Google Search What?

Most people would answer yes if asked about whether or not they are familiar with Google. Especially if you have a school aged child you help with math homework 🙃. But have you heard of Google Search Console? Sounds official, doesn’t it?!?

We all use Google and have come to expect to find all the answers we are looking for at our fingertips. However, as business owners, are we all using Google Search Console to learn more about how Google views our website? I would guess the answer is a strong “heck no” and that many have never heard about this free tool we have access to as website owners. I would also guess that many business owners do not have the time to actively manage and chase these analytics so I am coming to you today with a very high level overview and quick action you can take to get access to Google Search Console. What you choose to do with this information is up to you and if you are need of more support I would love to help!

What is Google Search Console?

Per Google search results:

“Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search results. You don't have to sign up for Search Console to be included in Google Search results, but Search Console helps you understand and improve how Google sees your site.”

Learn more and get signed up here.

Is Google Search Console the same as Google Analytics?

No, Google Search Console specifically measures how Google views your website with regards to search engine results and shares information about how your site pages rank on Google. Google Analytics helps you learn more about your website visitors including: who they are, how they found your site and how they interact with your website. Look for a future blog post about Google Analytics.

Why should I sign up for Google Search Console?

If one of your goals for your business is to be found on a search engine like Google, Google Search Console will show you how your site is performing in search results. It will also show you when your site and specific pages were last crawled by Google and alert you to any pages that have not been crawled and are therefore not indexed by Google. Indexed simply means the page has been crawled by Google and is potentially available in Google search results. With access to Search Console, you can see which pages have not been indexed and easily request they be crawled to expedite the process versus waiting for the next time Google crawls your site.

Who remembers visiting the library and searching the card catalog for a specific author or book? If the library had the book available, there would be an index card showing you where to locate the book. If there was no card, there was no book. This is a very similar process. Google will automatically crawl your site at some point versus the library creating a card on your behalf but as a business owner wouldn’t you want to know what is out there about your business to help increase the chances of people finding you online? This is especially important for businesses without a brick and mortar location. Google is very much the view into your storefront.

Follow along as I plan to share more about SEO (search engine optimization), Google and how you can improve your chances of being found and inching closer to the top of the coveted top few listings to be seen by potential clients. While I know not every business owner will have the time to do a deep dive, I am hoping to shed some light onto this free tool at your fingertips. We all know we need to have a website as business owners to be found and validate our business exists. Let’s take it to the next level and learn more about how we can improve the positioning of our website and increase the chances of being found by new clients!

I will also walk through some ideas about how you can improve your position as an expert authority in your field keeping in mind that SEO is a long game. As a designer I lay the foundation of SEO setup as part of my process. I also feel it is important to educate clients and business owners about the future impact and how they can better position themselves for success. With the disclosure that my main focus is not SEO as this is a completely separate zone of genius. I know enough to be dangerous and leave the more detailed strategies to the experts. Expert at everything = expert at nothing! While I plan to stay in my lane of web design, I hope to shed some light on a very important opportunity for business owners with a website.

If your website could use a second set of eyes to see how things look from an SEO standpoint, do send me an inquiry and we can chat about things we can do to improve your site. Or if you have questions about Google Search Console in general, send me an email: jlwatrob@north8designs.com.