Learn · How-To

How to Set Up Google Search Console

Search Console is the only place Google tells you directly how your site is doing in its results. It is free, it is first-party, and it is the single most useful measurement tool most businesses have never properly set up. This guide covers getting verified, choosing between the two property types in a way you will not regret later, and which reports actually repay the attention.

1. 1

   Choose between a domain property and a URL-prefix property

   A domain property covers every subdomain and both http and https in one place. A URL-prefix property covers exactly one protocol and one hostname. Choose the domain property unless you have a specific reason not to, because a URL-prefix property will quietly report on only part of your site and you will not notice until someone asks why two numbers disagree.

2. 2

   Verify with DNS if you chose a domain property

   A domain property requires DNS verification: a TXT record at your registrar or DNS provider. This takes longer to arrange than the file-upload method but it survives site rebuilds, platform migrations and theme changes, none of which the HTML file method does.

3. 3

   Add every variant you actually use

   If you also run a staging site, a separate blog host or a regional subdomain, decide deliberately whether each belongs in the same property. The usual failure here is a site where half the pages live somewhere nobody is measuring.

4. 4

   Submit your sitemap and then look at what it says

   Under Sitemaps, submit the URL of your XML sitemap. Then come back a day later and read the result rather than assuming success. A sitemap that was accepted but contains stale or redirecting URLs is worse than no sitemap, because you are actively feeding Google a list of pages that do not exist.

5. 5

   Remove sitemaps you no longer use

   Old sitemaps from a previous CMS stay submitted indefinitely and keep being fetched. If your site has changed platform at any point, check this list — leftover sitemaps from an earlier build are a common and entirely invisible source of crawl waste.

6. 6

   Start with the Performance report, filtered

   The headline numbers are nearly useless on their own. Go straight to the Queries and Pages tabs and read which pages earn clicks rather than impressions. On most sites those are a much shorter list than expected, and it changes what you write next.

7. 7

   Check the Pages report for what is excluded and why

   Under Indexing, the Pages report separates indexed from not-indexed and gives a reason for each exclusion. Read the reasons. "Crawled - currently not indexed" and "Discovered - currently not indexed" mean different things and call for different responses.

8. 8

   Turn on email notifications and then actually read them

   Search Console emails you about manual actions, indexing problems and major coverage changes. These are the only unsolicited warnings Google gives you about your site. Route them somewhere a person reads rather than a shared inbox nobody opens.