💡 Why is this important?
Think of Google Search Console (GSC) as your direct line to Google. If something’s wrong with your site, this is where they’ll tell you.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
Crawl & Indexing Issues → Is Google even seeing your pages? Submit your sitemap to tell Google what’s on your page, understand how Google is crawling your site and which pages are excluded from the index.
Search Visibility → What are you ranking for? How much traffic are you getting? Where does it come from? Learn how your site performs in organic search, including clicks, impressions, CTR (Click-Through Rate), and rankings.
Website Health → Find technical errors (e.g., server errors, broken links), site performance metrics, and mobile usability problems.
Having direct insight into how Google views your website is critical for maintaining site health and improving SEO performance.
❓ What’s in it for you?
By connecting Google Search Console to your website, you can:
Use Surfer tools that need GSC data: Sites tools - Content Audit, Topical Map, and Dashboard, as well as Auto-Internal Links in Content Editor. Click here to read more.
Boost Organic Traffic: Address issues and optimize your site to appear higher and more often in search results.
Improve User Experience: Fix broken pages and improve mobile usability to offer a better user experience, which can drive higher engagement and conversions.
Track SEO Progress: Monitor keyword rankings, clicks, and impressions to measure the success of your SEO strategy.
Receive Alerts: GSC alerts you about critical site issues like manual penalties, server errors, or security breaches (e.g., hacked content).
🛠️ What you’ll need:
Google Search Console
Access to your DNS settings to add a TXT record
Access to your CMS or Server to upload HTML verification files and add meta tags (e.g., WordPress, cPanel, FTP access)
(Optional) Google Analytics or Tag Manager already installed as an alternative verification method
📆 When to do it and how often?
Initial Setup: Right after launching your site
Regular Check-Ins: At least once per week monitor important metrics like performance, coverage issues, and mobile usability. You can also check them in Surfer’s Sites.
Major Website Changes: Re-check GSC after big site updates (new design, new structure, new content, etc.) to ensure no new errors appear. You can also track this with Surfer’s Sites.
Periodic Maintenance: Every 1-2 months review user permissions, sitemaps, and any new GSC features or reports.
Prepare
Google Account: Make sure you have a Google Account used for managing SEO tasks or website administration.
Website Management Access: You must have privileges to modify your site’s hosting or CMS (for adding an HTML file, meta tag, or DNS record).
Website Ownership or Authorization: You must be authorized to verify and manage the site in GSC.
Step-by-step
Log into Google Search Console using your Google Account.
Click “Add Property” → Enter your domain.
Choose a verification method: Google offers multiple methods (DNS, HTML file, meta tag, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics). If you're not sure how to proceed, refer to the official Google Search Console's guide on ownership verification.
Confirm Verification: Wait for Google to confirm your verification method.
Complete Setup: Once verified, configure any additional settings like sitemaps and user permissions. If you're not sure how to proceed, refer to Google Search Console's guide for getting started.
💡 If your website targets multiple languages or countries under the same domain (for example, using subfolders like /en/ for English and /fr/ for French), it's recommended to set up separate GSC properties for each language or country section.
This allows you to monitor search performance, indexing issues, and user behavior for each audience more accurately. Alternatively, you can use GSC filters, but separate properties provide more precise control and the most accurate insights.
🎉 You're in! Now head back to Surfer and connect it to your account. That’s where the real magic happens. →