Step 1: add and verify your site
Sign in at search.google.com/search-console with your Google account and add your website as a property. The simplest option for a domain you control is the domain property, which Google verifies with a record in your domain's DNS settings. You must prove you own the site before you see any data.
Step 2: submit a sitemap
A sitemap is a file that tells Google which pages it should know about.1 Google says you may not need one if your site is small, about 500 pages or fewer, and every page can be reached through links from your home page.1 Even so, submitting one is quick. Make sure it sits at your site root, then paste its address into "Add a new sitemap" in the Sitemaps report and click Submit. You need owner permissions to do this.1
Be realistic about what it does: Google says it should fetch the sitemap straight away, but crawling the pages in it can take time, and there is no guarantee that a page listed in a sitemap will be crawled or indexed.1
Step 3: inspect important pages
The URL Inspection tool shows Google's indexed version of a specific page and whether it is eligible to appear in search.2 "Test live URL" runs a real-time check of the current page, which is useful for confirming a fix worked.2 You can also ask Google to crawl a page, with some caveats:2
- There is a daily limit on how many indexing requests you can make.
- Submitting a request does not guarantee the page will appear in Google's index.
- Indexing typically takes a day or so, but can take much longer.
- For many pages, Google recommends submitting a sitemap instead.
So use it for your most important new pages, and let the sitemap handle the rest.
Step 4: read the Page indexing report
This report shows how many of your URLs Google has crawled and indexed, and which ones it has not, with a reason for each.3 The "Source" column matters: "Website" means it is usually something you can fix, and "Google" means it is outside your control.3
Do not panic about every non-indexed URL. Google points out that pages blocked by robots.txt, marked noindex, or flagged as duplicates are often excluded on purpose, so check the reason for each group and fix only the ones you did not intend.3 After you fix something, click "Validate fix" so Google rechecks the pages. Validation can take up to about two weeks.3 The report does not let you search for a single URL, so use URL Inspection for that.3
When you first add a site, the reports can say they are still processing. That is normal. Come back in a day or two.
Step 5: read the Performance report
The performance report shows clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position for your site in Google Search.4 Use the queries view to see which searches bring people to you, and the pages view to see which pages perform best and worst.4 Google warns that the newest data may be preliminary, and that your own search may not show your site the way others see it, because results vary by time, location, device and history.4
A weekly five-minute routine
- Open the Page indexing report and check nothing important has dropped out.
- Open Performance, and note clicks, impressions and the top queries.
- Look for queries where you appear but get few clicks. Those pages may need a better title or description.
- Check any new page you published with URL Inspection.
- Write down one thing to improve.
What it will not tell you
Search Console shows how people find you in Google, not what they do afterwards. For enquiries and visitor behaviour you need Google Analytics, as described in my guide to tracking website enquiries. Put them together with the scorecard in how to measure your marketing results.
I set up Search Console, sitemaps and tracking on every website I build. If you would like help, say hello.
References
- Sitemaps report. Search Console Help.
- URL Inspection tool. Search Console Help.
- Page indexing report. Search Console Help.
- Performance report (Search results): Overview and basic setup. Search Console Help.