Some first steps with Google Search Console

You may be familiar with Google Analytics, used to track traffic on a website, but not as many are as familiar with Google Search Console. I thought I’d take a minute to explain why you might want to set it up.

The great thing about Google Search Console is that there is nothing you need to really “set up”. No code to install or anything like that. It’s 100% run from Google’s servers — you just need to prove that your site is really yours, and then you get access to the data within.

Google Analytics vs Google Search Console

When first starting out, people are often confused about the difference between Google Analytics and Google Search Console, as they seem fairly similar — and they are. The best analogy I have is this one:

Google Analytics is on your site. It’s like someone being in your house, writing down everything that’s going on. Who is coming over, who is leaving, what they look like, what they did while they were there. Things like that.

Google Search Console is more like someone in a car in front of your house. They can see who is coming and going, but can’t tell what’s really happening inside.

The great thing with Search Console is that Google can tell you a ton about what’s happening with your site on Google. Analytics only tells you what happens when someone arrives on your site (which is hugely valuable, of course), but Search Console can tell you more about what…