How to Read the Google Search Console Performance Report
Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool that helps people monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot their website in Google Search results (according to Google). If you’re new to using Google’s tools the GSC interface might look intimidating.
Not knowing where to start is normal! The good news: you don’t have to be an expert to use Google’s tools. Even Google’S SEO team has questions for Google! We need to build our understanding brick-by-brick, so today we’re going to make sure:
- Making sure Google Search Console is set up
- How to open your Google Search Console performance report
- How to start making insights in Google Search Console
Don’t have GSC set up yet? No problem. You don’t need to be a coder but you will need to copy & paste some code, so stay calm. We’re newbies but we’ve got strength in numbers. Reach out on our LinkedIn Group with any questions.
How do I set up Google Search Console?
Setting up Google Search Console only takes a few steps & some patience. Once you sign in to Search Console with your Google Account you only need to request verification & wait 24 – 48 hours. Visit our blog on Setting Up Google Search Console with all the steps included.
With your GSC account set up, I want you to look at ONE report. I promise we’ll keep it simple! You can learn so much with the Performance Report.
How to View Your Performance Report in Google Search Console
- Open up https://search.google.com/searchconsole/
- Click Overview (if you have multiple accounts choose the correct one from the dropdown list)
- Under Overview /Performance click OPEN REPORT (highlighted blue)
- Look! You can now see how people found you on Google!
Click this button to the right of ‘Performance’
Making Insights – What does this information tell me?
From here we can now gain some insights. Did people see my web site on Google? Did they click? The Performance graph visualizes your data for your understanding. Plus you can easily change the date range to look back days, weeks, & months.
Google Search Console includes historical data from before you set up your account.
Travel back in time to gain insights!
Start by asking basic questions!
Look at your performance report & ask yourself:
- What days of the week do people visit my website?
- What Queries lead people to click on my website?
- What Queries didn’t lead people to click on my website?
Not too hard right? But think about what it tells you:
- Your audience doesn’t use your website on the weekends – Maybe you should focus on releasing new content during the week.
- People did click your website when they searched “Tips for Cleaning Cars” – Cool! People must think your website can help them!
- People did not click on my website when they searched “Car Cleaning Near Me” – Oh… Maybe they were looking for a car wash. I should distinguish myself from that business type!
See what I mean? Even no info is telling you something! From there you can start to build a strategy aligned with your business goals. We’ll dive into more in the next blog, but you’re starting to see the big picture.
You can now open your Google Search Console & read the performance report to start making insights about your website. Did we leave anything out? Want to share your findings with like-minded professionals interested in Search Engine Optimization? Join our LinkedIn Group to collaborate & share ideas with the SEO Brunch community! Follow us on Facebook & Twitter as well to stay up to date on our monthly SEO Brunch events & more.
