What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is Google's free tool for website owners. Google describes it as "a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search results."
A site doesn't need it to appear in Google. Google says "you don't have to sign up for Search Console to be included in Google Search results," but it "helps you understand and improve how Google sees your site."
What does Search Console show?
Google lists what it's for, including:
- Confirming "that Google can find and crawl your site"
- Fixing indexing problems and requesting re-indexing of new or updated pages
- Search traffic: "how often your site appears in Google Search, which search queries show your site, how often searchers click through"
- Alerts about indexing, spam, or other issues
- Which sites link to yours
The Performance report shows four measures: clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position. Search Console is also where a site submits its XML sitemap and sees how it performs in AI features. See how AI Overviews choose sources.
Why should a moving company use it?
It shows Google's own data on which searches show the business's website and how often people click. That makes it the starting point for checking whether new pages are indexed and whether a redesign kept its rankings.