Google Search Console is a free tool that shows how Google sees your website. It tells you which searches you appear for, which pages are included in Google’s index and whether anything is stopping your site from being crawled properly. If you have a business website and are not using it, it is one of the most valuable things you can set up this week.
Setting it up
Go to Google Search Console, add your website and verify that you own it. The Domain property type is usually best, because it covers every version of your site, with and without “www”, on both http and https. It is verified by adding a record to your domain’s DNS settings. Alternatively, a URL-prefix property can be verified with an HTML tag or through Google Analytics or a plugin such as Site Kit.
Once verified, submit your XML sitemap under Indexing → Sitemaps. On WordPress this is often found at /wp-sitemap.xml or provided by your SEO plugin. Before you submit it, check it only lists pages you actually want people to find, not test pages, old drafts or duplicate versions.
Understanding the Page indexing report
Under Indexing → Pages, Search Console splits your URLs into “Indexed” and “Not indexed”, with reasons for each excluded page. Not every excluded page is a problem; some should be excluded. Here are the most common reasons and what they mean.
Crawled – currently not indexed
Google visited the page but decided not to include it, at least for now. This often happens with thin content, pages very similar to others on the site or pages Google does not consider useful enough. The fix is usually to improve or consolidate the content, not to request indexing again and again.
Discovered – currently not indexed
Google knows the page exists but has not crawled it yet. For new sites this often resolves itself. If it persists, make sure the page is linked from other relevant pages on your site, as pages with no internal links are treated as less important.
Photo by Lucia Macedo on Unsplash
Duplicate without user-selected canonical
Google found several similar pages and chose one to index. Check whether the duplicates should exist at all, and add a canonical tag pointing to the preferred version where appropriate.
Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag
The page is telling Google not to index it. That is correct for things like thank-you pages and admin areas, but it is a common mistake after a redesign, when a setting that hid the development site is left switched on. If important pages appear here, check your settings straight away.
Page with redirect and Not found (404)
Redirects are normal when URLs change. A 404 is fine for pages that genuinely no longer exist, but if a page has moved, set up a 301 redirect to its new address so visitors and any links pointing to it are not lost.
The URL Inspection tool
Paste any address from your site into the search bar at the top of Search Console to see whether it is indexed, when it was last crawled and which version Google considers canonical. After publishing or significantly updating an important page, you can use Request indexing to ask Google to look at it sooner. It is not a guarantee, but it helps.
The Performance report
Once your pages are indexed, the Performance report shows the search queries people used, how often you appeared, how often you were clicked and your average position. Look for queries where you appear often but get few clicks, as improving the page title and description for those pages can bring more visitors without needing a higher ranking.
A monthly routine
- Check the Page indexing report for new problems.
- Look at any security or manual action warnings.
- Review the Performance report for your main pages and queries.
- Inspect any new pages you have published.
If Search Console is showing errors you are not sure how to fix, or you would like help setting it up, get in touch with our team.
