Page Experience & Core Web Vitals

These sections evaluate your site’s speed and usability:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – How fast the main content loads

• First Input Delay (FID) – How responsive your site is

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – How stable your layout is while loading

Good scores here are critical for SEO in 2025.

7. Links

This section shows:

• Top linking sites (backlinks)

• Top linked pages

• Internal links within your site

Use this to track your link-building progress.

🔧 Step 3: Take Action With the Data

Here’s how you can actually use the insights from GSC:

✅ Improve SEO rankings:

• Identify high-impression but low-click keywords → optimize titles and meta descriptions.

• Discover new keywords your content ranks for → expand content around them.

• Track your ranking positions for key pages.

✅ Fix indexing issues:

• Use the Coverage report to find and fix errors like 404s, redirects, and noindex tags.

✅ Submit new content:

• After publishing a new blog or updating a page, paste the URL in the URL Inspection Tool and click “Request Indexing”.

✅ Optimize for mobile:

• Check the Mobile Usability section regularly to ensure mobile visitors have a smooth experience.

🔁 Step 4: Monitor Weekly

SEO is not a set-it-and-forget-it process. Here’s a simple weekly routine:

• Check Performance to monitor clicks and CTR.

• Scan Coverage and Mobile Usability for new issues.

• Review Core Web Vitals for any performance dips.

• Track your top-performing queries and pages.

📌 Final Thoughts

Google Search Console is like a direct line to Google—it tells you how your site is doing in search and what needs attention. By checking in regularly and taking action on its insights, you’ll be ahead of the curve with your SEO strategy.

It’s free. It’s powerful. And it’s essential.