{"id":26429,"date":"2022-04-15T23:49:41","date_gmt":"2022-04-15T23:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/?p=26429"},"modified":"2024-05-23T07:40:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T11:40:59","slug":"google-search-console-keyword-ranking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/directiveconsulting.com\/ca\/blog\/google-search-console-keyword-ranking\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Search Console Keyword Ranking: Why SEOs Love It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monitoring your site performance to assess your current SEO campaigns can be difficult. Most tools, for example, will show you how much traffic came from organic search\u2026 but not which keywords drove users to your site, or which factors are impacting your ability to rank well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the <\/span>Google Search Console<\/span><\/a> comes into play.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because while Google Analytics is a phenomenal tool for general audience and site traffic analytics (prioritizing information on how your audience behaves once they get to the site), Google\u2019s Search Console focuses on-site performance in and of itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Google Analytics and Google Search Console<\/span><\/a> are different, and you need both.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SEOs love Google\u2019s Search Console tool, and in this post, we\u2019re going to look at why it\u2019s potentially the most powerful SEO tool on the market, how you can benefit from using it, and how to use it for keyword research.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is Google Search Console?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Google Search Console<\/span><\/a> is a free tool available to all website owners, which allows them to manage different <\/span>technical SEO<\/span><\/a> site elements of their site and to monitor these behind-the-scenes aspects of site performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And when it comes to search engine optimization, there\u2019s almost no better tool out there (and certainly not for free).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It comes with a wide variety of different reports, so no matter how you want to optimize your site to improve its search ranking potential, the Search Console can help you do it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The 4 Benefits of Using Google Search Console for SEO<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are multiple benefits of using Google Search Console for SEO. Let\u2019s take a look at the four most significant advantages and how you can leverage them to your benefit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. Checking that Google Understands the Keywords You Are Targeting<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One aspect of the Google Search Console allows you to see which keyword queries are actually bringing traffic to your site.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And while everyone automatically assumes that the keywords they\u2019re working so hard to target are going to be the same ones that you\u2019re ranking for\u2026 that\u2019s not always the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

In many cases, you may very well be surprised to discover that your top traffic-driving and impression-catching keywords weren\u2019t keywords that you were targeting at all. We\u2019ll look more at how to use this information later on in the post, but it\u2019s important to see if you\u2019re actually showing up for the keywords you\u2019re targeting and understand why you may be showing up for completely irrelevant keywords that you aren\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Checking that Google is Properly Crawling and Indexing Your Site<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You may have optimized the living daylights out of your website only to find that you\u2019re still not ranking for any of your target keywords or generating any traffic from organic search.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or maybe you highly suspect that you\u2019re not driving enough traffic given all your efforts and SEO work.<\/span><\/p>\n

This can happen\u2026 and when it does, it\u2019s may be because Google hasn\u2019t been properly crawling and indexing your site.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Google\u2019s bots need to crawl pages of your site to understand what you have to offer so they can ensure it shows up insearch. If there\u2019s an issue with crawling, those pages just won\u2019t show up accordingly. And keep in mind that Google has desktop and mobile bots\u2014 both matter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Under \u201cSettings\u201d in Google Search Console, you can find your \u201cCrawl stats.\u201d This will show you everything you need to know about your site\u2019s crawlability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll also want to make sure that Google is indexing individual pages on your site. This is a vital part of showing up in search. If one of your pages isn\u2019t generating traffic or if you\u2019ve recently added a high-value page and want to see if it\u2019s been indexed, you can use the \u201cInspect URL\u201d feature to take a look.<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. Troubleshooting Technical Errors<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Technical errors can derail your SEO campaigns extraordinarily quickly, keeping you from ranking well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Technical errors may include:<\/span><\/p>\n