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google search console: how to use google search console (google web master )

Google Search Console is a free tool that allows webmasters to monitor the performance of the site, and its behavior in the search engine. GSC helps you understand how best to optimize your content and detect possible site failures.

In order for a website to be indexed by Google, you do not need to specifically register it in the search console. This happens automatically.

Using the search console allows you to find out how well the site is processed by the Google search engine. If you have a website, but do not know how to promote it in the search, this service will help. GSC successfully copes with indexing tasks.

What is google search console for the modern webmaster? How do SEO specialists and site owners communicate with the search engine in practice? Let’s take a look in this review.

What is the Google Search Console service for?

The Google search engine offers resource owners and webmasters a special set of tools with which you can not only track the process of crawling a site by search engine algorithms, but also improve the quality of interaction with them.

The search console allows you to:

  • find out how the search engine evaluates the site
  • see where it is displayed
  • get index data
  • optimize content for google search
  • get data about the effectiveness of a web resource
  • increase positions in the search to attract new visitors
  • identify and correct data errors that affect the ranking of the site

All major search engines offer their own tools. Yandex has its own Yandex. Webmaster, there is a webmaster from the Bing search engine. Services are actively used in the work of webmasters, and SEO optimizers. With the creation of its own specialized console, Google decided to emphasize that a significant emphasis on promotion is given to search. Namely, how the search engine sees and evaluates the site.

The search console is known by its old name as Google webmaster tools.

What is google webmaster tools? This name was used by the search console before. Now effective tools for site analysis are united under the name google search console. In the updated version, the service was not only renamed, but also received new utilities and became more convenient for work.

For what tasks is the Google Search Console service used?

Google search console provides ample opportunities to track the parameters that affect the SEO promotion of the site. Using the service is mandatory if the task is to attract visitors to your page.

Google Search Console helps you to do the following:

  • check if a resource is searchable and indexable
  • detect indexing errors, rescan relevant content
  • evaluate the traffic coming from the search engine. Namely: how often, for which keywords the site appears in the search results
  • see notices related to indexing and error issues
  • identify online sources linking to your resource
  • identify and eliminate the shortcomings of mobile versions of pages
  • use data for market research

Google search console offers a set of tools for versatile work on the site. The Google Search Console helps you track data that directly affects resource productivity in SERPs:

  • what requests users get to the resource
  • pages from the search through which the site is entered
  • countries and regions with the highest traffic
  • input device type
  • the number of clicks from the search with the ability to analyze the dynamics for the selected period
  • total number of impressions in search
google search console photo
google search console

How to add your site to the search console?

First, go to the search.google.com service itself.. By default, the gmail.com mail with which the Google account is associated should be registered. After logging in, you need to select the type of resource. Enter the full address in the input field. It can be copied from the address bar.

add your site to the search console
add your site to search console

You can add your site to the Google Search Console in one of the following ways:

Way Description
Domain resource This option is suitable if you have a domain
With URL prefix If you do not have your own domain name, for example, the site is newly created, this method will do. It is preferred because it is easier to validate. Entering in the desired column can be done manually or copy the address from the search bar of the browser. Then click “Continue”

Options for confirming a web resource in the search console

In both cases, when adding a site to the Google Search Console, you need to confirm your rights to it. Namely, you are the owner. Reports in the Google Search Console are confidential, therefore protected from access by unauthorized persons.

The confirmation methods will differ depending on how the addition took place in the previous step.

Domain resource

  1. Entering a domain name
  2. Press the “Continue” button
  3. To confirm ownership, you need to make changes to the record in DNS. To do this, we find the domain name registrar where the name was registered in the pop-up list. If the registrar is not found, select “Any”
  4. We come to the domain name registrar
  5. Choosing your domain
  6. We add to it a .txt format entry from the message to the Google Search Console
  7. We return to the console and confirm
how to add website to google search console
how to add website to google search console

It may take some time before the value changes on the domain. This may take from a few seconds to an hour.

Connecting without domain access

    1. Go to Google sites
    2. Copying a link to an already published web resource
    3. Paste the copied link into the google search console
    4. Press the “Continue” button
    5. At this stage, you are given a choice of 5 ways in which you can verify your rights. The best option is Google Analytics. In this case, it must be connected to the site.
    6. Click “Confirm”
search console photo
add site to google search console
verify website in the google search console
add site to console

After a few simple steps, the system will confirm ownership of the rights within a few seconds. Don’t worry if the confirmation has already been done on another behalf. You can check it by going to the Settings section.

add site to google search console
confirmation of ownership of the site

The confirmation does not affect its operation. In most cases, the tool has only basic statistics. After adding a site, its scanning starts automatically. There is no need to specifically enable this process. The service checks for errors. If there are, it shows them. Further, as data is accumulated, all functions will be available for statistics.

How to link google analytics and google search console

Google Analytics helps you better understand your users. To exchange data between services, it is enough to take a few simple steps:

  1. Create an account in Google Analytics
  2. Go to the “Administrator” tab
  3. Select the resource account whose data you want to transfer
  4. Customize the selected search console
  5. Click “Add”

You can quickly check if a site is connected to Google Analytics through its settings. It is important to remember that creating, connecting analytics and adding to the search console must be done from one Google account. Before linking google analytics and google search console, make sure it is. Otherwise, nothing will work.

Data update rate on the new site

If the question is how to add your site to the google search console, resolved, it is important to pay attention to such a moment. When a completely new site is introduced, it still practically does not appear in the search. There will be no statistics on it. It is important to consider that the Google webmaster has time delays. Some data is updated at a rate of 2-3 days. When analyzing the statistics obtained, this should be kept in mind.

How to use the sserch console

Let’s consider how to work with the console, what tools and reports it has. After the site is added to the Google Search Console, you need to deal with the functionality. The service panel consists of blocks with sets of tools. Each block is responsible for certain settings.

Block/Report Description
Review Here you can find general data related to overall performance, SERP click dynamics, index, quality, mobile search settings
Efficiency Important report for SEO. Contains data about the location of the resource in the search
URL validation Contains information about indexing, problems associated with it
Coating The report displays the current URL indexing status
Sitemaps Sitemap download available to speed up indexing
Index Information about the indexing process, coverage, settings, errors
Page quality Section on the quality of web resource pages
Site quality Data on the number of pages and key Internet metrics (load speed, display of page layouts, response time). A separate section is reserved for the analysis of the mobile version
Key web metrics Information about the convenience for users who accessed the site through the Chrome browser
Improvements Number of indexed pages and related issues
Safety Security issues, imposed sanctions
Former tools Here are reports from the old version of the service, which many webmasters continue to use (analysis of the contents of robots.txt, targeting report on multilingual resources, the Marker tool)
Links About internal and external links
Settings General panel settings

How to work in the console with a new site

If the site is added to the console for the first time, the statistics will not be available yet. Information will be updated after a couple of days, when the first results of the work appear. Over time, data will accumulate and change. It remains only to visit the console in time and analyze the data.

data in google search console
data in google search console

Available reports in the latest version of Google Search Console

Next, consider the capabilities of the Google Search Console service in providing reports. They are divided into two types.

 

Type of Reports
Used by admins, SEO-optimizers, marketers “About the status of advanced search results”. Gives information about structured data that is processed by Google robots. The report contains errors that prevent pages from being included in the search, warnings, tips for debugging and troubleshooting.“Change of address”. It is necessary to report to Google that you are transferring your resource to another domain/subdomain. Search results must be associated with the new address.

“Measures taken manually”. Check the details of this report – it contains information about all the issues that affect the exclusion of the site from the search.

URL Removal. Sometimes you want to hide individual pages from search. Using the removal tool, you can remove page content from the results for up to six months.

Used by developers “Indexing”. Information about page processing: presence of errors, warnings, exclusions from the search, total number of impressions. The report helps to understand what exactly affects free traffic.“Basic Internet Metrics”. Information about the speed of loading pages, their convenience for visitors.

URL Validation. Debugging indexing page by page. The tool makes it possible to find out the indexing status at a given point in time for a particular URL.

“Security Issues”. The report contains warnings if the site has been hacked or contains a security risk to users.

Some of the reports contain identical indicators, they overlap with each other. However, they are used for different purposes.

Block “Overview” with site statistics

Statistics overview is the most popular and requested tool of the console. Here is the main summary. You can check information about views, duration of sessions for a specified period. For the convenience of using the statistics data, you can preliminarily link google analytics and google webmaster.

The block contains 4 reports:

  • “Coating”
  • “Efficiency”
  • “Improvements”
  • “Quality”

The reports of this block are duplicated with the main sections. Brief information is available here:

  • about the total number of clicks in Google search
  • error pagesserch console errors
  • ease of use on mobile devices
  • structured indicatorsstructured data

Section “Efficiency” of the site

Google search console performance data is one of the most important console reports used by SEOs.

measurement of statistics in the search console

Allows you to track your stay in the search. Data is displayed for a week, 1 or 3 months, the maximum period is 16 months. Keep in mind that the data arrives with a delay of 48 hours.

The performance report is useful for performance data in the search engine. Here you can see the number of clicks, CTR, impressions, average position indicator. The phrases by which the transition was carried out, as well as the most visited sections are indicated.

In addition to information about the number of clicks, you can include items on how many times the site was shown: how many impressions, how many clicks, the ratio of clicks to impressions (the so-called CTR).

The report provides the following information:

  • number of clicks from google search
  • total number of impressions in search
  • average CTR means the total percentage of impressions in the SERP, after which the transition was made to the site
  • average position – the average position in the SERP during the observation period

Performance Report Improves Audience Engagement Metrics

This report is also interesting because it can be used to analyze user interaction and improve these indicators. An interactive chart helps track the dynamics of each of the four named parameters.

search console statistics

It is useful to use the “Filters” function. With their help, you can:

  • find important queries
  • compare branded traffic
  • compare pages by traffic
  • find mobile traffic
  • compare mobile and PC traffic
traffic sources in google search console
compare mobile and PC traffic

How can you influence clicks, impressions, CTR and average position?

How can you use the console in a practical way so that the site gets more traffic? Let’s break down a few secrets.

clicks and impressions in the search console queries with a high CTR
high CTR queries

How else can you improve traffic? Let’s look at requests with a high CTR level and weak positions. Let’s make a filter by positions indicating the position number, for example, above 10. Next, we examine queries with a high CTR.

This tip is useful if queries are in the top ten in terms of search results, but you want to promote them to the top ones. We select a specific query, find the content containing it, optimize the text. If the article does not mention this request, then add it. This increases the chances of getting the page up.

  1. We find requests for 7-8 positions. They are easier to promote than requests after the 10th position. We optimize the content: we do relinking, we set up behavioral factors.

What are google search console performance metrics? In short, this is data that affects traffic growth.

What does the “Average Position” indicator give?

Given the dynamic results of Google search, the position of the site changes daily. For example, in a personalized search, it may appear higher, for another user it may appear lower. Different regions will also give different display positions. Evaluating positions for today on a single device is not the right approach to analysis. Each computer will display information about its region. But, literally having driven a few kilometers across the terrain, the positions will change. For this purpose, there is an indicator “Average position”, taking into account the request. By clicking on a keyword, it is possible to track how the position has changed over time during the last reporting period. Through the “Dates” section, you can select the desired range.

We select the query we are interested in.

queries in search consoleCheck the box for CTR.search console indicators

Specify the period required for verification, click “Apply”. We get a visual graph.

chart ctr in search console

Using the Performance report, you can find out the following data:

  • percentage ratio between desktop and mobile users
  • the dynamics of visits from Google search in relation to clicks and impressions
  • URLs with the lowest and highest click-through rates
  • rating of popular queries, countries visited, device types
  • phrases, words for which traffic fell or increased

Why search query analysis is useful

Through the analysis of search queries, you can see almost all the queries with which the site gets into the search results. In this way, you can get a lot of different data. By default, keywords are located here. The report displays up to 1000 key queries. Their analysis helps to see trends: indicators are growing, staying at the same level, or visibility is falling.

The section uses the ability to filter by requests. You can see all queries associated with a particular keyword, such as “console”. For statistics, all text materials containing the given word will be analyzed. Filtering is performed both with the content of a keyword or phrase, and with their exclusion. It is extremely convenient for work.

Google search console analyzes individual pages

Additionally, it is possible to analyze statistics both for specific queries and for individual pages. Based on statistics from google search console it becomes clear which pages receive clicks most often, which ones are displayed in the highest positions. Based on the information received, certain conclusions can be drawn regarding the optimization and analysis of content. Statistics show which materials are leading in popularity. Some content may receive more traffic than the home page. The webmaster should take this into account in his work.

An additional convenience is that you can take a certain page and go to it.

search console page metrics

Then switch to the Requests tab.

search console queries

Analysis of individual pages helps to complete the semantic core

In the report, you can see for which specific queries a particular page was displayed. Here you can immediately see the number of keywords for which it appeared in the search. Often, specialists do not want to collect the semantic core. They are mistaken when they think that out of two dozen keywords, they will be able to get a normal amount of traffic. The facts are that one article can appear in the search results of a hundred search queries in a month. These include paraphrasing, any form of words. If the webmaster chose only 30 queries, then it would be very difficult to get traffic for limited semantics. Therefore, the semantics should be broad.

Use the country filter to fine-tune your site

In addition to receiving data page by page and on request, it is possible to filter countries. Those that display the web resource will be shown. For example, this way you can find out at what positions the display took place in a given country.SEO results by country

What data is available in google webmaster

Through the search console, you can get the most detailed data:

  • positions
  • keywords
  • pages
  • display regions
image and video search in google search console
image and video search

Similarly, you can select devices to check. The menu allows you to select the type of search: all over the web, image and video search.

Another very useful functionality is a comparison in two parameters. Using the time range, you can compare the previous period of 28 days with the current 28 days.

compare metrics in google search console
metrics in google search console

In this way, quite serious analytics is made regarding the improvement of the visibility of the portal. You can determine which of the sections are sagging or vice versa growing. “Search query analysis” is very useful for work. For that alone, it’s worth connecting to Google Webmaster.

How to index a website on Google?

To do this, use the URL Checker tool. It is enough to enter the URL of the page, then wait for the result.

This feature is especially valuable for large sites:

  • when it is difficult to control indexing on a regular basis
  • when you need to understand whether the entire amount of content (articles, product cards) is included in the index
  • when you need to track if any pages fall out of the index
    indicators in the search console graph
    search console graph

Google console section “Check URL”

It contains information about indexing: how many pages are in the index, and their number increases or decreases. The number of banned and indexed pages will be available for analysis.

After entering the URL, the report shows the problems, if any. Errors can be critical or non-critical. But ideally, they should not be at all.

checking urls in search console

Previously, the section was called Googlebot and contained a helpful “View as Googlebot” tool. Both through the master tools and in the modified version of the console, the ability to view a specific page has been preserved in order to understand how the search engine sees it from the point of view of the bot or from the point of view of the user. It also displays places that could not be indexed.

Why code review is needed

Through the tool, you can check the code. This is very useful for checking Google’s code understanding. When might this be useful? For example, some visual effect, library or built-in element is used. But doubts arise about whether the search engine will index it. To do this, a Google bot will look at the page. And besides this, you can also send a request to index the page itself and all links outgoing from it.index page in search console

What else is URL validation for? First, through it site indexing in google. This is very handy after updating the content. Now, without waiting for the queue for indexing, you can request it. But it shouldn’t be abused. You may get the impression that frequent browsing by the bot increases the place in the search. Submitting an unmodified version for re-indexing causes Google to deprive your site of this feature for a while. Send for indexing only those pages that really need it.

The main block of the console “Index”

In the “Index” block there are three main reports related to indexing: coverage, sitemap files, and deletion.

Coverage console section

The Coverage report is one of the most important reports in the entire service. Here is the indexing data: How is your site indexed on google? and whether errors are found in the process. If they are available, go to the pages containing them. The report is used to find out the current indexing status of a particular page.website indexing schedule

Indexing report gives statuses to pages

Status Description
Without mistakes Indexing was successful, no errors were found
No errors but warnings Page indexed but minor errors found
Error The page did not go through the indexing process due to an error. These include 400, and 500 responses, or an incorrect redirect. Among the errors, you can find such a reason as blocking in robots.txt. The “error” status should never be ignored – it affects the position in the search results. Therefore, errors should be corrected as soon as possible.
Ruled out Status means that the page could not be indexed. This can happen for a reason when a ban on indexing is imposed. The second reason may be that the page has an indexed duplicate

Using the “Coverage” section in google webmaster, you can solve a number of problems:

  • find those errors that affect the indexing of new pages
  • detect duplicates
  • identify erroneous redirect chains
  • find invalid directives in robots.txt

The section additionally displays other information: error detection method, data about the bot, and others.search console errors

Purpose of the Sitemaps Report

How to index a website on google? The section allows you to download a sitemap to speed up the indexing time. The map is seen by Google search robots, so the process is greatly simplified. To add a map, just provide a link to it.

Here you can see how well the sitemap is received. It can be sent manually without using robots.txt. But for small platforms, it is better to send the sitemap file via robots.txt in order for it to be better indexed. This is especially true for resources with tens of thousands of pages. In order for the site to be indexed in a timely manner, and all the changes made to pass quickly, you need to add this file.

how to add sitemap to search console

Why add a sitemap

This is important because the file is visible through any search engine. And manually you need to bypass all search engines in order to send a sitemap to everyone. Often, the sitemap is not specified in the robots.txt file due to concerns that the content could be crawled by intruders. For example, this is used to steal content, but infrequently. Therefore, hiding the sitemap does not make sense.

For small web resources of several hundred pages, the presence of a sitemap file does not play a special role. The resource will be indexed.

Console section “Uninstall”

This section contains a tool that will be useful if you want to quickly remove certain pages from Google search. Here you can create a request to delete one or more of them.

Removing outdated content done through this section. A powerful tool is able to remove individual pages and even entire directories from the Google index. For example, those that were accidentally indexed. For example, the search page is indexed. But the search should be closed, since this is a little informative part. You can close it with the robots meta tag. But Google will take too long to process this ban before removing it from the index.

How to remove a page from a site

Through the “Create Request” tool in google webmaster (search console) you can speed up the process and request deletion. To do this, just click the “Create Request” button, then enter the address of the page or directory. If you want to remove the entire directory, select Remove all URLs with this prefix. This means that not one, but all the pages nested in it will be deleted according to the URL structure. After that, it will be removed for approximately six months, if it is not closed from indexing. After all, if it is closed, it will be removed for good.

In the “Temporary deletions” tab, you can create a report on sent requests. This will display information with a history of all requests for the last 6 months.

Removing outdated content from the site

What to do when it becomes necessary to clean the resource from outdated or unwanted content? The same section provides removal of obsolete content.span,removing obsolete content from the index

To remove content from the search results, click the “Create a query” button

request to remove old content from the site

In special cases, when it is necessary, in the search results, you can clear the cache copy data. Through the report, the history of sending requests to remove content is available. Information about complaints about content for 6 months will be useful. Such data is contained in “Filtering by safe search”.

Also, the tool is very convenient and useful not only for removing outdated contentbut also garbage. Even if it is banned, it still continues to hang in search engines. First, it must be banned and then removed through the webmaster tools. However, this method is dangerous because you can accidentally delete useful pages. Be careful.

Block “Quality”

This section contains information about the quality of the site pages.

Report in the Google search console “Page usability”

Here are displayed parameters that characterize the usability of pages while browsing by users on mobile devices. The report is represented by a chart that shows pages with the status “Quite reliable”. This wording indicates that the platform has no problems when displayed on mobile devices. Or they are very small and do not affect the work.

The report displays 2 main indicators:

  1. Pages without errors. This includes those URLs that are adapted for mobile devices and do not have major flaws.
  2. Error pages. They have significant glitches when viewed on users’ mobile devices. This may be a font that does not fit the screen size, crowding of interactive elements, the text goes beyond the screen margins, and so on. Full error details are in the Details section.

Report “Key internet metrics”

This section includes information from the report on whether it was convenient for users who logged in through the Chrome browser. Real actions of visitors from all countries are analyzed.

Console section “Signals” what is it used for

The section contains 5 indicators that describe the convenience when browsing pages.

Index Description
Key internet metrics The total number of pages containing errors is given. They can be assigned a reputation, such as “Slow speed”
Mobile friendly Here are displayed those pages that have inconvenience for the user when displayed, i.e. ineffective. Separately, you can sort URLs with low speed
Security issues Contains information about global violations that limit the operation of the resource on mobile devices
Implementation of advertising The page can get the status “Inconvenient”. This happens when ad blocks are placed incorrectly or in violation of the rules. Similar pages lose positions in ranking
HTTPS The main part of the URL must be under the HTTPS protocol

Mobile Usability report

convenience on mobile devices in the search console

Report data is used to analyze parameters related to mobile viewing. Here you can find the reason if a certain URL is not growing in the number of views. It lies in the incorrect display. The report contains an overview of the causes and ways to correct the error.

Possible errors:

 

Error Description
Increased page width A scrollbar appears when browsing, making it difficult to view content
Availability of Flash elements Flash slows down performance and is often not displayed on mobile devices
Small font Reading text is only possible when zooming in
Invalid viewport tag configuration The tag tells the browser the device’s display settings for optimal performance. Incorrect settings distort the display
Crowded layout of web elements Pile of elements on the page worsens the quality of using the resource
Fixed viewport The error manifests itself so that the user sees only a limited part of the page. Trying to move it does nothing. This error is invalid and requires responsive design settings

Console section “Improvements”

Contains information about those structured data that were not found by Google. They are used when generating rich results.navigation bar in search console

Additionally, the section contains statistics on a number of errors:

  • Navigation bar
  • Site search box
  • FAQ
  • Jobs
  • Review
  • Video
  • Logo
  • Special message etc.

site link search

Google Search Console section “Security Issues”

The report in this section consists of two parts:

  1. “Security Issues”—provides information about threats to users coming from the site
  2. “Manual Actions”—Information about sanctions imposed on the resource from Google for violating the rules

Google identifies three main issues affecting security:

 

Problem Description
Dangerous content To dangerous content google search console one that promotes and calls for suspicious acts that can harm someone. One example is the dissemination of bank card data and other personal information without the consent of the data owner.
Malware Any software that harms the user and can damage his device
Hacked content Violators can hack the site and post unwanted content on it. If search engine algorithms identify it, then URLs containing it will be hidden from search results.

The Manual Action Report displays the sanctions that have been applied to the domain. Pages that have security issues are marked with an icon. They also become unavailable when switching from the search.

Security issues

This report is rarely used but extremely useful. Ideally you should see something like this:

security issues in search console

If a site is infected with a virus and Google knows about it, a report will be sent with a set of links to infected URLs.

The report also provides for a second revision. After the site has become infected, the search engine retains its position for some time. In case of immediate elimination of the problem, the resource will be removed from the search with the loss of positions. If no treatment measures are taken, the resource will be blacklisted by browsers. The problem is that in the future it is difficult to leave such blacklists. Lists are not updated frequently. Therefore, it may happen that the virus is completely cured, and the site is still on the list. Visitors cannot access it. Therefore, traffic and audience reputation are lost. Using the “Re-review” button, you can speed up the removal from such blacklists. First, Google checks, which significantly speeds up removal from browser lists.

This report is extremely helpful. And, fortunately, they rarely have to use. And if, nevertheless, there was a need, you need to do everything as quickly as possible in order to maintain positions. You should not submit requests for review, both for manual sanctions and for security issues, unless you are completely sure that all problems have been completely resolved. If the virus still remains, but the application has been sent, then after two or three times Google will reduce the processing speed. It is better to make sure once again that the site is healthy before sending.

Section of the service “Measures taken manually”

You have to use this report when some sanctions from Google are applied. It’s best to never encounter this work report.

actions taken manually

If the webmaster uses methods that are prohibited for promotion, then google sends notifications about what exactly is violated. It could be:

  • text spam
  • manipulative links
  • something tougher

Along with the notification, a “Submit site for review” button appears. After making corrections, an accompanying explanation should be written explaining the situation why the forbidden optimization methods were used. After sending the message, the Google moderator decides to lift the sanctions.

Avoid Prohibited Promotion Methods

It is better not to fall under sanctions at all, so it is not recommended to use prohibited methods of promotion. Through the report, you can see what is happening with the site. Nowhere else can such information be readily available. Google search console what is it, if not a reliable assistant for the development of your site? Only here you can get all the information about the work of the resource. If there is no one responsible for its work or a hired SEO specialist is used, all site owners are recommended to add themselves to master tools. If Google’s notifications on this issue are not tracked in time, it can be very late when nothing can be done with the site.

“Legacy Tools and Reports” on google search console

Here are the tools moved from the main sections of previous editions of Google Webmaster. These tools have not yet received analogues in the Search Console. But they are still available for use through this section.

Country and Language Targeting Tool

Using the tool, you can assign a region to the site. If the domain used is regionally independent, for example, .com, then it is possible to additionally specify the region for the search engine. In this case, the search engine will understand in which region it is better to rank the page.

In the case of a regionally dependent domain (.ua, .pl, .fr), Google automatically links such domains to regions (Ukraine, Poland, France). You cannot manually change the regional binding. Therefore, in the case of a regional domain, there is no choice. And with .com, you can choose a specific region and link your project to it.

You can use the report to find hreflang errors. Атрибут связан с языком документов.hreflang errors

The full list of attribute errors is located in the “Language” tab. The “Country” tab shows which region the site is linked to. In previous versions of the console, you could select the localization of target visitors here.

Section “Messages”

The section is available in the new version of google webmaster (console) in the “Old Tools” block. Previously, all messages sent by the service were displayed here. The new version of the console has a convenient message bar.

Use the Web Tools report to track ad standards

This section contains information about compliance with the Better Ads Standards. The standard regulates the quality of advertising. It determines what appearance banners should have, and what formats should be abandoned. The tool still works and can be used to detect violations.

Scan Settings section

Through this tool, you can send specific parameters to Google for crawling URLs. This function should be used with caution and only by experienced professionals. After making special parameters, there is a risk that the changes will remove pages from the search without the possibility of indexing in the future. It is important to use this tool only when Googlebot overloads your resource.

Tool to check robots.txt

Tool to check robots.txt Namely, whether its content blocks access to certain URLs. The tool checks the syntax of files of this type.

Marker tool

Useful for adding markup if the site has structured data (lists, schedules). “Marker” adds markup to pages. And it helps Google algorithms to get the necessary information about the site.

Section “Links”

In the new version of the console, the report provides more accurate data. Perhaps now the report will give a lower value of links. But their number hasn’t gone down at all. Only the way of counting has changed.

links in search console

The “Links” report shows all external and internal links leading to the site. Report Benefits:

  • link detailed report
  • the ability to view each link

The report contains information about links from categories:

  • “External links”. If you need to see where on another site there is a link to the analyzed resource, this is possible. Just click on the page that links to it. The report will present link sources if there is more than one. The entire list is displayed on a separate tab. You can check for all links and view each one. For a free tool, this is a very useful report, with the help of which a detailed analysis is carried out.
  • “Internal Links”. The report allows you to conduct a basic check on internal links. Here you can see the site page and how many unique internal links google found to it. Here they are sorted by the number of internal links without calculating the weight of these internal links. If some important page is at the end of this list, then this is a serious signal for the webmaster. It probably won’t get enough internal link juice. Because of this, it may be perceived by the search engine as not very high quality. It won’t show up well in searches.

The link report in google webmaster (console) is very useful for quickly auditing the structure of a web resource. It shows whether the distribution of internal links is correct. In addition, it is possible to download all external links to the site.

Block “Settings”

Here are the main console settings: scan statistics and marker information.

The main parameters of the “Settings” block:

 

Parameter Description
Proof of Ownership Displays information about the method by which confirmation was made in the console account
Users and Permissions Contains data about users who have rights to view Search Console statistics
Connections List of services associated with the console account
Change of address The tool is useful if you need to transfer the platform: URL change, new domain name. As for moving to the https version, you no longer need to update the data in this section. Indexing by search robots is automatic, but it will take some time

Section “Scanning”

The report provides information on the total number of requests for the reporting period.site crawl statistics

Information is available in three ways:

 

Parameter Description
Total scan requests The total number of requests for the reporting period is indicated. Unique requests and repeated requests are taken into account (if the link is crawled again)
Total download size The amount of files downloaded during the scan is displayed. Taken into account: scripts, images, html, etc.
Average response time It is about the response time during the scanning process.

All requests for scanning are divided by purpose, file type and search bot, as well as by response.google crawl statistics

You can also check the status of the host here.

problems with hosting in search console

Scan Errors Tool

How to fix crawl errors in google webmaster (search console)? If google has encountered some problems while indexing the site, a message will come up. For example, the site contains non-working URLs. Error 404. The essence of the problem is that the same web resource has internal links that take you to pages with a 404 error. Accordingly, they are beaten. The Referring Domains tab lists addresses that contain a link to another page that doesn’t exist. Therefore, the user can click on the link and go to a non-working address. The search engine regards this as a critical error that hinders the user’s work.

An important note about broken links

Broken links can be found on almost any site if they are not removed in time. It is important not to allow them to accumulate in large numbers. It is necessary to take into account the number of such links relative to the total number. If the ratio is large enough, Google will perceive the resource as undesirable or underdeveloped. It is important to avoid broken links and try to minimize their volume.

What are website errors?

In Google Search Console provides detailed explanations about scan errors. Viewing is available through the “Index” section, “Coverage” tab. Please note that information about errors in the search console becomes available with some delay. The same applies to the solved problems. Consider the main mistakes.

DNS

DNS errors in Search Console

If you see a DNS error message in Search Console, contact your hosting support right away. Through support, you need to clarify the situation with current failures. If this is not the case, you should find out the root cause of the error. Since the unavailability of the DNS server makes it impossible for the site to work. The user simply cannot open it. Such sites are rapidly disappearing from search engine indexing. Therefore, DNS errors are critical – they require urgent resolution.

You can try to find the cause of the failure on your own. But if the failure occurred due to the fault of the hosting, then the working mode will be quickly restored.

Errors of the server hosting the site

server error

The errors are server related. For example, it takes a long time to process a request. This means that an error message will appear in the search console. The most common causes of server errors are:

  • limited amount of data transfer by the hosting provider
  • if the web resource has quite a lot of traffic, the server may not be able to cope
  • high load on the platform causes the server to process requests for a long time. This method is used by hackers, damaging the resource through DDoS attacks.

For each server error, Search Console issues its own error code.

Check robots.txt

Often there is an error due to incorrect robots.txt settings. Master Tools can check the ability to index any resource on the site. If in doubt about a robots.txt file, you can run it through a robots.txt check. How to use the tool? You need to take the address of the page and check it. The tool wizard will show if it is prohibited in robots.txt or not.

URL errors

url errors

This type of error is associated with an incorrect page scanning process. Their full list is available in the coverage report. URL errors are very different. But the most common are:

  • Access is denied

This means that the page was not available to the search bot. This may be due to the presence of authorization. Also blocking the hosting provider can prevent access. Violation in the robots.txt file can be the third reason.

  • Error 404

The search robot tried to visit a non-existent page. To resolve the error, you need to check the URL and the content contained

  • Soft 404

An easier version of the previous error. Indicates that the page has been removed. A common cause is incorrectly configured redirects or missing content. It might be worth checking the link to the landing page inside the sitemap

Why does each site owner need to add their site to webmaster from Google?

What if the site owner does not do SEO himself? In this case, the use of the Google search console is simply necessary. The service has a very important function of messages, because various google notifications are available through them:

  • sanctioned for violations
  • website is infected with a virus
  • something can happen with the platform that affects its ranking in the search engine

Google Search Console is a really useful and handy tool. It provides:

  • detailed statistics on how the search engine sees the site
  • search display information
  • a set of useful tools (accessibility check by search bot, index operations)

Potential benefits of the console

Using the free console tools helps you track the potential of your project in the Google search engine. Each webmaster answers the question in his own way what is google search console? Universal tools are indispensable when optimizing the site and working with it. System messages can always be used to track down problems that have occurred. Access to web master tools allows you to control the progress of work. And this is really useful when a third-party seo specialist or a marketing agency is engaged in optimization.

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