Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool from Google that shows you how Googlebot sees your site — what it's crawling, what it's indexing, what keywords you're ranking for, what errors are blocking coverage, and when a manual action has been issued against you. Every site should have GSC set up before launch. It's not optional infrastructure; it's the primary diagnostic surface for all SEO work.
Step 1: Add your property
Go to search.google.com/search-console and click 'Add property'. You'll be offered two property types:
- Domain property (recommended) — covers the entire domain including all subdomains (www, blog, shop) and both HTTP and HTTPS. Requires DNS TXT record verification. This is the correct choice for almost all sites.
- URL prefix property — covers only the specific URL prefix you enter (e.g. https://www.example.com). Easier to verify but gives you a fragmented view if your site spans subdomains or protocols.
✦ Insight
If your site has any traffic on HTTP, non-www, or subdomains, a URL prefix property will miss it entirely. Always use a Domain property unless you have a specific reason not to. You can add multiple properties for the same domain — many SEOs add both a domain property and a URL prefix property to cover all bases.
Step 2: Verify ownership
For a Domain property, the only verification method is a DNS TXT record. Log into your domain registrar (Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) and add the TXT record Google provides. DNS propagation typically takes 10–30 minutes. For URL prefix properties, you have additional options: HTML file upload, HTML tag in <head>, Google Analytics, or Google Tag Manager.
# DNS TXT record for Domain property verification
# Name/Host: @ (root domain)
# Type: TXT
# Value: google-site-verification=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
# TTL: 3600 (or default)
# Verify via Google Search Console after DNS propagation (~15–30 min)Step 3: Submit your sitemap
After verification, go to Sitemaps in the left nav and submit your sitemap URL (typically /sitemap.xml or /sitemap-index.xml). GSC will show the number of submitted URLs vs. indexed URLs within a few days. A gap between these numbers is your first diagnostic task — it indicates pages Google chose not to index despite being submitted.
The 5 GSC reports every SEO should check weekly
1. Coverage (Pages report)
Shows every URL Google knows about, sorted into: Indexed, Not indexed (with reasons), and Excluded. The 'Not indexed' bucket is where your SEO problems live. Filter by reason: 'Page discovered — currently not indexed' means crawl budget or quality issues; 'Excluded by noindex tag' means a deliberate block (check it's intentional); 'Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user' means your canonical tags are being overridden.
2. Performance (Search results)
Shows impressions, clicks, average CTR, and average position for every keyword you appear for. Sort by impressions descending to find your highest-visibility keywords, then check their average position — anything ranked 5–15 is a good candidate for optimisation. Sort by CTR ascending to find pages with high impressions but poor click-through (usually a title or meta description problem).
3. Core Web Vitals
Shows real-user LCP, CLS, and INP data segmented by mobile and desktop. Any URLs in the 'Poor' bucket are directly impacting your Page Experience ranking signal. Click into the report to see which URL groups are failing and what the specific metric is — then use PageSpeed Insights to diagnose the root cause.
4. Manual Actions
Under Security & Manual Actions → Manual Actions. If this shows anything other than 'No issues detected', it requires immediate action. Manual actions are time-sensitive — every day without remediation is a day your affected pages are suppressed or removed from the index.
5. Links
Shows your top linked pages (internal and external), top linking sites, and top anchor texts. Check your top external links monthly — a sudden change in your top linking sites can signal either a new authoritative link (good) or the start of a negative SEO attack. Compare month-over-month for any anomalies.
Setting up GSC email alerts
Go to Settings (gear icon, bottom-left) → Notifications → turn on email alerts for: manual actions, security issues, and coverage errors. These are the three event types that require immediate response. Don't rely on logging in weekly to check — manual actions and security issues can compound quickly and you want to know within hours.
💡 Tip
Connect GSC to Google Analytics 4 via GA4's Search Console linking (Admin → Product Links → Search Console Links). This lets you see organic keyword data inside GA4 alongside on-site behaviour, giving you a complete picture from search impression to conversion.
💡 Tip
Every scenario in SEOdisaster's Level 1 uses a simulated Google Search Console interface — you'll read GSC coverage errors, investigate crawl anomalies, and respond to notifications under time pressure. The reports you learn to read in the game are the exact same ones you'll use in a real GSC account.