What is Google Search Console?
A plain-English introduction to Google Search Console — the free tool that shows how your website appears in Google search results and which searches bring people to your site.
Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that shows you how your website performs in Google search results. It tells you which searches bring people to your site, how often your pages appear in results, and whether Google has any technical concerns about your site.
Quick summary
Google Search Console answers the question: "How does Google see my website?" It shows your search rankings, which keywords you rank for, how many people click through from search results, and any errors Google finds. It is different from Google Analytics, which tracks what happens after people arrive on your site.
What Google Search Console shows you
Search Console answers questions like:
- Which search terms (keywords) lead people to my site?
- How often do my pages appear in Google search results (impressions)?
- How many people actually click through to my site from those results?
- Does Google have any trouble reading my site?
- Are there any pages with errors or coverage issues?
The key reports in Search Console
Performance report
This is the most important report for most business owners. It shows:
- Total clicks — how many times people clicked to your site from Google
- Total impressions — how many times your pages appeared in search results
- Average click-through rate (CTR) — the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click
- Average position — your average ranking position in Google results
You can filter this report by query (search term), page, country, and device.
URL Inspection
Paste any page URL from your site into the inspection tool to see exactly how Google sees that page. This is useful when you have published new content and want to check whether Google has found and indexed it.
Coverage / Indexing report
This shows which pages Google has indexed (added to its search results) and which ones it has not — and why. Common issues include:
- Pages that were accidentally set to "no index"
- Broken pages (404 errors)
- Pages that redirect incorrectly
Core Web Vitals
This shows how your pages perform on Google's speed and user experience metrics. Poor Core Web Vitals can affect your search rankings. Read more in our Core Web Vitals guide.
Sitemaps
You can submit your sitemap here to help Google discover all your pages. We take care of this when we set up your site.
Is Search Console the same as Google Analytics?
No — they are different tools that answer different questions:
| Tool | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Search Console | How does Google see and rank my site? |
| Google Analytics 4 | What do visitors do when they arrive? |
You need both. See Search Console vs Analytics for a full comparison.
How does Search Console get connected to your site?
To use Search Console, Google needs to verify that you own the website. Chykalophia typically handles this by adding a verification tag via Google Tag Manager, or by uploading a small file to your server.
Once verified, Google starts showing you data. It can take a few days for the first data to appear.
Historical data
Google Search Console only keeps 16 months of data. If you want to track trends over longer periods, export your data regularly or ask us about connecting it to a data tool.
Common questions
Related guides
- Search Console vs Analytics
- Reading your Search Console data
- Give us access to Google Search Console
- SEO basics
- Core Web Vitals explained
Need a hand?
Learn more
How GA4 gets set up on your site
A plain-English explanation of how Chykalophia installs and configures Google Analytics 4 on your website — what we do and what you need to know.
Search Console vs Analytics
A clear comparison of Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 — what each tool does, when to use which, and how they work together to give you a complete picture of your website.