Google Search Console Full Setup Process: A Comprehensive Guide

Google Search Console (GSC) is an essential tool for website owners who want to optimize their website’s presence on Google. It provides insights into website performance, indexing issues, and search traffic data, helping you improve SEO and user experience.

This guide will walk you through the full setup process for Google Search Console, covering steps such as adding your website, generating and submitting sitemaps, manual indexing, link removal, and more.

Setting Up Google Search Console

Steps to Set Up Google Search Console

1. Visit Google Search Console.
2. Sign in with your Google account. If you’ve previously logged into the Search Console, you will be presented with your dashboard. Click the property dropdown menu at the top-left corner of the dashboard. Once done, click Add property, as shown below.

Choose a property type:

• • Domain: Covers all URLs under a domain, including subdomains. Requires DNS verification.
  • URL Prefix: Covers only URLs starting with a specified prefix. Easier to verify.

Follow the verification process:

Now, you’re going to verify the site ownership using one of the available verification methods. We’ll use the HTML tag verification method as we only need the authorization code to be placed in the Yoast plugin.

So, click HTML tag, as shown below.

Once done, click Copy to copy the HTML tag,

Paste it to the website head section & click Verify. Google Search Console will verify your site and redirect you to your dashboard.

Generating a Sitemap for WordPress Website & Adding It to Search Console

Generating a Sitemap in WordPress

1. Use a plugin like Yoast SEO.
   • Install and activate the plugin.
   • Navigate to the plugin settings and locate the sitemap section.
   • Copy the sitemap URL (usually https://yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml).

Adding the Sitemap to Google Search Console

1. Open your Search Console dashboard.
2. Go to Sitemaps under the “Index” section.
3. Enter your sitemap URL and click Submit.

Generating an HTML Sitemap & Adding It to Search Console

Creating an HTML Sitemap

1. In WordPress, install plugins like WP Sitemap Page or Simple Sitemap.
2. Create a new page, add a shortcode provided by the plugin, and publish it.
   • Example: [wp_sitemap_page].

Adding the HTML Sitemap to GSC

1. Use the Inspect URL tool in GSC to fetch and render the sitemap URL.
2. Submit the sitemap in the Sitemaps section.

Manually Indexing Pages in Google Search Console

Steps for Manual Indexing

1. In the Search Console dashboard, use the URL Inspection Tool.
2. Enter the URL you want Google to index and hit Enter.
3. Click on Request Indexing. Google will queue the URL for indexing.

Why Manual Indexing is Useful

• Quickly index new pages or updates.
• Helps troubleshoot indexing issues.

Removing Links from Google Search Results

Steps to Remove Links

1. Navigate to the Removals section under “Index” in GSC.
2. Click on New Request and select Remove URLs.
3. Enter the URL you want to remove and confirm the request.

Use Cases for Link Removal

• Outdated or irrelevant content.
• Sensitive information inadvertently published.

Checking Indexed Pages and Other Features

How to Check Indexed Pages

1. Go to the Pages section under “Index”.
2. Review the list of indexed, excluded, or errored pages.

Other Useful Features

• Performance: Analyze search queries, impressions, and click-through rates.
• Coverage: Identify errors preventing pages from being indexed.
• Mobile Usability: Check for issues affecting mobile users.
• Core Web Vitals: Assess site performance metrics.

Adding and Managing robots.txt in Google Search Console

What is robots.txt?

A robots.txt file informs search engine crawlers about which pages to crawl or exclude.

Steps to Add or Update robots.txt

1. Use a WordPress plugin like Yoast SEO to edit robots.txt.
   • Navigate to Tools > File Editor.
   • Add or modify rules, for example:
     javascript

     Copy code

     User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-content/uploads/

2. Manually upload robots.txt via FTP or cPanel in your website’s root directory.

Submit robots.txt in Google Search Console

1. Navigate to Settings > robots.txt Tester in GSC.
2. Check if the file is correct and functional.
3. Submit it for testing and validation.

Summary

Setting up and using Google Search Console effectively can greatly enhance your website’s SEO and performance. From submitting sitemaps to checking indexing and removing links, GSC offers tools for every webmaster’s needs. Following the steps outlined in this guide ensures your website is fully optimized for Google’s search engine.

Ready to take your SEO game to the next level? Start with Google Search Console today!

Pro Tip: Keep monitoring your Search Console data regularly to identify opportunities and resolve issues promptly.