How do I use Google Search Console as a small business owner?

What is Google Search Console?

A free tool from Google that shows how Google sees your website: which searches you appear for, how often people click, which pages are in Google's index and whether anything is broken. It doesn't change your rankings by itself. It tells you what's happening so you can fix the right things. Google's own Search Console guide covers setting it up.

I connect it on every site I build, so it's there from launch day.

Which report shows how people find my website?

The Performance report. It shows four numbers:

• Clicks: how many times someone clicked through to your site from Google.
• Impressions: how many times your site appeared in someone's results.
• Average CTR: the share of impressions that became clicks.
• Average position: roughly where you appeared, on average.

The Queries tab is the useful bit. It lists the actual searches people made. You'll often find you appear for things you never targeted, and miss things you assumed you'd show up for.

How do I check Google has found my pages?

Open the page indexing report under Indexing. It shows how many of your pages are indexed and lists the ones that aren't, with a reason. Some reasons are fine, like a page you've deliberately hidden or an old address that redirects. Others are worth acting on, like a service page Google found but chose not to index, which usually means it's too thin or too similar to another page.

How do I get a new page into Google faster?

Paste its address into the URL Inspection bar at the top. Search Console tells you whether it's indexed, and if not, you can click Request indexing. It isn't instant and it isn't a guarantee, but it puts the page in the queue. A sitemap, submitted under Sitemaps, helps Google find all your pages without you doing this one by one.

What should I actually do with the numbers?

A few practical habits, once a month:

• Look for searches with lots of impressions but few clicks. The page is showing up but not tempting people; a clearer title and description often helps.
• Look for searches where you're on page two, roughly positions 11 to 20. A better page on that exact topic can often move them up.
• Check the indexing report for any service page that isn't indexed, and find out why.
• Compare the same months year on year rather than week to week. Search traffic moves with the seasons.

If you'd like a quick technical check alongside it, the free SEO audit runs 60+ checks on any page in seconds.