Google Search Console
Overview
Google Search Console (GSC) is a web service provided by Google for webmasters. It allows them to check indexing status and optimize visibility of their websites. It is a part of a suite of tools provided by Google, including Google Analytics, Google Trends, Google AdWords, and others.
History
Google Search Console was initially released as Google Webmaster Tools in November 2005. The service was renamed to Google Search Console in May 2015 to cater to the diverse group of users including marketing professionals, SEOs, designers, business owners, and app developers.
Features
Google Search Console provides tools and reports for the following actions:
Verification
Google Search Console requires site owners to verify their website, which can be done through several methods, including uploading a specific HTML file to the website, adding a meta tag to the site's home page, or through Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager.
Search Appearance
Google Search Console provides information on how the website appears in Google Search results. This includes information about structured data, rich cards, and HTML improvements.
Search Traffic
This section provides information about the performance of the website in Google Search, including search analytics, links to the site, internal links, and mobile usability.
Google Index
This section provides information about how Google is indexing the site's content. It includes an index status, blocked resources, and remove URLs features.
Crawl
This section provides information and reports about Google's crawling process, including crawl stats, crawl errors, fetch as Google, robots.txt tester, and URL parameters.
Security Issues
Google Search Console also provides reports on any security issues detected on the website.
Usage
Google Search Console is used for various purposes by different professionals. SEO professionals use it to optimize the visibility of the websites, while web developers use it to ensure that the website is user-friendly and functioning correctly. Marketing professionals use it to understand the audience and improve the website's performance in search results.
Limitations
While Google Search Console provides a wealth of information and tools, it also has some limitations. The data provided is only for Google Search, and does not include data from other search engines. Additionally, the data is not real-time and can be delayed by several days.