Engaging With The Platform – Using Google Search Console
Formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, Google Search Console is a powerful tool that allows webmasters to monitor their site and keep an eye out for errors. It can also be highly useful for performing keyword research and obtaining your SEO average position for your ranking keywords.
When performing keyword research to decide which keywords you want to optimise your site for, it’s helpful to begin by looking at which search console keywords your organic audience is already using to find your site. Why? Because these phrases are ones that you already have at least some visibility on, so they’re easier to work with than keywords you aren’t ranking for at all. The battle is halfway won.
How Does Google Search Console Work?
Google Search Console lets you see which organic keywords people are using to access your site. You can determine how many times your website showed up for a given keyword (impressions), how many clicks that keyword led to, and your site’s average position in the organic search results for that keyword. Let’s take a look.
Within your search console account, simply click on “Search Results,” or “Search Performance” to access the report. First we want to make sure we are looking at data from the right time period. Alter the date range at the top however you would like, then set your default metrics of clicks, impressions, consequent click-through rate and average ranking position to appear on your chart.
Interpreting Console Data
Scrolling down, you see all the queries that led people to your website over your defined time period. Click on any of the metric columns to arrange the search console keyword queries in ascending or descending order based on that metric. For example, you can see which queries resulted in the most clicks, or the most impressions.
For webmaster keyword research purposes, it’s a good idea to look for keywords that have a number of impressions and a low average rank. These are keywords that are highly searched, and that your website is already ranking on. Cross-reference these keywords with the Google AdWords Keyword Planner to get a better sense of their search volume.
Final Takeaways – Using Google Search Console for Research
Keyword research is the foundation of any SEO campaign, and Google Search Console is an indispensable tool for finding the right keywords to optimise for. Stay tuned for our upcoming video on intermediate SEO tips for GSC. If you are interesting in anything else to do with SEO, make sure to check out SEO Company Melbourne for anything and everything SEO.
