Google Search Console
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Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool provided by Google that lets site owners monitor how their site appears in Google Search. Unlike third-party SEO tools that infer data from crawls and estimates, Search Console reports what Google actually sees. This includes which pages it has indexed, what queries triggered impressions, and what errors it encountered.
It is not optional. Every site should be verified in Search Console before launch and checked regularly throughout its life. For setup instructions and verification options, see the How to Use Google Search Console guide.
The reports that matter
Performance
The Performance report shows how your site appears in Google Search results: clicks, impressions, average position, and CTR. Filter by:
- Query. What people searched for when your pages appeared.
- Page. Which URLs are driving search traffic.
- Country. Geographic breakdown.
- Search type. Separate data for web, image, video, and news results.
AI Overviews and AI Mode data is included within the standard Web search type. From June 2026, a separate Search Generative AI Performance report is rolling out (see below) that shows impressions from AI features as a distinct view. A falling CTR trend with stable impressions remains the primary signal for sites without access to that report yet.
Use the Performance report to find: high-impression, low-CTR pages (title/description problem); pages dropping in position (a ranking issue to investigate); and queries you didn’t expect to rank for (content opportunities). From 2025, a custom annotations layer and a branded/non-branded query filter are also available; both are covered in the How to Use Google Search Console guide.
Search Generative AI Performance
A separate report, rolling out from June 2026, that shows how your content performs specifically in Google’s generative AI search features: AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI Overviews in Discover. It provides impressions by page, country, device, and date (hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly granularity) as a view alongside the standard Performance report rather than replacing it.
Click data and query-level metrics are not included. The report is currently limited to a subset of UK website owners; no global rollout date has been confirmed. For sites without access, the standard Performance report and third-party AI visibility tools remain the available options.
Pages (Page Indexing report)
Found under Indexing > Pages, this report shows which URLs Google has indexed and which it hasn’t. They are grouped by reason. It is the starting point for any indexing investigation.
Non-indexed reasons include: noindex tag, blocked by robots.txt, soft 404, crawled but not indexed (content quality signal), redirect errors, and duplicate/canonical issues. The troubleshooting guide covers each reason in detail.
URL Inspection
Lets you check any individual URL. You can see whether it’s indexed, when it was last crawled, what the rendered HTML looks like, and what canonical Google has chosen. You can also request indexing directly from this tool to queue a URL for crawling.
Use it when a specific page isn’t appearing in results, after publishing a new important page, or after fixing a technical issue to confirm the fix has been picked up.
Inspecting redirects
The URL Inspection tool reports the status of the final URL in a redirect chain without flagging that a redirect occurred, which can catch you out when diagnosing why a page appears indexed when it shouldn't be. The silver lining: you can inspect pages on other domains by deliberately redirecting to them, then inspecting the originating URL.
Sitemaps
Under Indexing > Sitemaps, you can submit XML sitemaps and see whether Google has processed them successfully. Errors here, such as malformed sitemaps or sitemaps returning 404, prevent Google from efficiently discovering your full URL inventory.
Add child sitemaps
Submitting a sitemap index covers all child sitemaps automatically. It's still worth adding each child separately: the Page Indexing report lets you filter by sitemap, so individual entries give you a per-section view of what's indexed and what isn't.
Core Web Vitals
Under Experience > Core Web Vitals, this report shows real-user performance data (from Chrome users) split into Good, Needs Improvement, and Poor thresholds. Issues are grouped by URL pattern. This helps you identify whether a problem affects one template or the whole site.
Links
Under Links, you can see which external domains link to your site, your most-linked pages, and the anchor text used. This data is from Google’s own link index. It won’t match third-party tools exactly, but it’s directionally reliable for spotting your strongest pages and identifying where you have no external signals.
Manual Actions
If Google has applied a manual penalty to your site for a policy violation (unnatural links, cloaking, spam), it appears here. Clean sites should show “No issues detected.” If there is an active manual action, it will significantly suppress rankings until it is resolved and a reconsideration request is submitted.
What does Search Console not show?
- Ranking data beyond 1,000 queries. The Performance report caps at 1,000 rows by default (you can export more via the API).
- Historical data beyond 16 months. Data older than 16 months is not accessible in the interface.
- Competitor data. GSC is your data only.
- Conversion or revenue data. Link GA4 for that layer.
For full setup instructions, report walkthroughs, diagnostic workflows, and a weekly check routine, see the How to Use Google Search Console guide.