In this second part of understanding Google Search Console, you’ll be able to learn the different cases and the complete steps in using GSC.
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Complete Guide in Using Google Search Console
Case #1: Identify Pages That Have Highest Traffic
Case #2: Identify Highest CTR Searches
Case #3: Find Total Clicks, Total Impressions, Average CTA, And Average Position
Case #4: Monitor CTR
Case #5: Monitor Impressions
Case #6: Monitor Average Position
Case #7: Identify Increase And Decrease Of Ranking
Case #8: Identify Queries With Highest Traffic
Case #9: Compare Search Performance Of Website Through Desktop/Laptop, Tablet And Mobile
Case #10: Compare Search Performance Of Website From Different Countries
Case #11: Find Out Total Number Of Indexed Webpages
Case #12: Find Out Which Webpages Are Not Indexed And Reason Why
Case #13: Monitor Total Number Of Pages That Have Been Indexed And The Indexing Errors
Case #14: Identify Issues In Mobile Usability
Case #15: Find Out Total Number Of Backlinks Your Website Has
Case #16: Identify Which URLs Has The Highest Number Of Backlinks
Case #17: Identify Which Webpage Is Linking To Your Site
Case #18: Identify Which Anchor Text Is Most Popular For External Links
Case #19: Identify Which Webpages Has Highest Number Of Internal Links
Case #20: Find Out Total Number Of Internal Links In Your Website
Case #21: Understand How A URL Is Viewed By Google
Seeing the different cases mentioned above will make you want to love GSC! Are you curious as to how to do them one by one? Let’s discuss each of the steps below.
Case #1: Identify Pages That Have Highest Traffic
- Under Performance > Pages
- In the date range, change it to ‘Last 12 months’. Doing this will be giving you a complete outline of your site’s traffic for the whole year, but you can make adjustments on the time period if you want to
- Select ‘Total Clicks’
- Click on the downward arrow to sort it from highest to lowest
Case #2: Identify Highest CTR Searches
- Under Performance > Queries
- In the date range, change it to ‘Last 12 months’
- Select ‘Average CTR’
- Click on the downward arrow to sort it from highest to lowest
Case #3: Find Total Clicks, Total Impressions, Average CTA, And Average Position
- Under Performance > Pages
- In the date range, change it to ‘Last 12 months’. You may also compare two date ranges at the same time
- Select ‘Total Clicks’, ‘Total Impressions’, ‘Average CTA’, and ‘Average Position’
Case #4: Monitor CTR
You will need to monitor and keep an eye on the CTR of your site over time. Any movement is noteworthy. Here are notes that you need to remember:
- If the CTR drop but the impression increases, it simply means you are ranking for additional keywords, which leads to a decline in your average CTR.
- If there is a boost in CTR but a decrease in impressions, it means some keywords have been lost.
- If both CTR and impression increases, this will be an indication that you are on the right track and doing it right.
Case #5: Monitor Impressions
The number of impressions should increase as you build and add more content and optimize your pages.
Case #6: Monitor Average Position
On a macro level, monitoring the average position is not really that beneficial. Usually, there will be a boost in average position whenever a set of pages or a certain page begins to rank for more keywords. Do not focus too much on this type of metric.
Case #7: Identify Increase And Decrease Of Ranking
- Click on Performance.
- Tick on the “Page” tab.
- Choose ‘Last 28 days’ for the date range. With this, you will see updated and precise snapshots of the pages.
- Choose ‘Average position’
- You will see an upward arrow just next to ‘Position’. Click to sort the data from lowest to the highest
Case #8: Identify Queries With Highest Traffic
- Click on Performance.
- Click on the ‘Query’ tab.
- Choose a time period by clicking on the ‘Date range’
- Select ‘Total Clicks’
It will be beneficial for you if you know which queries get you the most traffic. For conversion, you will want to optimize the ranking pages, updating them occasionally so that the rankings will be maintained.
Case #9: Compare Search Performance Of Website Through Desktop/Laptop, Tablet And Mobile
- Click on Performance.
- Proceed to ‘Devices’ tab.
- Select ‘Total clicks’, ‘Total impressions’, ‘Average CTR’ and ‘Average Position’
- You can now compare the data all over mobile, desktop and tablet.
Case #10: Compare Search Performance Of Website From Different Countries
- Click on Performance.
- Click on ‘New’ and select ‘Country’
- Select ‘Total clicks’, ‘Total impressions’, ‘Average CTR’ and ‘Average Position’
Case #11: Find Out Total Number Of Indexed Webpages
- Begin at the ‘Overview’
- Scroll down and look for Index coverage summary.
- See ‘Valid pages’ count.
Case #12: Find Out Which Webpages Are Not Indexed And Reason Why
- Click on Coverage under Index section.
- In the Details box, scroll down to learn and pinpoint the errors that causes the issues in indexing
Case #13: Monitor Total Number Of Pages That Have Been Indexed And The Indexing Errors
- Click on Coverage under Index section.
- Select the following:
- Error
- Valid with warnings
- Valid
- Excluded
The total number of indexed pages should normally increase as you continue to create and add new blog posts, new landing pages and site pages. If there is a decrease in the total number of indexed pages in your website without a comparative rise in errors, you might be blocking the access to URLs that already exist.
Whatever the case may be, check the excluded pages and look for clues for you to diagnose the issue correctly.
Case #14: Identify Issues In Mobile Usability
- Click on Mobile Usability under Enhancements section
- Select ‘Error’
- On the Details box, scroll down to know and pinpoint the errors that cause issues in mobile usability and to know how frequent they occur.
Case #15: Find Out Total Number Of Backlinks Your Website Has
- Click on Links under Legacy Tools and Reports
- Look at External links and click on the page that you want to review
- Look at the box labeled ‘Total external links’
Remember, each backlink can tell Google that you have a useful and reliable content. With this, it will be better if you have more backlinks but maintaining the quality at the same time. A link to a high authority website is far more valued than having two links from websites with low authority. For you to check in the report the sites that are linking to a certain page, click on the URL.
Case #16: Identify Which URLs Has The Highest Number Of Backlinks
- Click on Links under Legacy Tools and Reports
- Look at External links column and click more
Here is a good suggestion for you. You can increase page rank if you add a link from a certain page with loads of backlinks. These backlinks can give the URL lots of page authority which can pass to a different page on the website that has a link.
Case #17: Identify Which Webpage Is Linking To Your Site
- Click on Links under Legacy Tools and Reports
- Scroll down and look at the ‘Top linking sites’
It is very useful for advertising if you know the top referring domains. When you perform a link-building campaign, you can start with these websites.
Case #18: Identify Which Anchor Text Is Most Popular For External Links
- Click on Links under Legacy Tools and Reports
- Scroll down and look at the ‘Top linking text’
As much as possible, anchor text should be definite and descriptive, and it’s even better if your keyword is also included. You can find sites that are connecting to your pages using anchor text such as ‘Check it out’, ‘Learn more’, ‘Click here’ etc.; you can send an email and ask them to have the hyperlink updated.
Case #19: Identify Which Webpages Has Highest Number Of Internal Links
- Click on Links under Legacy Tools and Reports
- Look at Internal links column and click more
Case #20: Find Out Total Number Of Internal Links In Your Website
- Click on Links under Legacy Tools and Reports
- Look at Internal links and click on the page that you want to review
- Look at the box labeled ‘Total internal links’
Case #21: Understand How A URL Is Viewed By Google
- Find the white magnifying glass located the top part of the page.
- Input the URL of the page that you want to review.
- Ensure that the webpage belongs to the property that you are viewing right now.
Once the URL is already in Google, it means it has been indexed and can be seen in search. But this does not necessarily mean that it will, especially if it has been removed or marked as spam or the content has been temporarily blocked.
Well, it may be easy for some but all have the time to study and check the details one by one. Talk to an SEO expert to assist you in handling GSC and to analyze your GSC data.
