Tips from Google Search Console to improve search results
Google Search Console (GSC) is a valuable tool for SEO professionals looking to evaluate a website's overall performance in search results, ask Google to index your content, review your backend cookie, and more. However, while GSC is a great tool, there is a learning curve.
This article will examine the importance of GSC for digital marketers. We'll do a quick review of some dashboards and discuss some ways you can use GSC to improve your search results. Let's get started!
1. Find search queries that drive traffic (and keyword opportunities)
When you start writing an article, you probably have a keyword, maybe even two, that you want to rank. It's good to have a keyword in mind when you started writing your article. The problem is that after a month or more of posting your content, you'll find that you're starting to rank for all kinds of keywords you probably didn't expect.
Let me give you an example of a common term that many people in the marketing industry may target; "How to make money blogging."
You can see that this page has the opportunity to arrange for a set of terms. If you have access to this information, you can improve your content to these Terms.
To access the terms for which a piece of content is arranged, do the following:
Click on "Search Results"
Select "Pages"
Click "Queries"
You can see the total search volume, clicks, and page search rank position for each term. It's a bit like a keyword database. You can use a variety of tools to optimize each keyword later.
2. Optimize the click-through rate (CTR) of relevant search terms
Your title is the most important element in your copy. David Ogilvy famously said, "When you type in your headline, you've spent 80 cents of your advertising dollars."
This process applies to almost every type of advertising. If you come up with great newsletter ideas and write an attractive subject line, people will open your email. If you type an attractive headline, people will click through search results on your content.
The right meta title can make a big difference in where you sit in search results and how many people see your content. With a combination of Google Search Console and some inspiration, it's relatively easy to improve your CTR from search results.
To access the data, follow the steps above. Once the page is selected, review the clicks, impressions, and CTR associated with the placement.
Your goal should be to identify the most relevant terms that have the highest impressions and get the fewest clicks. Once you find a relevant term, you can adjust your identification description.
To monitor the impact of changes on your CTR, do the following:
Select "Date Range" from the top menu
Click Compare
Enter the comparative date range
Select the appropriate date range; I'll give yourself at least two weeks to take a test. At the end of the period, compare the results.
If there is an increase in your click-through rate (CTR), it is your new title that does the job. If there is a drop, you can try coming up with a more attractive definition title.
We always follow this approach on our sales pages. For example, you can see on our unified communications page, we start by defining the term.
We also cover relevant questions people may ask about unified communications on the page. This approach ensures that we provide as much useful information as possible to page visitors while optimizing the page for relevant related terms that people are searching for.
3. Identify competing pieces of content
Ideally, your website should be organized. Every piece of your website content should target a relevant keyword. You can create content silos where they objectively connect different pieces of relevant content together.
So, if you run a website about outreach, you may have:
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Basically, you want to have content grouped by topic together. Powerful content silos help spread page ranking among pieces of content on your site. It's also useful for user experience, as people can click to access other relevant resources on your site instantly.
The image above from the crawl provides a great example of what a structured site looks like.
Of course, your site may not be organized. You may have content competing for the same keyword and other issues. You can use Google Search Console to resolve issues with conflicting content.
To check if you have competing content, click Query and then click Pages from the list.
If there is more than one page in the list, there may be a problem. You should check the two conflicting content clips to see if there is normal overlap. If it's a small overlap, that might be fine. On the other hand, you may have two types of content targeting the same keywords. If so, you may need to delete one of the pieces and perform 301.
4. Remove content from search results or get content indexed
There are many different reasons why you might remove a piece of content from search results. For example, you might discover that you have two pieces of content that rank for the same keyword and decide that the best way to do this is with your 301 content.
Although 301 may solve the problem of where the visitor goes, the offending page can still appear in search results. Fortunately, you can use GSC to request that content be removed from search results.
This process is straightforward. Click the removal dashboard and submit a request.
You can also use GSC to request indexing. This Google guide discusses how to request indexing.
5. Identify and correct coverage issues
A big part of why Google is a successful company is its focus on user experience. The search engine does everything it can to make sure that people who use the search engine click to access resources that meet their needs. The better they can do this, the more people use the service and the more money they earn through ads.
Over the past few years, Google has strengthened its first approach to mobile in most of its products – including search. Hence, optimizing your website for mobile devices – such as smartphones and tablets – should be good.
The good news is that there are tools you can use to check if your website is mobile-optimized. For example, Google's mobile compatibility test is especially useful. Simply enter the URL of the page you want Google to check and Google will tell you its verdict.
Check what happens when you enter the URL of this page from Nextiva, in the appropriate test for mobile:
The tool doesn't just tell you if your page is mobile-friendly or not. It also shows you how this page will look on a mobile device so you can make the necessary adjustments.
Unfortunately, for too many sites, usability on mobile devices is an issue.
GSC has a dashboard dedicated to usability issues on mobile devices. The dashboard provides solutions to address issues related to mobile and AMP pages.
If you've never heard of AMP, it stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. The feature enables faster site and page loading speed while providing a consistent user experience on mobile devices. Well, that's the theory anyway. Many sites struggle to implement AMP without a developer.
In addition to mobile, you can also identify other site issues through GSC through the Coverage tab. Through this tab, you can identify issues such as 5xx server errors. You can fix issues identified by Google through GSC.
6. Monitor backlinks and internal links
GSC provides accurate insights for every page on your website. Through the links control panel you can track internal and external links. You can access the "Links" control panel through the side menu.
The GSC Links dashboard provides you with a nice overview of your linking strategy. You can see which sites link to you and which piece of content has the most links. The data is useful. However, premium SEO tools generally provide more comprehensive insights and have an easier user interface to navigate than GSC.
For example, when I monitor backlinks, I would like to know the domain authority of a site, the authority of the page where I got the link, the Trust Flow site, etc. While Google has internal metrics to measure link quality, it doesn't. t Share this information.
The most valuable resource, which any SEO professional needs to know, is the disclaimer feature. With the disclaimer feature, you can ask Google to ignore low-quality links coming into your site. Or you may have links from a site that has been sanctioned by Google.
If you are not familiar with how to perform disclaimer, I recommend you read this article . You must have a disclaimer for your site.
Malhas
Google Search Console is a powerful platform to run analytics on your website and improve its SERP ranking. Its wealth of features and insights puts it at the forefront of many other paid platforms that evaluate site performance.
The platform's functionality works extensively when it comes to metrics that affect search rankings. GSC covers metrics like keyword performance, metadata, mobile optimization, and more. Its multiple functions coupled with well-designed dashboards make it a one-stop solution, like a Swiss army knife.
Google GSC is designed to help people who manage websites control search results. GSC enables you to identify problem areas and take corrective action.