If you have a website, then you should have a Google Search Console account (also referred to as a “Google WebMaster” account). Google Search Console gives you a ton of insight into how Google views your site. Among the pieces of information you will learn from Search Console:
- Information about your search visibility, including the following metrics for every search query that resulted in an impression for your website in Google search results:
- Clicks
- Impressions
- Average click-through rate
- Average position
Google will show you this information for in aggregate as well as each individual query. If you are actively promoting your website, you should see an upward trend over time as you generate more and more search visibility. If you are not seeing an upward trend, then you are not accomplishing your goals.
- If there are any issues with mobile usability. This is extremely important because Google now favors websites that are mobile friendly. If you have issues with your website that are causing it not to display properly on mobile devices, it will affect your search rankings in both mobile search as well as desktop search.
- External websites that link to your site, and the text used in those links.
- The pages of your website that Google has indexed. If are adding content to your website on a regular basis (which you should be doing!), then you should see an upward on the Coverage chart reflecting Google indexing new content as it is published. If you are publishing new content, but Google is not indexing it, then something is wrong.
Making use of your Google Search Console account is a must if you have a website that you use to market your business (and if you have a business and DON’T have a website that you use to market your business…something is wrong). To get started, visit https://google.com/webmasters. There is a verification process that Google requires to make sure you are the owner of the site, you may need help from your website designer.
Need some help with this process? Give Work Media a call today. We love helping businesses be more successful on the Internet. Internet marketing is all we do!