What is Google Search Console — Your Website Wellness Tool
TL;DR
Google Search Console is a free tool that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your website's presence in Google Search results. It's essential for improving your SEO and driving more organic traffic to your holistic health and wellness website. By using this powerful tool, you can boost your visibility, connect with your ideal clients, and achieve your income goals more easily.
Looking for some guidance on optimizing your website for search engines?
Download the free checklist below!
You've probably experienced the challenge of making your website visible in the great abyss of Google search results. Don’t worry, you’re not alone, it's a common struggle.
You know you offer valuable services, but how do you ensure potential clients can find you online? Let me present to you — Google Search Console — your new favorite tool.
Google Search Console is like having a knowledgeable guide for your website's journey through the world of search engines. It provides insights and tools that can help you navigate from the less visible depths of search results to the prime spots where your dream clients are more likely to discover your services.
What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console (GSC) is a free web service provided by Google that gives you valuable insights into how your website is performing in Google search results. Think of it as a health check-up for your website – it monitors vital signs, identifies areas for improvement, and helps you maintain optimal performance in search results.
But GSC isn't just about passive monitoring. It's an active tool that not only shows you what's happening with your site in search results but also provides specific recommendations for improvement! When your potential clients are searching for services like "holistic nutritionist in [your city]" or "best acupuncturist near me", Google Search Console helps ensure your website has the best chance of being seen.
A Brief Look at Its Evolution
Google Search Console has come a long way since its inception. It was originally launched in 2006 as "Google Webmaster Tools", primarily catering to tech-savvy webmasters and SEO professionals. The interface was functional but not particularly user-friendly for those outside the tech world.
In 2015, recognizing the growing importance of search visibility for all types of businesses, Google rebranded it as "Google Search Console". This change came with updates that made the tool more accessible and useful for a broader audience, including small business owners and, yes, wellness professionals like yourself!
Since then, Google has continually improved GSC, adding new features and refining existing ones. Today, it's an indispensable tool for anyone serious about their website's performance and visibility, regardless of their technical background.
Google Search Console and Google Analytics: Better Together
If you're already using Google Analytics, you might wonder if you need Google Search Console as well. The short answer is YES! – these tools work best in tandem. They each provide unique and complementary insights.
Here's how they differ:
Google Analytics focuses on what happens on your website. It tells you about your visitors – how many you have, what pages they visit, how long they stay, and what actions they take on your site.
Google Search Console, on the other hand, gives you insights into what happens before people click on your site. It shows you what search terms are leading people to your site, how often your site appears in search results, and what other sites are linking to yours.
Why Does it Matter to You?
Consider this: Recent studies show that a significant portion of Google's daily searches are health-related. That means people are actively looking online for health and wellness solutions — Your solutions!
By improving your website's visibility in search results, you're making it easier for these potential clients to find you and benefit from your services. You’ll be increasing your reach and positive impact on your community 💚
Now that you’re on board, how the heck does GSC work?
Google Search Console Helps You Understand and Improve Your Search Presence
Google Search Console provides you with valuable information that can help you refine your online SEO strategy:
It shows you what search terms are leading people to your site and how often your site appears in search results. This clues you into what information your internet users are looking for so you can create more content around this topic.
It tells you how many people are clicking on your site from search results.
You can find out what other websites are linking to yours, which is great for building partnerships.
It alerts you to any technical issues that might be holding your site back in search results. But don’t go jumping off the deep end thinking there is something wrong with your site yet! Google will still crawl pages even with GSC errors.
Key Features of Google Search Console
Each of these tools inside GSC offers unique insights that can help you improve your website's performance and visibility.
1. Performance Report
The Performance Report is like the report card for your website's search performance. It shows you:
How often your site appears in Google search results (impressions)
How many times people click on your site from search results (clicks)
What search queries are leading people to your site
Which of your pages are performing best in search results
This information is gold for understanding what's working and what isn't in your SEO strategy.
2. Index Coverage
The Index Coverage report tells you which of your pages Google are indexed (included in search results) and which ones aren’t. It also flags any problems Google encountered when trying to index your site.
This is crucial because if Google can't index your pages, they won't show up in search results – no matter how great your content is. It's like having a beautiful wellness center that no one can find because it's not on any maps!
3. Sitemaps
Speaking of maps, a sitemap is like the roadmap of your website. It helps Google understand its structure and page directions. This is particularly useful if you have a lot of content – like blog posts about different health topics or pages for various services you offer. Ensuring all these pages are included in your sitemap can help Google find and index them more effectively.
4. Mobile Usability
With more and more people using smartphones to search for health information, having a mobile-friendly website is essential. The Mobile Usability report shows you if your site is easy to use on mobile devices or if there are any issues you need to address.
On a related note, if you get sent an email because of a Mobile Usability error, don’t fret. Here’s a small example of a mobility error you may get and how to fix it in Christy Price’s blog How to Fix Google Search Console and Mobile Usability Issues in Squarespace
5. Links
The Links report shows you which other websites are linking to yours (backlinks) and which pages on your site have the most internal links. This is valuable because links from reputable sites can boost your own site's credibility in Google's eyes.
For you, this could help you identify potential partnerships or collaborations. For instance, if you see that a local yoga studio is linking to your nutrition blog, you might reach out to them about a joint workshop.
6. Manual Actions and Security Issues
These reports alert you to any penalties Google has applied to your site (Manual Actions) or any security issues it has detected. Hopefully, you won't see anything here, it's important to check periodically to ensure your site is in good standing with Google and safe for your visitors.
How to Set Up Google Search Console
Now that you know what GSC can do for you, let's get you set up. Don't worry — it's easier than you might think!
Step 5: Index your pages
Your work here is done!
Go to Google Search Console: Visit https://search.google.com/search-console/about and click "Start now".
Add Your Property: You'll be asked to add a property (your website). You can do this in two ways:
URL prefix: Enter your full website address (e.g., https://www.yourwellnesssite.com)
Domain: Enter your root domain (e.g., yourwellnesssite.com)
Verify Ownership: Google needs to confirm you own this site. There are several ways to do this:
Upload an HTML file to your website
Add a meta tag to your homepage
Use your Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager account
Add a DNS record
If you're not sure how to do this, don't worry! You can always ask your web designer for help, or Google provides detailed instructions for each method if you prefer the hands-on approach.
Submit sitemap: Once you're verified, submit your site map so Google can start crawling your site and collecting data about your web pages. To submit your sitemap, you’ll follow the conventional sitemap format of https://[yourwellnesssite.com]/sitemap.xml. This might take a few days, so be patient.
Index your pages: Take a moment and manually check to see if your pages are indexed. Head to URL Inspection and type in each page’s URL in the box at the top. If you get a message like the top photo, request indexing. If it continues to not be indexed, scroll down to see why. This will tell you your next steps. Once your page has been indexed, you’ll get the green checkmark ✅ (bottom photo) and hopefully get to keep a full head of hair and can carry on 😂
Explore and learn: Start by looking at the Performance report to get an idea of how your site is doing. Don't be overwhelmed – you don't need to understand everything at once! And it’ll become clearer with the more content you create and the data that gets collected. Happy creating!
Setting up Google Search Console is an investment in your online presence. It might seem a bit technical at first, but the insights you'll gain are well worth the effort. Plus, as you use it more, you'll become more comfortable with its features and how to apply them to grow your wellness practice.
In my next post, I'll go over a more in-depth review of GSC and explain how it can help you:
Understand what your potential clients are searching for
Identify and fix issues that might be holding your site back
Boost your visibility to attract more of your ideal clients
Don't miss Part 2 of the SEO series!
Looking for some guidance on optimizing your website for search engines?
Download the free checklist below!
If this stuff seems overwhelming, you’re not alone —
I’m here to help you with your SEO journey.
Get a website you love and watch your community confide in you and your services!
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