Google Search Console is an essential tool for any business hoping to get more website traffic from search engines. Not sure what it is and why you should use it? Check out the video at the bottom of this page. The best way to set up Google Search Console is to first set up Google Analytics. That makes setting it up much easier.
Go to Google Search Console.
First you will need to log in. If you have Google Analytics, log in using the same details as you use to access your Analytics account. If you don’t have a Google account, you will have to create one before you can continue.
- Once you have logged in, click the “Add A Property” button at the top of the page.
- Enter the URL of your website, then click continue.
Next you’ll need to verify that you own the website in one of four ways:
- If you have access to the root of your website you can upload a html file.
- If you manage your hosting yourself, you can verify via your hosting provider.
- If you use Google Tag Manager, you can verify via Google Tags.
- The easiest method is to verify ownership using your Google Analytics Tracking ID. If you have a Google Analytics Tracking ID installed, simply click the Verify button, and that’s it!
Next Steps
Once you’re set up, Google Search Console will not have much to report. You’ll have to wait a few weeks before any useful data shows up. One thing you will need to do is submit an xml sitemap. This helps Google to find content on your site and index it more effectively.
Before you can submit a sitemap, you will need to create one. Our clients use WordPress and we install the Yoast SEO plugin which automatically generates XML site maps.
Once your sitemap is live and created on your website, then you can go to the sitemaps section of the Google Search Console and click “Add your sitemap”.
