Google search console is a must requirement for anyone who is serious about their WordPress website traffic. This tool helps site owners keep track of daily clicks from Google Search, know which posts and keywords are performing better and even use the data to improve their Google ranking. Additionally, one can submit URLs from their WordPress site for quick indexing through the Search Console.
Step-by-step guide on How to add Google Search Console to your WordPress website for free
Here is a guide on how you can add the Google search console to your website quickly.
Also see, How to Add Google Analytics to your website.
1. Register on Google Search Console and add your website
To get started, you will need to register on the search console, just follow these steps.
Open the Google search console website and click on Start Now.
Enter your email and password then click on Next.
On the Next page, enter your URL prefix as shown below. We will use this option as it is easier to verify as you will see later below.
2. Verify your website
Google Search Console requires one to verify their website, there are different options that can be used. You can always access the search console verification methods in the future by going to Settings – Ownership verification on your search console dashboard.
We will use the HTML tag as it is the simplest. Pick it and copy the HTML code as shown below.
Add the HTML tag using a free wordPress plugin
Now, Install the WPCode Lite plugin, this free plugin will help you add the HTML tag to the <Head> section of your website in a click.
Just install by Going to Plugins -> Add New then search for WPCode Lite as shown below. Install the plugin and Activate to continue.
Now, click on Code Snippets and choose Header and Footer option on your WordPress dashboard menu. You will land on this page, paste the HTML tag that you copied earlier on the Header section as shown below and click on save changes.
Complete Verification
To complete the verification, return to the Google search console and navigate to the verification option. In case you closed the window, go to settings then ownership verification. Click on Verify.
After some seconds or minutes, your site will be verified automatically and you should see a successfully verified message as below.
That is it! You have successfully added your wordPress website to Google Search Console and you will now start receiving information on the number of clicks from Google Search.
How to use Google Search console
Now that you are all set up, here is a guide on the Google search console dashboard usage.
Get statistics from Search Console
To view clicks from the time you added Search console to as recent as Yesterday, go to performance then Search results. From here, you will also be able to see the number of clicks, impressions, Click Through Rate and the Average position of your website.
Scroll down further and you will see the keywords that appeared in Google, the number of clicks they got and impressions. You can further see the pages, countries, search appearance and dates.
On the New option, you can search a keyword, page, country or device to see what, where and who saw/clicked on your website on Google.
Submitting wordpress post for indexing
In case you want to request for indexing of a wordpress post or page, you can do so on Google Search Console. Just go to URL Inspection and post the link at the very top. Next, click on Request indexing.
Search console will take some minutes to check if the URL can be indexed, if no issues, the post/page will be added to the queue for indexing.
You can also use the URL inspection tool to see if pages have been indexed by Google.
User experience
Google Search recommends your website to have a great user experience, you can use the search console to determine how your overall website experience is and which pages might be having issues and what exactly you need to change. Just go to the Experience option on your Search Console dashboard.
Additionally, Search console can be used to remove content that you do not want to appear on Google search. This is accessible through the removals option on the dashboard.
Conclusion
Google search console is an important tool for any website owner, you should hence make sure to follow the above-outlined simple steps to add this tool to your WordPress website in less than 10 minutes.
