How to Use Google Search Console to Improve Your SEO

Last Updated: October 26, 2026

If your website gets fewer calls from Google than it used to, guessing at the reason wastes time. Google Search Console shows what Google actually sees when it crawls, indexes, and ranks your pages.

At Texas Web Design, we track Search Console data to help San Antonio business owners see where their site stands on Google. This guide walks through each report in a practical order, starting with setup.

You don’t need a technical background to follow along. Each step names the report to open and what to look for inside it.

What Is Google Search Console and Why Should San Antonio Businesses Use It?

Google describes Search Console as “a free service offered by Google” that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results. In plain terms, it’s Google telling you how it crawls, indexes, and serves your pages.

That makes Search Console different from third-party SEO tools. Google says those tools “don’t have access to Google’s internal ranking data,” while Search Console reports Google’s own numbers for your site.

Search Console doesn’t need daily attention, because Google emails you when it finds new issues. Google still suggests checking your account “around once every month” or after you change your site’s content. That’s the same data our search engine optimization services in San Antonio start from.

Step 1: How Do You Set Up and Verify Google Search Console?

To set up Google Search Console, sign in with a Google account, add your website as a property, and verify that you own it. Verification is the first step Google lists, because it gives you access to “all of the information Search Console makes available.”

Google offers several verification methods:

• HTML tag or HTML file upload: You add a short code or file to your site.
• Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager: You use a tracking code that’s already installed, with edit or publish rights to it.
• Domain name provider: You add a DNS record, which is the only option for a Domain property.

On WordPress, Google also names Site Kit as a verification option. Keep the verification code in place, since Google checks it periodically. If you are unsure which fits, ask through our contact form.

Step 2: How Do You Submit a Sitemap in Search Console?

To submit a sitemap, open the Sitemaps report and enter the address of the file that lists your site’s pages. Google notes that pages “can be discovered by Google without this step,” but submitting one “might speed up your site’s discovery.”

Submitting simply means “telling Google where to find the file on your site,” as Google explains. Afterward, the same report shows your submission history and any errors Google found reading the file. Google adds that it “can take some time to crawl the URLs listed in a sitemap,” and not every URL will be crawled.

Step 3: How Do You Use the Performance Report to Find Pages Worth Improving?

The Performance report shows clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and average position for your site in Google Search. Google says it helps you “learn which queries are bringing traffic to your site, and use this to improve your SEO efforts.”

To act on it:

1. Sort the Queries tab by impressions. These are searches where you already appear.

1. Look for high impressions with a low CTR. A clearer meta title and description can earn more clicks from the same visibility.

1. Check the Pages tab. Find pages with steady impressions but weak positions, then strengthen the content on them.

For a quick check on one keyword, see our post on how to check your ranking on Google. Give changes a few weeks before judging them.

Step 4: How Do You Use URL Inspection When a Page Is Missing From Google?

When a service page isn’t showing up in search, the URL Inspection tool is the place to start. Google says it “provides information about Google’s indexed version of a specific page,” and lets you test whether a URL might be indexable.

Paste the full page address into the search bar at the top of Search Console. You’ll see whether the page is on Google and, if not, the reason Google reports.

After you fix or update the page, use “Request indexing” to ask Google to crawl it again. Google says a “URL is on Google” result “doesn’t guarantee that your page is appearing in Search results,” and a request doesn’t guarantee indexing.

Step 5: What Does the Page Indexing Report Tell You?

The Page indexing report shows which of your pages Google has indexed and which it hasn’t, with a reason listed for each group. Google says it lets you “see which pages Google can find and index on your site, and learn about any indexing problems encountered.”

Read the reasons, not just the totals. Some pages are left out on purpose, like duplicates or pages blocked with a noindex tag, while others point to a real problem worth fixing.

Google says a site that “has fewer than 500 pages” probably doesn’t need this report. Many local business sites fall under that line, and URL Inspection is the better tool for checking a single page.

Step 6: How Do You Read the Core Web Vitals Report?

Core Web Vitals measure how fast and stable your pages feel to real visitors. The report is “based on real world usage data,” Google says. It groups URLs as Poor, Need improvement, or Good across three metrics: loading, responsiveness, and visual stability.

Only indexed URLs appear, so a new site may show little data at first. Pages in the Poor group usually need technical work on faster page loading, which is where web development services come in.

Step 7: How Do You Check Backlinks With the Links Report?

The Links report in Search Console shows who links to your site and how your own pages link to each other. Google notes it “isn’t a comprehensive list of every link on your site,” only a sample of internal and external links.

Two sections are worth a monthly look:

• Top linking sites: The websites that link to you most.
• Top linked pages: The pages on your site that other websites link to most. A separate internal links table shows which pages your own site links to most.

If your main service pages rarely appear among your top internally linked pages, add links to them from related blog posts. For what visitors do after they arrive, pair Search Console with Google Analytics, which our guide to setting up Google Analytics 4 walks through.

Make Google Search Console Work for Your San Antonio Business

Search Console won’t raise your rankings on its own, but it shows exactly where to spend your SEO effort, from weak titles to unindexed pages. A monthly check of these seven areas catches most problems before they cost you calls.

At Texas Web Design, our SEO work includes registering your site with Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, backed by monthly reports. Call 210-985-8528 to have us review your Search Console data and flag the pages worth fixing first.

Frequently Asked Questions