What is Google Search Console: How to Fix Its Errors, Indexing, Coverage and Mobile Usability Issues
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google to website owners that helps website owners to improve their website performance in Google’s search engine, monitor site presence, maintain and fix issues. Whether you are an SEO expert, digital marketer or website owner, knowing how to use GSC and fix its errors is important to improve website performance.
Here, we will explain everything about GSC in detail, including how to fix indexing errors, coverage issues, mobile usability issues and other common errors.
1. What is Google Search Console?
GSC, formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, is a free service from Google that helps website owners understand how their site performs in search results. It provides information about:
- Website indexing status
- Search performance and traffic reports
- Coverage issues and errors
- Mobile usability analysis
- Security and manual actions
Why Should You Use GSC?
- Improve Search Visibility: It helps improve search visibility and ranking better by fixing SEO errors.
- Identify Issues: Detects indexing, crawling, and mobile usability issues.
- Monitor Performance: It tracks website traffic, search queries, and clicks.
- Improve Mobile Usability: It first makes sure your website is mobile-friendly.
2. How to Set Up Google Search Console?
To set up GSC for your website you need to follow these following steps, which are given below:
Step 1: Sign up and add your website
- First, sign in to your Google account by clicking on “Start Now” on Search Console.
- Then choose either “Domain” or “URL Prefix” option.
- Then enter your website URL and click on “Continue” option.
Step 2: Verify Your Website
- Google provides multiple verification methods to verify a website, as follows:
- DNS Verification, which is recommended for domain properties
- HTML File Upload, download the file to the root folder of your website and click upload
- Google Analytics, if you have GA installed on your site
- Google Tag Manager, if you are using GTM for tracking
Once your website is verified, you can access all Google Search Console features.
3. Understanding the Google Search Console Dashboard
After you have logged in to GSC, you will now see different sections in the left-hand side menu, which are mentioned below:
Performance Report
- The performance report displays the total number of clicks, impressions, CTR and average position in Google search.
URL Inspection Tool
- It helps to check if a URL is indexed or not and provides details about its current status.
Coverage Report
- The coverage report shows us indexing errors and pages excluded from GS.
Sitemaps
- Allows you to submit XML sitemaps to improve indexing even further.
Mobile Usability
- It identifies mobile usability errors on your website.
Security and Manual Actions
- It alerts you if Google detects security threats or any kind of manual penalties.
4. How to Fix Google Search Console Errors?
GSC helps detect all kinds of errors related to indexing, coverage, and usability. Let’s look at step-by-step solutions to the most common GSC problems.
A. Fixing Indexing Errors
Google may fail to index some pages for several reasons. Some of the common indexing errors include:
- Breaking Error Submitted URL not found (404)
- Crawled and not currently indexed
- Searched and not currently indexed
- Blocked by robots.txt
- Duplicate without user-selected canonical
Here are the Steps to Fix Indexing Issues:
- Check URL Status: First you can use the URL inspection tool in GSC to see why a page is not indexed.
- Fix Robots.Txt and Noindex Tags: First make sure your robots.txt file is not blocking important pages and also, check if the pages have noindex meta tag.
- Submit Sitemap: Add or update your XML sitemap in the “Sitemap” section.
- Request Manual Indexing: If your page is not indexed, then you can use the “Request indexing” option.
- Improve Content Quality: Google may skip pages with low quality or less content. Update content regularly to make it more valuable and SEO-friendly.
B. Fixing Coverage Issues
The coverage report in GSC highlights the following:
- Indexed Pages
- Excluded Pages
- Errors and Warnings
Common Coverage Errors and their Solutions are as Follows:
Soft 404 Errors
- Google thinks a page should return a 404, but it doesn’t.
Solution: Update or remove the page, set the correct HTTP status code.
Server Errors (5xx)
- This means the page is temporarily unavailable due to server-related issues.
Solution: Check the server logs and reduce the load time.
Redirect Errors
- These are faulty redirects causing accessibility issues.
Solution: Ensure correct 301 redirects and avoid redirect loops.
C. Fix Mobile Usability Issues
Google gives more priority to mobile-first indexing, so mobile usability errors should be fixed.
Common Mobile Usability Errors are as Follows:
- Text too small to read
- Clickable elements too close together
- Viewport not set properly
- Content wider than the screen
How to Fix Mobile Usability Errors?
Mobile usability issues can be fixed as follows:
- Use Responsive Design: You need to ensure that your website is made mobile-friendly using a responsive theme.
- Fix Font Size: Text or font should be at least 16px for best readability.
- Optimize Tap Targets: Buttons and links should have enough space for this.
- Set the Appropriate Viewport: Use the appropriate viewport, for example.
5. How to Use Google Search Console for SEO?
GSC is the best tool to improve SEO. It is easy to use:
- View the performance report for your site’s high-ranking search queries and use those traffic-driving keywords to see which keywords are getting the most traffic.
- Improve title tags and meta descriptions for better CTR.
- You have to identify broken links and fix the issue by redirecting them to relevant pages.
- You have to submit new content for indexing.
- Analyze backlinks and internal links Use the “Links” section to track backlinks and improve internal linking.
6. How to Fix Security and Manual Action Issues?
Google may also penalize your site for security vulnerabilities or violation of its guidelines.
- If Google detects malware or any security threats, check for security issues in GSC and take action on them immediately.
- If your site violates Google guidelines, manual actions should resolve the issue quickly and request a review.
- You need to improve website speed by monitoring Core Web Vitals and fixing issues related to Large Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
Key points
- First, set up GSC and verify your site.
- You must regularly check indexing, coverage, and mobile usability reports.
- You can fix errors using the URL inspection tool and submit a sitemap.
- You must improve website speed, mobile responsiveness, and fix manual actions.
- Optimize SEO by tracking keywords, CTR, and backlinks.
By following these steps, you can maximize the potential of your website and improve its performance in Google search.
Final Thoughts
Google Search Console is an essential tool for monitoring and improving your website’s SEO, indexing, and usability. It will help your site rank higher in Google by regularly checking for errors, fixing coverage issues, improving mobile usability, and monitoring for good search performance.
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