Free Info From Google & Why You Need It

Google has a treasure trove of useful free info about your website and you can access it for free. It’s called Google Search Console. 

What is Google Search Console? 

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool that gives you info on:

• What Google likes and dislikes about your website. This is important because it tells you how to make your website more appealing to human visitors, as well as the Google robot
• What makes your website show up in Google search results and how well your website is doing in Google search. Armed with this info you can see how much free website traffic you’re missing out on, and where to focus your efforts to get more of that lost free traffic
• How well Google knows your site
• Website problems and issues that you may be unaware of.   

Your Website User Experience 

Google likes user-friendly websites. So do your website visitors. 

Google’s business depends on showing people high quality search results so that they keep using Google. Google makes most of its massive revenue from the ads placed in search results. 

Therefore Google wants to promote websites that give people a good experience eg 

• Relevant, useful content 
• Fast load speed 
• Mobile friendliness 
• No broken links
• Trustworthiness.  

How is this valuable to you? In 2 main ways:

1. It shows you how to make your website more appealing to people so they stick around when they are on it – and more likely to take action eg leads, sales 
2. It shows you how to do better in Google search and get more free traffic. 

Think of GSC as a window into how Google sees your website. It’s like getting a behind-the-scenes look at your website’s performance in Google search results.

Possibly The Most Valuable Feature: Search Terms Report

Have you ever wondered how people find your website on Google? 

Or what words they type into Google that make your website appear in search results? 

Ever wondered how well your website is doing in Google search? 

How often it shows up, for what kind of searches and how many clicks you got? 

This is all available on one screen in GSC, under the Performance tab. It’s one of the most useful things GSC shows you – exactly what people typed into Google when your website appeared in their search results and how well your site did. 

For example, you will discover:

• The exact search terms people used when your site appeared in search
• How many times your website appeared for each search term
• How high up in the search results your site appeared – near the top or buried way down
• How many people clicked through to your website
• Your click-through rate (CTR) – the percentage of people who clicked on your website when they saw it in search results.  

So instead of guessing, you look at the GSC performance report and you see that:

• 100 people saw your website in the last week when they searched for whatever it is that you offer  eg “career coaches” or “land surveyor near me”
• Your site showed up in 12th position
• 1 of those 100 people clicked on your website
• This gives you a 1% click-through rate.

If the click numbers are low or zero (which they probably will be for some important search terms unless you’ve done a lot of website search engine optimisation – SEO), it’s well worth digging into why and fixing it so you get more free clicks. 

This information is pure gold because it helps you understand:

• What people are actually searching for when they find your site
• Which search terms are working best for your business
• Where you might need to improve to get more free clicks
• What content you should create more of because content can drive more Google search results. 

More Info 

Want to learn more about how to set up and use Google Search Console? Click below to read more: