Google Search Console (GSC) is Google’s free report card for your website. It doesn’t tell you who visited (that’s Google Analytics’ job), but it tells you how your website is performing in Google’s search results and alerts you to technical issues that might be blocking potential customers.
We’ll focus on the three most critical reports: Performance, Indexing (Coverage), and Page Experience (Core Web Vitals).
1. The Performance Report: Your Digital Sales Metrics
This is the most actionable report for a digital marketing strategy. It shows you the keywords (or Queries) people typed into Google when they saw your business listed.
The Four Essential Metrics
The first step is understanding the four key numbers GSC tracks:
- Impressions (Visibility): The number of times your page link appeared in a Google search result. It means someone saw your ad/listing page (even if they didn’t scroll down to it).
- Clicks (Traffic): The number of times someone clicked on your link in the search results and landed on your website. This is your free organic traffic.
- Average Position (Rank): Your average ranking spot for a specific keyword or page. Position 1 is best. Position 11 is the top of the second page (where almost no one looks).
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) (Appeal): Clicks divided by Impressions (expressed as a percentage). This tells you how compelling your link title and description are. A higher CTR means your listing is appealing to searchers.
Actionable Insights from the Performance Report
The real value is in filtering the data to spot opportunities:
| Insight Goal | What to Look For | Why It Matters | Action to Take |
| Spotting Quick Wins | Queries with High Impressions but Average Position 8-20 (often called “striking distance”). | These pages are almost on the first page. A small SEO tweak could push them to Position 1-7, massively boosting traffic. | Tweak the Page Content: Add a new paragraph, update a heading, or include related keywords to give the page a small boost. |
| Fixing Low Appeal | Pages/Queries with High Impressions but Low CTR (e.g., 1-2%). | Your listing is showing up, but people aren’t clicking. This means your Title Tag or Meta Description (the blue link and description on Google) isn’t enticing. | Improve the Snippet: Write a more compelling title and description that clearly communicates the value and encourages the click. |
| Understanding Customer Need | Filter by a specific page, then check the list of Queries people used to find it. | This shows the true intent of the searcher. You might think the page is about “Brake Repair,” but GSC shows people are using the query “Squeaky Brakes.” | Align Content: Update the page with an FAQ section directly answering the “Squeaky Brakes” question to match the customer’s real need. |
| Optimizing for Mobile | Filter the report by Device (Mobile vs. Desktop). | If your Impressions are high on mobile, but your Clicks or Position are lower than on desktop, you have a Mobile Usability issue. | Check Mobile Usability Report (see below) and fix the underlying technical problems. |
2. Indexing (Coverage) Report: Is Your Store Open?
This report confirms whether Google has actually found and read your web pages. Think of the Google index as the main library database; if your page isn’t in it, no one can find it.
The Four Statuses to Monitor
The report divides your pages into four categories:
- ✅ Valid (Green): Google has successfully crawled, understood, and indexed these pages. These are available in search results. (This is what you want.)
- ⚠️ Error (Red): These are serious problems that prevent indexing. You must fix these immediately.
- 🟡 Excluded (Gray/Yellow): Pages that Google knows about but chose not to index. This can be intentional or due to a small issue.
- 🟢 Valid with Warning (Yellow): The page is indexed, but there’s a minor issue you should check.
Key Errors to Watch For (and Their Simple Meaning)
| Common Error | Simple Meaning for the Business Owner | Action to Take |
| Submitted URL blocked by ‘noindex’ | You accidentally put a private sign on a page you wanted customers to see. | Find the ‘noindex’ code on the page and remove it. |
| Submitted URL blocked by robots.txt | You put a large ‘KEEP OUT’ sign on a page you wanted Google to read. | Edit the robots.txt file to allow Google to access that page. |
| Server error (5xx) | The website server is having a temporary panic attack and couldn’t load the page for Google. | This often indicates a hosting issue or an overloaded server. Contact your web developer/host immediately. |
| Not Found (404) | Google found a link to a page that no longer exists (a dead link). | If the page is genuinely gone, ensure links to it are updated. If it moved, set up a 301 redirect to the new page. |
| Duplicate, submitted URL not selected as canonical | You have two nearly identical pages, and Google picked one to show, but it wasn’t the one you told it to pick. | Add a canonical tag to the duplicate page pointing to the one you want to rank to consolidate search credit. |
3. Page Experience Reports: The Customer Comfort Test
This section tells you whether the experience of using your website is good for the customer. Google uses this to decide if your site provides a good experience, which is a major ranking factor.
A. Core Web Vitals (Speed and Stability)
These three technical metrics measure real-world speed and visual stability. Think of them as your website’s digital comfort level.
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP):Loading Time. Measures how long it takes for the main content (like your hero image or main heading) to load.
- The Goal: LCP should happen within 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load.
- Interaction To Next Paint (INP):Interactivity/Responsiveness. Measures how quickly the page responds when a user clicks a button or taps a link.
- The Goal: INP should be less than 200 milliseconds (ms).
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS):Visual Stability. Measures unexpected shifts of content on the screen while the page is loading (e.g., when an image loads late and pushes all the text down).
- The Goal: CLS score should be less than 0.1.
What to Do: If GSC reports pages are “Poor” or “Needs Improvement” for any of these, contact your web developer with the specific report. These issues usually require technical backend fixes, like compressing images or optimizing JavaScript.
B. Mobile Usability
This is a simple pass/fail test for mobile experience. Since most searches happen on phones, this is critical.
- What to Look For: Any issues listed here, especially:
- Text too small to read: Fix by increasing font size on mobile.
- Clickable elements too close together: Fix by adding more space around buttons and links.
- Content wider than screen: Fix with responsive design so the page doesn’t require horizontal scrolling.
What to Do: If errors appear, click on the error, then the Validate Fix button after your developer makes changes. Google will then re-check the pages.
4. URL Inspection Tool: The Diagnostic Checkup
Use this tool when you need a snapshot of one single page.
- How to Use It: Paste any specific page URL (e.g., your homepage or a new blog post) into the search bar at the top of GSC.
- What it Tells You:
- Index Status: Is this page in the Google index?
- Crawl Date: When did Google last look at this page?
- Sitemap Info: Did Google find it via your sitemap?
- Action to Take: If you just published a new blog post and Google hasn’t indexed it yet, use the “Request Indexing” feature inside this tool. It’s like sending Google a quick telegram to say, “Hey, this page is important, come look at it now!”
By regularly checking these three main reports—Performance, Coverage, and Page Experience—and using the URL Inspection Tool to troubleshoot, you can manage your website’s health, understand what customers are searching for, and ensure your digital storefront is always open and welcoming.
