searchconsole

Search Console is a free service provided by Google that helps website owners monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot their site's presence in Google Search results. It provides direct access to data about how Google crawls and indexes a site, and offers tools to improve its visibility in search.

The core features include a performance report that shows how often a site appears in search, with metrics such as clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average position. These metrics can be broken down by queries, pages, countries, devices, and search type. The index coverage report indicates which pages are in the Google index and highlights errors, valid pages, and excluded URLs. The URL Inspection tool lets users fetch current indexing information for a specific URL and request re-crawling. Users can submit and monitor the status of sitemaps, and review reports on enhancements, including structured data, AMP, mobile usability, and page experience signals like Core Web Vitals.

Access is via a Google account, with site ownership verified through methods such as HTML file upload, DNS verification, or Google Analytics. Search Console supports two main property types: domain properties, which cover all subdomains and protocols, and URL-prefix properties, which cover a specific URL path. A data API is available for programmatic access to several reports, enabling automation and integration with other tools.

History and status: Search Console originated as Google Webmaster Tools in 2006 and was rebranded to Google Search Console in 2015. It is intended for site owners and webmasters to diagnose issues, track search performance, and optimize indexing and user experience.