Google Search Console Guide: The Reports That Matter

This Google Search Console guide is for business owners who want to know, in plain terms, how Google sees their website. Search Console is Google's free tool that shows which searches bring people to your site, which pages are indexed, and what technical problems stop pages from appearing. You only need a handful of its reports to make good decisions, and checking them for twenty minutes a month catches most problems early.

Key Takeaways

• Search Console is free and shows real Google search data for your own site: queries, clicks, impressions and positions.
• The Performance, Pages, URL Inspection and Sitemaps reports cover most day-to-day needs.
• Verify a Domain property through DNS so all versions of your site (www, non-www, http, https) are included.
• Indexing problems are normal on every site; focus on pages that should be indexed but are not.
• Search Console tells you how you appear in search; GA4 tells you what visitors do after they arrive. Use both.

How Do You Set Up Google Search Console?

You set it up by adding your site as a property and proving you own it, which usually takes about ten minutes.

1. Sign in at Search Console with a Google account the business controls, not a freelancer's personal account.
2. Choose Domain property and enter your domain without the "https" or "www" prefix (for example, example.af).
3. Copy the TXT record Google gives you and add it in your domain's DNS settings (at your registrar or hosting panel).
4. Click Verify. DNS changes can take minutes to a few hours to work.
5. Submit your XML sitemap under Sitemaps, usually at /sitemap.xml.
6. Under Settings, add users for your developer or agency with the permission level they need, so you never have to share your password.

If DNS access is difficult, a URL-prefix property verified with an HTML file or meta tag also works, but it covers only that exact address version. Data starts collecting from verification, so set it up even before launch.

What Does the Performance Report Show?

The Performance report shows how your site appears in Google Search: which queries trigger it, how often it is shown, how often people click, and your average position.

The four main numbers are clicks, impressions (times your page appeared in results), CTR (clicks divided by impressions) and average position. Below the chart you can switch between Queries, Pages, Countries, Devices and Dates.

Useful ways to use it:

• Find quick wins: sort queries by impressions and look for terms where you sit at positions 5 to 15. Improving that page's title, intro and content can lift it onto page one.
• Improve low CTR: pages with many impressions and low CTR often need a clearer, more specific title and meta description.
• Check countries: an Afghan business serving the diaspora can see how much traffic comes from Germany, the UK, the US or Canada.
• Compare dates: use Compare to see the effect of a redesign, a new article or an algorithm update.

Data usually arrives with a delay of a day or two, and the report keeps about sixteen months of history. At the time of writing, Google includes clicks and impressions from AI features such as AI Overviews within the normal web search totals rather than as a separate line, so you cannot isolate them precisely.

What Is the Pages (Indexing) Report and What Should You Fix?

The Pages report lists which of your URLs are in Google's index and gives a reason for every URL that is not.

Do not panic at a long list of "not indexed" pages. Redirects, pages with a canonical pointing elsewhere, filtered URLs and deliberately blocked pages are supposed to be excluded. Focus on reasons that affect important pages:

• Crawled, currently not indexed: Google saw the page but chose not to index it, often because it is thin or very similar to another page. Improve or merge it.
• Discovered, currently not indexed: Google knows the URL but has not crawled it yet; strengthen internal links to it.
• Not found (404): fix broken internal links or redirect old URLs to the right new page.
• Server error (5xx): a hosting problem; ask your developer to check logs.
• Excluded by noindex tag: check that this is intentional. A leftover noindex from a staging site can hide a whole website.

Our technical SEO audit checklist goes deeper on each of these.

How Do You Use the URL Inspection Tool?

URL Inspection shows exactly what Google knows about a single page and lets you request indexing after changes.

Paste any URL from your site into the search bar at the top. You will see whether it is indexed, which canonical Google selected, when it was last crawled, and whether it is mobile-friendly to crawl. Click Test live URL to check the current version, and Request indexing after publishing or significantly updating a page. Requesting indexing does not guarantee it, and repeating the request does not speed it up.

Which Other Reports Are Worth Checking?

A few other reports deserve a quick monthly look, even though you will rarely need to act on them.

• Core Web Vitals: groups pages as Good, Needs improvement or Poor based on real Chrome user data for loading, responsiveness (INP) and visual stability. See our guide to Core Web Vitals and INP.
• HTTPS: confirms your pages are served securely.
• Manual actions: should say "No issues detected". If not, Google has penalised the site and explains why.
• Security issues: warns about hacked content or malware.
• Links: shows top linking sites and your most-linked pages.
• Enhancements: reports structured data such as breadcrumbs, products, FAQs or reviews, with errors to fix.

What Is a Simple Monthly Search Console Routine?

A short, regular routine is better than an occasional deep dive.

1. Open Performance, set the last 28 days, compare with the previous period, and note big changes in clicks or impressions.
2. Review top queries and pick two pages to improve this month.
3. Open Pages and check whether the count of indexed pages dropped unexpectedly.
4. Inspect any new important pages to confirm they are indexed.
5. Glance at Core Web Vitals, Manual actions and Security issues.
6. Write down what you changed, so next month you can see what worked.

For Afghan sites in Dari, Pashto and English, also filter Performance by page path (for example /fa/ or /ps/) to see how each language version performs.

Work With Sheen

Sheen sets up and monitors Search Console, GA4 and technical health for every site we manage under our SEO services, and our one-off SEO audit costs $149. If your report is full of warnings you do not understand, contact us at info@sheen.af or +93 784 966 018.