Setting up Google Search Console (with WordPress)

Are you ready to optimize your WordPress website with Google Search Console and RankMath?

I recommend using Rankmath, but it's not required if you use another SEO plugin (although Rankmath offers additional benefits).

If you haven't yet verified your site with Search Console, it may take several days for some data to appear, and often even several weeks if you want to use some of these tools effectively (e.g., crawl errors and search analytics).

However, you can still optimize your website in many ways, even if you have just set up Search Console.

1. Verification of your domain

1. Registration and verification:
   • Register with the Google Search Console and start the verification process.
   • Select the option to HTML tag verification.
   • Copy the provided code.
2. Integration with Rank Math:
   • In your WordPress dashboard, go to Rank Math → Dashboard.
   • Click on the gear icon for General settings.
   • Navigate to Connections.
   • Paste the copied HTML tag into the field for the Google Search Console a.
   • Save the changes.
3. Completion of verification:
   • Return to Google Search Console and click on “Verify“.
   • It may take a few days for data to appear in Search Console.
   • The same HTML tag verification process can also be used for Bing and Yandex.

A notice: If you don't use Rank Math, there are numerous alternative methods available to verify your website.

2. Structured data

Structured data, often in the form of Rich snippetsAdd additional information to your search results, such as star ratings, recipe information, or event details. This can increase the visibility and click-through rate of your pages.

Popular plugins for rich snippets:

• WP Rich Snippets (Premium, €69 – €499):
  • Offers extensive functionality.
  • Attractive design and robust settings.
  • Add-ons enable additional features such as user ratings and comparison tables.
  • Markup example or read my WP Rich Snippets Tutorial.
• All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets (For free):
  • Minimal settings.
  • Easy to use, but less attractive design.
  • Markup example or read my All In One Schema.org Tutorial.

Error checking: After adding rich snippets to content, you can Structured data in Google Search Console to monitor your tagged pages, check for errors, and view reviews. Alternatively, you can use the structured data tool from Google to test a single page.

3. Rich Cards

Rich Cards are an advanced form of rich snippets displayed as a scrollable carousel. Currently, they only support recipes and movies in mobile search results in US English. Because this feature is relatively new, there are no specific WordPress plugins that support rich cards yet. You'll need to add the appropriate markup manually until plugins become available.

4. Data Highlighter

The Data Highlighter is an alternative to rich snippet plugins. It is a Point-and-click tool, which allows you to mark page titles, dates, and other required fields to display rich snippets in search results. Once you do this for a few pages or posts, Google will apply these patterns to your entire site. Therefore, you only need to set this up for a few pieces of content.

5. HTML improvements

Rank Math offers HTML improvementsthat show you whether your snippets (SEO titles and meta descriptions) are too short, too long, or duplicate. Progress indicator Rank Math displays the snippet in orange (poor) or green (good), depending on its length. Make sure your snippets are long enough to receive the green indicator. If not, Rank Math will identify the relevant pages that need adjustment.

Rank Math Snippet Editor: Use the snippet editor in Rank Math to edit your SEO titles and meta descriptions directly.

Rank Math Bulk Editor: Under Rank Math → Tools → Bulk Editor You can edit SEO titles and meta descriptions in bulk. Note that the bulk editor doesn't display a progress bar or the focus keyword. Therefore, you should still use the content analysis for optimal results.

6. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

AMP pages are a Google project that makes your mobile pages load faster and adds the AMP icon to your mobile snippets. The AMP plugin adds the AMP pages, the Glue For Rank Math & AMP Plugin Allows for basic design customization, as it changes the appearance of your content on mobile devices. Try it out, and if you don't like it, you can delete the plugins at any time.

Adding AMP pages to WordPress:

1. Installation:
   • Install the AMP plugin from Automattic (adds the AMP pages).
   • Install the Glue For Rank Math & AMP Plugin if you use Rank Math (customizes the design).
2. Examination:
   • Add /amp/ to any page on your website to see how it looks and if it works.
3. Customization:
   • Go to Rank Math Settings → AMP to change your design and enable custom post types.
4. Diploma:
   • Wait for Google to re-crawl your page and add the AMP icon to the mobile search results.
   • The final step is to check the accelerated mobile pages section in Search Console for errors.

A notice: It may take a few days for AMP data to appear in Search Console.

7. Search analytics

Google Search Console's search analytics allow you to comprehensively measure your SEO performance. You can analyze rankings (position), keywords (queries), CTR (click-through rate), and more. Here are five particularly useful examples:

1. Monitor keywords (queries):
   • See which keywords your website ranks for and how those rankings change over time.
2. Analyze specific requests:
   • Filter queries by specific products, services, or topics you blog about. For example, all queries that contain "SiteGround."
3. Google Image Search:
   • Analyze which queries are used to find content in Google Images.
4. Pages with high ranking but low CTR:
   • Identify pages that rank well but have a low click-through rate. Revise their snippets (SEO titles and meta descriptions) to make them more engaging.
5. SEO performance over time:
   • Compare your SEO metrics (rankings, CTR, clicks) with a previous period to identify progress or regression.

How to use search analytics: Navigate to Search analytics in Google Search Console and adjust the filters accordingly to see the desired data in the dashboards.

8. Links to your website

Analyzing the inbound links to your website helps you maintain a clean link profile and minimize the risk of Google penalties. Here's how:

1. Link verification:
   • Check the list of websites that link to your page.
   • Identify links from low-quality or irrelevant websites.
2. Remove bad links:
   • Contact the webmasters of the sites in question and request that the links be removed.
   • Use the Disavow tool from Google if the removal of the links is not possible.
3. Regular review:
   • Conduct a link audit about once a year to keep your link profile clean.

Resources:

• Moz article on link audit and removal

9. Internal links

Internal links are crucial for your website's SEO. They help search engines understand your website's structure and distribute link juice to your pages.

Advantages of internal links:

• Increase the likelihood that pages will be displayed as sitelinks.
• Improve the user experience by helping visitors find relevant content.

How to optimize internal links:

• Analyze which pages are most frequently linked internally.
• Make sure important pages receive sufficient internal links.
• Use tools like Rank Math or plugins like Internal Link Juicer to manage your internal links.

10. Manual measures

Manual actions are penalties imposed by Google when your website violates its guidelines. The most common manual actions are:

1. Unnatural links to your website:
   • Cause: Buying or building spam links.
   • Solution: Remove the spam links according to step 8 and use the disavow tool if necessary.
2. Thin content with little added value:
   • Cause: Short, unusable or duplicate content.
   • Solution: Revise your content to add value. Expand short articles and create unique content.

Further information:

• Google's Manual Action Guidelines

11. International Targeting

If your website is internationally oriented, you can target specific countries. This doesn't completely exclude other countries, but simply sends a signal to Google.

How to set up international targeting:

1. Go to International targeting in the Google Search Console.
2. Select the desired target country or leave it disabled if your website is global.

A notice: If your website is international, you should leave this option disabled to reach a wider audience.

12. Mobile usability

Mobile usability is an important ranking factor. Google Search Console displays mobile errors across your entire website, regardless of whether you use a responsive theme.

How to fix mobile errors:

1. Go to Mobile usability in the Google Search Console.
2. Analyze the errors displayed.
3. Adjust your theme or plugins to fix the errors.
4. Test your pages with the Google Mobile-Friendly Testto ensure that all issues are resolved.

Ideal condition:

• No mobile errors in Google Search Console.
• Positive rating in the mobile-friendly test.

13. Index status

The Index status shows how many pages of your website have been indexed by Google.

How to interpret the index status:

• Steady increase: Means that you continuously add new content that is indexed by Google.
• Sudden drops: Could indicate that your server is overloaded or experiencing technical problems.
• Sudden peaks: Could be caused by duplicate content or even hacks.

Recommended actions:

• Monitor index status regularly.
• Investigate any unusual changes immediately.
• Make sure important pages are not blocked and are indexed correctly.

14. Blocked resources

This section shows whether your robots.txt-file prevents Google from crawling certain resources.

Here's how to proceed:

1. Check the blocked URLs in the Google Search Console.
2. Use Fetch and Renderto see how Google sees your page.
3. Decide whether blocking resources will affect your SEO.
4. Edit the robots.txtto free up resources important for indexing.

A notice: Only block resources that are not relevant for SEO.

15. Removed URLs

The URL Removal Tool allows you to temporarily remove URLs from search results for 90 days.

How to use the tool:

1. Go to Removed URLs in the Google Search Console.
2. Click on New request.
3. Enter the URL you want to remove.
4. Select the appropriate option and send the request.

A notice: For permanent removal, you should take appropriate measures, such as setting up 301 redirects or deleting content.

16. Crawling errors

Crawl errors are broken pages on your website that Google cannot find or crawl.

Possible causes:

• Changed URLs without redirects.
• Website redesign without any adjustments.
• Deleted content without redirects.

How to fix crawling errors:

1. Go to Crawling errors in the Google Search Console.
2. Analyze the different error types (desktop, smartphone, server errors, soft 404, etc.).
3. Redirect any broken URL to the correct page using a 301 redirect.
4. Use plugins like Quick Page/Post Redirect or Rank Math SEO Premium for the redirects.
5. Mark the errors as fixed in Google Search Console or wait a few days for the automatic update.

Advantage: Proper redirects ensure that link juice is passed from old URLs to new pages, which strengthens your SEO.

17. Crawling statistics

The Crawling statistics show how often Google crawls your website.

Ideal course:

• Steady growth as you regularly add new content.

Possible problems:

• Crawl rate decrease:
  • Causes: Slow server response times, blocked resources, limited server capacities.
  • Solution: Optimize your server performance or increase your hosting resources.
• Crawl rate spikes:
  • Causes: Duplicate content, sudden increase in pages due to content marketing campaigns or technical issues.
  • Solution: Check the cause and adjust your crawling strategy accordingly.

Further resources:

• Google documentation on crawling statistics

18. Fetch as Google

Fetch as Google tests whether Google can access a page, how it is rendered and whether resources are blocked.

How to use Fetch as Google:

1. Open the Google Search Console
2. Enter the URL you want to test.
3. Click on Test live URL.
4. Analyze the results for access problems or blocked resources.
5. Fix any issues found and test the site again.

Advantage: Helps diagnose and fix crawling issues to ensure your pages are indexed correctly.

19. Robots.txt Tester

The Robots.txt Tester allows you to check whether a specific URL has been robots.txtfile is blocked.

How to use the tester:

1. Go to Robots.txt Tester in the Google Search Console.
2. Enter the URL you want to check.
3. Analyze the results for blockages or errors.
4. Adjust your robots.txt accordingly to remove unnecessary blockages.

A notice: Be careful when making changes to the robots.txt, as incorrect settings can negatively impact your SEO.

20. Sitemaps

Submitting your XML sitemap is important so that Google can find and index all the important pages of your website.

To submit your Rank Math XML sitemap:

1. Find sitemap:
   • In the Rank Math settings, go to Rank Math → Sitemap Settings.
   • Activate the XML sitemap if it is not already activated.
   • Click on the Sitemap URLbutton to display your sitemap URL (e.g. https://deinewebsite.de/sitemap_index.xml).
2. Customize the sitemap:
   • Configure your sitemap to exclude tags, affiliate links, etc. if desired.
3. Submit sitemap:
   • Go to Google Search Console and navigate to Crawling → Sitemaps.
   • Click on Add/test sitemap.
   • Add the last part of your sitemap URL (sitemap_index.xml) a.
   • Test and submit the sitemap.
4. Examination:
   • Check the submitted sitemap for errors in Search Console.
   • The same process can be used for Bing and Yandex.

Screenshots and further resources:

You can find more information about the sitemap here (link)

21. URL parameters

Most websites don't have issues with URL parameters. However, if Google flags issues, you'll need to follow Google's instructions carefully to ensure you don't accidentally exclude any pages.

What to do if you have problems with URL parameters:

1. Check out Google Webmasters' tutorial on managing URL parameters.
2. Follow the instructions carefully to avoid misconfigurations that could affect your SEO.

A notice: Inappropriate settings can cause important pages to no longer appear in search results.

22. Security issues

Security issues can jeopardize your entire website and its SEO. It's important to address them immediately.

Here's how to proceed:

1. ID:
   • Go to Security issues in the Google Search Console.
   • Analyze the problems displayed (e.g. malware, hacked content).
2. Fix:
   • Contact security services such as Sucurito remove malware and secure your website.
   • Delete compromised files and restore your website from backups if necessary.
3. Prevention:
   • Change generic “admin” usernames.
   • Use strong passwords with numbers and special characters.
   • Enable two-factor authentication for logins.
   • Install security plugins like Wordfence, iThemes Security or Sucuri Security.
   • Always keep WordPress core, themes and plugins up to date.
   • Use secure WordPress hosting (e.g. SiteGround).

23. Further resources

PageSpeed Insights to check hosting speed:

• Run your website Google PageSpeed Insightsto check if the server response time can be optimized.
• A high value for "Reduce server response time" indicates slow hosting. Consider switching to a faster provider like SiteGround.

Hosting surveys:

• 2017 WordPress Hosting Poll
• Web Host Poll
• Best Hosting Provider Poll
• Best Managed WordPress Hosting Poll
• Best Shared Hosting Poll
• 2016 WordPress Hosting Poll
• Best WooCommerce Hosting Poll
• Shared Hosting Poll
• Managed WordPress Hosting Poll
• Favorite Hosting Poll

Recommendation: Read my full SiteGround Reviewto learn more about their services. My website loads in <1 second in GTmetrix and Pingdom, has 100% uptime, and SiteGround will migrate your website for free.

24. Page settings

Page settings are located in the top right corner of your Search Console dashboard.

1. Preferred domain:
   • Decide whether or not you want to use "www" in your domain. This setting should match the WordPress settings (Settings → General → WordPress Address & Website Address).
   • Tip: Avoid changing this setting if your domain is already established, as this will affect all links on your website.
2. Crawl rate:
   • Application: If your website frequently crashes due to capacity, bandwidth, or CPU limitations.
   • Solution: Reduce server load by optimizing your website (e.g. deleting resource-intensive plugins) or increase your hosting resources.
   • Caution: Only limit the crawl rate if absolutely necessary, as this can affect the speed at which Google crawls your site.

25. Change of address

If you decide to change the domain name of your website, the Address change function in Google Search Console to maintain your rankings.

How to change your address:

1. Go to Change of address in the Google Search Console.
2. Follow the instructions to confirm the new domain.
3. Make sure all redirects from the old to the new domain are set up correctly.
4. Submit a new sitemap to speed up the transition.

Advantage: Maintain SEO rankings and avoid ranking losses through correct redirects.

26. Google Analytics Property

By integrating your Google Analytics property with Google Search Console, you can gain more comprehensive insights into your SEO data.

How to integrate Google Analytics with Search Console:

1. Activation:
   • Go to the settings of your Google Analytics property.
   • Select the option to integrate with Search Console and save the changes.
2. Analysis:
   • Log in to Google Analytics and navigate to Acquisition → Search Console.
   • Here you can find the Landing pagesDashboard that provides similar data to Search Console, but with additional metrics from Google Analytics.

Advantage: Enables a deeper analysis of the performance of your landing pages by combining SEO data and user data

Do you have questions? Do you need help? Contact me!

Visit the Search Console Help Center for comprehensive documentation and troubleshooting tips on each topic. Or simply leave a comment below—I'm happy to help anyone struggling with these issues.

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