Google Search Console Guide
Beginner’s guide for 2026
What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is a free tool developed by Google itself. The tool brings together various reports, statistics, and insights. You get real data from the search giant itself. You can use it to monitor and improve your website.
The tool is especially useful when you start working on SEO. You get live data on how searchers interact with your website in the SERP and how Google displays your website.
Setting up Google Search Console
Getting a good start with Google Search Console is essential. We dive into the details of setting up a Google Search Console account and property.
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Why is Google Search Console important?
Google Search Console is THE tool for receiving real data about your performance. It is the only tool that uses and provides real data. Other tools calculate and analyze for themselves which position you rank in, how many monthly searches there are for a keyword, which backlinks you received, and so much more.
We discuss how accurate that data really is across the different sections throughout this Google Search Console hub. We zoom in on every aspect and how you can use it optimally for your business.
The benefits of Google Search Console
- Free
- Data directly from Google
- Full insight into the health of your SEO and website
Why should I use Google Search Console?
It is one of the few free SEO tools that gives you so many insights. It is important, however, that you know exactly how to extract those insights. That’s why you’re here, right? We even dare to claim that Google Search Console is one of the most important SEO tools (maybe even the most important tool?) for fine-tuning your website and SEO.
How do I get access to Google Search Console?
To get started with Google Search Console, you need to register your website. A one-time task that will serve you for the rest of your days. Depending on your technical knowledge, this can be a more difficult task. We are happy to guide you through the entire process. With these Google Search Console guide(s), we are sure you’ll get the hang of it.
SEO reports in Google Search Console
There are many reports built into Google Search Console. Reports that give you insights to improve your website. Here we give you an overview of all reports and how to use them for your SEO.
Does Google Search Console help with your SEO?
Adding your website itself can already give your SEO a boost. This is mainly the case for new websites that Google doesn’t know exist. For a website that has existed for a while, this shouldn’t (ideally) be the case.
When you use Google Search Console correctly, it can indeed give you a huge SEO boost. Just think of adding a sitemap, interpreting statistics from your search results, and fixing errors on your website.
Using Google Search Console for SEO
Google Search Console is one of the most used tools among SEO professionals. With the right tips & tricks, you can turn your account into a real SEO goldmine.
How does Google Search Console work?
Google Search Console is actually a collection of different tools and reports. These were developed by Google itself and are now available to optimize your website. Google naturally benefits from having well-functioning websites on the internet.
This way, they don’t send users to ‘bad’ websites and they make it easier for an SEO agency like us to guide people to the best websites.
Is Google Search Console free?
Yes!
Google Search Console is completely free. You just need to register your website with Google and you can get started. No payments, credit cards, or hidden catches. The tool is completely free to use.
The History of Google Search Console
Year:
2024
February/April: changes to user management
In February, the report on user management and permissions was improved; from April, it is possible to remove unused ownership tokens.
January 8: Googlebot Crawl Rate Tool removed
According to Google, they improved the logic behind crawling, making it no longer necessary to indicate that you prefer fewer visits from crawlers to your website.
January: end of product search results reporting
Results from product pages are no longer included in the search appearance filter. The data is still available in the Merchant Center.
Year:
2023
November 15: new robots.txt report
Google shows here which robots.txt files it found on your website, when it last crawled them, and if the bot encountered errors. You can also find the info in the indexing report. This update marks the farewell of the robots.txt tester.
November 8: adjustment of page experience report
The page experience report is replaced by indicators showing how well your website scores and content that, according to Google, clarifies exactly what a good page experience entails.
May 31: new Insights report
Even those who do not link their Google Analytics to their Google Search Console will now get insight into views and clicks of content that is popular and performing well. This helps you better understand how people find your website and what they are looking for.
Year:
2022
September 22: international targeting removed
Farewell to a report that existed since 2014 and informed about hreflang tags and the national orientation of your website. Google continues to support hreflang tags and offers recommendations for multilingual and multi-regional websites.
September 14: new HTTPS report
This gives you an immediate overview of how many non-HTTPS pages (in red) and HTTPS pages (in green) your website has. Google indicates the errors that cause a page to be labeled as non-HTTPS.
May 13: translated results added
A new filter that makes it possible to see how Google users interact with the translated results of your content in the SERP. You discover, among other things, which search queries they use, which pages they visit, and from which countries and on which devices they enter their search query.
January 17: desktop page experience
An extra feature to support the future rollout of a ranking based on how users experience a desktop page. This helps you better understand the criteria Google uses to speak of a ‘good page experience’.
Year:
2021
November 22: new design
GSC gets a new look that will improve accessibility and user experience.
May 26: Generic Rich Results Search Appearance removed
The “Generic Rich Results Search Appearance”, the filter that combines all rich results into one overview, is removed from Google Search Console.
April 9: Regular Expressions filters
The performance report filters are expanded with a Regular Expressions filter.
February 3: Discover Traffic
“Discover Traffic” is added to the performance report.
January 19: Coverage report update
The Coverage report receives an update.
Year:
2020
November 25: Update crawl stats report
A new version of the crawl stats report that helps site owners better understand how Google crawls their site.
November 17: Disavow Links tool
The Disavow Links Tool is added. With this tool, you can have (spammy) links that harm your link profile removed.
June 16: Rich results for recipes
Site owners can now find more information such as the CTR and the number of impressions of their “recipe” rich results.
May 28: Core Web Vitals report
Speed Report becomes Core Web Vitals Report.
May 6: New reports for structured data
New reports for SpecialAnnouncement structured data have been added. If you use this type of structured data, you can now view a separate report in Google Search Console with errors, warnings, and all data such as CTR.
March 31: Email preferences
The “email preferences” page is added to Google Search Console and gives users more options to determine which emails they want to receive.
February 19: Change of address tool update
The change of address tool gets an update. With this tool, you can indicate that a domain has been transferred from one address to another (e.g., from .com to .be). This gives Search Console the correct information and lets Google know that the address has changed.
January 28: New version of removals report
With the new version of the removals report, it becomes possible to temporarily remove URLs from the search results.
Year:
2019
Another interface update
In 2019, Google Search Console received another major interface update. The old reports, home, and dashboard pages disappeared.
On December 18, the “fresher feature” was added to GSC. From now on, the tool shows much more recent results from barely 1 day old.
Year:
2018
From Google Webmaster Tool to Search Console
Originally, this tool started under the name Google Webmaster Tool. In 2018, it got its current name: Google Search Console. This also included a whole new interface.
Year:
2015
The origin of Google Search Console
This handy tool was launched in 2015 with the goal of helping website owners understand how Google interprets their website. With that information, website owners can get to work improving their website and fixing errors.
Over the years, the tool has undergone a strong evolution. Google continuously adds new tools and reports to Search Console.
