The Google Search Console (GSC) dashboard provides an overview of key performance metrics and data related to how your website is performing in Google Search. Here’s an overview of the main sections and data displayed on the GSC dashboard:
1. Performance Summary:
- Total Clicks: The total number of clicks your website received from Google Search results.
- Total Impressions: The total number of times your website appeared in Google Search results.
- Average CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of clicks per impression.
- Average Position: The average position of your website in search results.
2. Performance Graph:
- A visual representation of your website’s clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position over a selected time period. You can customize the date range to analyze trends and changes.
3. Search Appearance:
- Overview: Displays a breakdown of your website’s performance by search appearance, such as Web, Image, Video, and News. Clicking on each category provides more detailed insights.
4. URL Inspection:
- A quick entry point to inspect the indexing status and performance of specific URLs on your website. You can enter a URL and get detailed information about its current status in Google’s index.
5. Coverage:
- An overview of how well Google is able to crawl and index your website. It shows the number of valid pages, pages with errors, and pages excluded from indexing.
6. Core Web Vitals:
- Displays metrics related to the Core Web Vitals, including Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). It helps you monitor the page experience of your site.
7. Mobile Usability:
- Highlights any issues related to mobile usability, providing insights into how well your website performs on mobile devices.
8. Links:
- Provides information on external websites linking to your site. You can see the total number of backlinks, top linking sites, and top linked pages.
9. Manual Actions:
- Alerts you to any manual actions taken by Google, such as penalties for violating Google’s guidelines. This section provides details on the actions taken and steps to resolve issues.
10. Security & Manual Actions:
- Alerts you to any security issues detected on your website. It includes information about potential security threats and how to address them.
Customization Options:
- Date Range: Customize the date range to view performance data for specific time periods.
- Filter Queries and Pages: You can filter the data based on specific queries or pages to focus on particular aspects of your site’s performance.
- Compare Metrics: Compare two different metrics side by side for a deeper analysis.
- Export Data: Download performance data in various formats for offline analysis or reporting.
Additional Tips:
- Property Selector: If you manage multiple properties (websites), you can switch between them using the property selector dropdown.
- Performance and Index Coverage Reports: Access detailed reports by clicking on specific sections like “Performance” or “Coverage” to explore more in-depth data.
The GSC dashboard serves as a central hub for monitoring the health and performance of your website in Google Search. Regularly reviewing this data helps you identify opportunities for optimization, track the impact of changes, and ensure a positive user experience.
Go to the next chapter. Sitemaps