Let’s be real for a second: SEO is overwhelming when you’re new to it. Most business owners I’ve worked with feel like they’re playing darts in the dark—trying tools, reading strategies, watching courses—but nothing quite sticks. I’ve had clients come to me completely lost, heads spinning from keyword tools and rankings and acronyms they don’t understand. They’ve read about some tool everyone’s using, but it either doesn’t do what they thought or it's so bloated with features that it doesn't feel made for someone without a digital marketing background.
That’s where Google Search Console comes in. It’s like getting a backstage pass to see how people find your site, what queries you appear for, where you rank, and what’s holding you back. It’s also free, which shocks a lot of people—and it’s made by the very company you’re trying to rank on: Google. Yet, it’s wildly underused by small businesses.
If you've ever wished you could sit down with someone to interpret your website’s performance without the jargon shuffle, this post is for you. We’re going to unpack Google Search Console in a way that makes sense, tell the story of how it fits into real business situations, and go beyond the obvious with thoughtful strategies based on what I see in my daily work with clients.
Google Search Console (GSC) is a free platform developed by Google that helps website owners monitor how their site is performing in Google Search. It provides data, tools, and recommendations related to visibility, indexing, search queries, mobile usability, and more. If Google has something to say about your website, this is where you’ll hear it.
Think of it like the owner’s manual for your site’s relationship with Google. It's not going to build your traffic for you, but it will show you exactly what’s working and what’s not. It’s a clean slate tool too—unlike something like SEMrush or Ahrefs, it's not trying to upsell you. It’s just data, presented generously.
Before we jump into features, let’s paint a picture. A client recently told me: “Zach, I just want to know what people are searching when they find me.” That one sentence sums up why GSC matters. You could spend hours guessing or pouring money into analytics tools, but GSC hands you the answer for free.
Surprisingly, most business owners I work with haven’t actually installed GSC or did it ages ago and forgot about it. Connecting your site takes just a few minutes, especially if you already have Google Analytics or domain-level access via your DNS settings.
If DNS settings feel scary, here’s the analogy I use: verifying via DNS is like proving you have the deed to a house rather than just the keys to the front door. It’s a bit more technical, but much more futureproof. Don’t skip this step—it opens up the full toolkit.
I had one client in Franklin setup incorrectly for two years. The result? Gaps in their data, incomplete indexing, and zero alerts when their mobile usability tanked. We fixed the setup and immediately uncovered problems they didn't know were there. Don’t be that client. Start it right.
This section is where GSC really shines. Under “Performance,” you’ll find a dashboard showing clicks, impressions, click-through-rate (CTR), and average position for the keywords your site ranks for. It’s the closet you’ll get to mind reading Google.
Imagine owning a bakery and learning that people are finding you because they’re Googling “gluten-free cinnamon rolls Franklin TN.” You never intended to promote those, but it turns out they’re the most searched item leading to clicks. That’s prime intelligence you can act on.
One of my law firm clients discovered they were getting impressions for the keyword “divorce mediation Franklin TN” even though their homepage said almost nothing about that service. We spun up a simple service page, optimized it with clear information and testimonials, and watched it shoot from position 22 to 3 in under six weeks. That insight came directly from GSC performance data.
Think of performance data like a conversation starter between your business and your audience. They’re telling you what they want—your job is to meet them halfway.
The next tab to explore is “Indexing.” This area shows which of your pages Google has included in its index (i.e., in the search engine) and which ones it's skipped or reported issues with.
One of the most frustrating experiences for a business owner is creating a great new page or blog post only to realize it’s never shown up on Google. If you’ve ever Googled a page URL and gotten no result, this report is where to go.
I had a real estate agent come to me because only 9 of her 50+ listings pages were showing on Google. After putting her site in GSC, we found that her templated pages all had very similar metadata and not enough unique content. By customizing a few elements per page—adding hyper-local details, FAQs, and alt-texted photos—we got 40+ pages indexed within a month.
Never assume a page is indexed just because it exists. GSC forces you to answer a simple but powerful question: what content is Google actually paying attention to?
This one hits close to home for me as a Webflow designer. Google’s “Experience” reports track how users perceive your pages based on Core Web Vitals—things like how fast your site loads, when it becomes interactive, and if it shifts around while loading. These signals now impact rankings.
Even if your site looks slick, it may be slowing down search performance if it hasn’t been built with UX and performance in mind. I don’t say this to scare people—I’ve rebuilt beautiful websites with major technical problems under the hood, and the owners had no idea.
One of my Squarespace clients had a great mobile-friendly setup, but their image-heavy homepage was dragging their LCP numbers into the red. We simply compressed images, adjusted lazy-load settings, and removed a third-party plugin—it brought their metrics into the green, and they started ranking higher for key phrases shortly after.
This all ties into marketing psychology: If your site feels frustrating before people even click, they’ll bounce. Search Console tells you when that friction is happening under the surface. It's like getting a report card not for content, but for experience—how it feels to be your visitor.
Especially in local markets like Franklin where mobile search is dominant, your mobile usability report makes or breaks your presence. This section of GSC tells you if buttons are too close together, text is too small, or if elements don’t load right on phones.
While platforms like Wix and Squarespace auto-generate mobile versions, they still mess up layout or font sizing sometimes. You won’t always catch this unless you test manually—or check GSC’s Mobile Usability report.
We saw dozens of mobile usability errors on her class schedule page. The issue? Her embedded Mindbody scheduler wasn't responsive. After switching to a native table format and spacing out the content block, her mobile error count dropped to zero. Lesson learned: even embedded tools can sink your user experience if not styled properly.
Trust is invisible but powerful online. If GSC says your site isn’t readable or clickable on smartphones, listen to it. It’s often the silent reason your beautifully crafted site isn’t converting search traffic.
Next, let’s talk about what you can do with Search Console when you publish new content. Submitting a sitemap and individual URLs is your way of saying: “Hey Google, this page exists and deserves your time.”
Your CMS may automatically generate a sitemap—for example, Webflow makes one at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. Head to the “Sitemaps” section, paste that URL, hit submit. Easy.
But here’s where I see people leave value on the table: if you write a new blog post, don’t just wait around. Use the “URL Inspection” tool, paste the new page’s link, and hit "Request Indexing." It’s not a guarantee, but it speeds up the process, and for time-sensitive content (like seasonal landing pages) it’s a gamechanger.
The deeper I get into my work, the more I think of good SEO as alignment—not just technical but emotional. GSC helps you see the disconnects between your intention and how people perceive your website. That’s a huge deal. Maybe you think your “About” page is strong, but no one’s visiting it. Or you think you’re known for one service, but people are constantly finding you for something else.
The data doesn’t lie. And once you have it, you can change your site’s architecture, its language, its funnel. This isn’t just about rankings. It’s about being heard.
In consulting sessions, I often joke that I’m half web designer, half therapist—but there’s truth to it. Businesses have a hard time seeing themselves clearly from the outside. Search Console provides a rare mirror.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re not just looking for hacks. You want understanding. And that’s what Google Search Console gives you. It’s a tool that lets your website speak—and your visitors speak—so you can make smarter decisions.
Set it up right. Revisit it often. Use it not just to fix problems but to ask deeper questions: What are people really looking for? Are my pages answering them? What kinds of content perform best for my voice and audience?
SEO is not a mystery when you have the right dashboard. Google Search Console won't do the work for you, but it will guide you smarter than most paid tools if you know how to interpret what it’s saying.
Start using GSC not as a chore, but like you’d listen to a customer walking into your store. With curiosity, openness, and intent to serve.
Copyright © Zach Sean Web Design
