Google Search Console: the reports that matter
Search Console is free and shows how Google sees your site. These are the reports worth checking regularly, and what to do with them.
- Published
- Reading time
- 2 min read
Key takeaways
- The Performance report shows the queries and pages that bring search visitors.
- The Pages report explains why pages are or aren't indexed.
- Check Core Web Vitals, manual actions and security issues regularly.
Google Search Console is a free tool that shows how your site performs in Google Search and alerts you to problems. Every business website should have it set up. These are the parts worth knowing.
Setting up
Add your site as a Domain property if you can (verified through your DNS), so all versions of your domain are included. Submit your XML sitemap under Sitemaps.
Performance report
This report shows clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position, by query, page, country, device and date.
Useful ways to use it:
- Find quick wins: queries with many impressions and positions around 8 to 20 often improve with better content or titles.
- Improve titles: pages with high impressions and low click-through rates may need clearer titles and descriptions.
- Spot new demand: queries you didn't plan for can inspire new pages.
- Compare periods to understand changes after updates or site changes.
Pages (indexing) report
Shows which pages are indexed and lists reasons others aren't, such as "Crawled, currently not indexed", "Duplicate without user-selected canonical" or "Excluded by noindex tag". Check that your important pages are indexed and that exclusions are intentional.
URL Inspection
Enter a URL to see whether it's indexed, which canonical Google chose, and how Google renders it. After publishing or fixing an important page, you can request indexing here.
Sitemaps
Confirms Google can read your sitemap and how many URLs it discovered.
Experience
Core Web Vitals groups URLs into good, needs improvement and poor, based on real users. HTTPS shows pages not served securely.
Enhancements
Reports for detected structured data, such as breadcrumbs, products, videos and events, with any errors that affect rich results.
Manual actions and security issues
Rare, but critical. A manual action means Google found a guideline violation; a security issue means your site may be hacked. Check these if traffic drops suddenly.
Links
Shows top linking sites and your most linked pages, which is useful for spotting which content attracts attention.
A simple routine
Monthly: check performance trends, indexing, Core Web Vitals and messages. After any site change: check indexing and errors within days.
Our SEO service includes Search Console setup and monthly monitoring.
Frequently asked questions
Is Search Console data the same as Google Analytics data?
No. Search Console shows what happens in Google's results (impressions, clicks, positions). Analytics shows what visitors do on your site. They complement each other.
Why don't I see all my queries in Search Console?
Google omits some rare queries for privacy reasons, so totals for individual queries won't add up to total clicks.
