Most marketing people are familiar with using Google Analytics to view their website visitor data. But did you know that Google has another tool that is designed to help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and visibility?
Google Search Console is a tool that will help you better understand how your website is currently ranking for keyword queries. It provides details on numbers of clicks, impressions, and average rankings that can’t be found in Analytics. It also provides insights on crawl errors and link metrics.
If you are trying to improve your search engine rankings, it’s good to be familiar with how Search Console can help. Below are some of my favorite ways to use this tool.
Track Your Top Keywords
The best way to see which keywords are sending you the most organic search traffic is through Search Console’s performance report. This shows you the top queries that your website is ranking for. You can see the number of clicks, impressions, and rankings. By adjusting the date filters, you are able to get a quick view on how your keyword rankings have changed over time.
Find Keyword Opportunities
Using the query data that’s provided in Search Console, you are able to find keyword opportunities on your website. By cross referencing the queries that you are ranking for with their impressions, you can see where your SEO efforts should be focused. My suggestion is to look for queries that have many impressions, but you are ranking in the 5-20 position for. Even small movements in these terms can send significantly more traffic to your site.
Fix Crawler Issues
If your website has programming issues, it’s likely that Google’s search engine crawler is not able to view your content correctly. Search Console has some valuable reports that show any server errors, mobile view issues, or bad links.
