How to Use Google Search Console to Boost Your SEO in 2025

Introduction

In today’s digital world, having a website is not enough. If people can’t find your site on Google, your business or blog won’t grow. That’s where Google Search Console (GSC) comes in. It’s a free tool by Google that helps website owners understand how their site is performing in search results. Using it the right way can help you boost your SEO and bring in more traffic.

Let’s break down how to use Google Search Console in 2025 in a simple and clear way step by step.

What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console is a free platform by Google that shows how your website appears in Google Search. It gives data on:

With Search Console, you can view important data such as:

• Keywords your website ranks for – Know exactly what search terms users are typing into Google that led them to your site.
• Pages that are getting clicks – See which pages drive the most traffic and understand user interest.
• Errors that affect your site’s performance – Get alerts about problems like crawl errors, server issues, or broken pages that may prevent Google from properly indexing your content.
• Mobile usability issues – Identify problems that could affect how your site appears and works on mobile devices, such as small text, slow loading times, or buttons that are too close together.
• Backlinks pointing to your site – Discover which websites are linking to your content, which can help boost authority and search visibility.
• Page indexing status – Check whether Google has indexed your web pages and troubleshoot those that aren’t appearing in search.
• Core Web Vitals and performance insights – Learn how fast your site loads, how stable it is, and how quickly users can interact with your content.

In short, Google Search Console tells you what’s working and what’s not on your website — directly from Google’s perspective. It helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search, making it a must-have tool for anyone serious about growing their online visibility in 2025 and beyond.

Why Use Google Search Console for SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about helping your website rank higher in search results. Google Search Console helps you:

• Find keywords and improve them
• Fix errors that stop your pages from ranking
• Submit new content faster to Google
• Understand your backlinks
• Monitor mobile usability
• Track performance over time

With these insights, you can make smart changes that help your site perform better.

Step 1: Setting Up Google Search Console

1. Go to https://search.google.com/search-console

Click on “Start now” and sign in using your Google account.

2. Add Your Website

There are two ways to do this:

• Domain property (tracks everything under the domain like www, non-www, http, and https)
• URL prefix (tracks only one specific version of your site)

For best results, use the Domain property option.

3. Verify Your Site

Google needs to confirm that you own the website. You can verify through:

• DNS record (best for Domain property)
• HTML file upload
• Google Analytics
• Google Tag Manager

Once verified, you’ll start seeing data in a few hours or days.

Step 2: Understand the Dashboard

The GSC dashboard gives a quick view of your website’s health and performance. Key sections include:

1. Performance

Shows clicks, impressions, average position, and click-through rate (CTR).

2. URL Inspection

Check the status of individual pages — whether they’re indexed or have issues.

3. Indexing > Pages

Lists all pages that are indexed and those that aren’t.

4. Experience

Reports Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, and page experience.

5. Enhancements

Covers structured data issues like breadcrumbs, sitelinks, etc.

6. Security & Manual Actions

Tells if Google has penalized your site or found any security threats.

Step 3: Track Keyword Performance

One of the most valuable features is tracking what keywords people use to find your site.

Go to: Performance > Search Results

Here you can see:

• Queries: Keywords people searched for
• Pages: Which pages appeared in results
• Countries: Where the users are from
• Devices: Desktop, mobile, or tablet
• Date Range: Last 7 days to last 16 months

How to Use This for SEO:

1. Find high-impression, low-CTR keywords
   These are ranking but not getting clicks. Improve your title and meta description.
2. Find keywords ranking in positions 5–15
   With a little effort, you can push these into the top 3.
3. Spot content opportunities
   If you rank for a keyword you didn’t target, create or improve a page for it.

Step 4: Submit Your Sitemap

A sitemap helps Google understand your site structure and index it better.

How to Submit:

1. Go to Indexing > Sitemaps
2. Enter the URL of your sitemap (e.g., https://example.com/sitemap.xml)
3. Click Submit

If you use WordPress and have an SEO plugin like Yoast or Rank Math, it generates the sitemap for you automatically.

Step 5: Fix Indexing Issues

Go to Indexing > Pages to see which pages are not indexed and why.

Common Errors:

• Crawled – currently not indexed
• Discovered – currently not indexed
• Duplicate without user-selected canonical
• Soft 404

How to Fix:

• Improve content quality
• Add internal links
• Submit URL for indexing
• Fix duplicate content
• Make sure the page loads properly

You can also use the URL Inspection Tool to check or re-submit specific pages.

Step 6: Improve Mobile Usability

In 2025, most users visit websites on mobile. Google also follows mobile-first indexing, meaning it checks the mobile version of your site first.

Go to Experience > Mobile Usability and fix any issues.

Common Issues:

• Text too small to read
• Clickable elements too close
• Content wider than screen
• Viewport not set

How to Fix:

• Use responsive design
• Increase font size
• Space buttons properly
• Set correct viewport in HTML

Step 7: Monitor Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are performance metrics that affect rankings. Google considers:

1. LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) – Speed of loading main content
2. FID (First Input Delay) – Time it takes for the page to respond
3. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) – Stability while loading

Go to Experience > Core Web Vitals

How to Improve:

• Use fast hosting
• Optimize images
• Remove unused scripts
• Use lazy loading
• Reduce layout shifts

Tools like PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse can help you improve these scores.

Step 8: Find and Use Backlink Data

Backlinks (links from other websites) are crucial for SEO. GSC shows who’s linking to you.

Go to Links > Top linking sites

You’ll see:

• Which domains link to you the most
• Which pages are getting the most links
• Anchor texts being used

What to Do:

• Reach out to websites with broken or low-quality links
• Build more links to important pages
• Use this data to plan future link-building campaigns

Step 9: Monitor Manual Actions & Security

Sometimes Google may manually penalize your site due to:

• Spam
• Unnatural links
• Cloaking
• Thin content
• Malware or hacking

Go to Security & Manual Actions

If there are any issues, Google will provide details and steps to fix them.

What to Do:

• Remove harmful content or links
• Submit a reconsideration request
• Use security tools to remove malware

Always keep your CMS, themes, and plugins updated to avoid security problems.

Step 10: Use URL Inspection Tool

This tool lets you see how Google views a specific page.

How to Use:

1. Paste the page URL in the top search bar
2. Check if the page is indexed
3. View mobile usability, sitemap status, last crawl date
4. Click "Request Indexing" if you’ve updated the page

Use this tool after publishing or updating content to get it indexed faster.

Step 11: Monitor Website Growth Over Time

Use the Performance report with custom filters.

• Compare date ranges (e.g., last 28 days vs. previous 28)
• Track growth of impressions and clicks
• Monitor ranking changes of target keywords
• Export data for analysis

This helps you see what’s working and where you need to improve.

Step 12: Combine with Google Analytics

GSC and Google Analytics together give a complete SEO view.

• GSC shows how users find your site
• Analytics shows what they do once they land

By integrating both, you can:

• Track bounce rate on pages ranking well
• See conversion rates by keyword
• Improve pages that get traffic but don’t convert

In 2025, you’ll likely be using GA4 (Google Analytics 4), which integrates well with GSC.

Pro Tips for Using Google Search Console in 2025

1. Check Weekly: Regular checks help you catch and fix problems early.
2. Use Filters: Narrow down data by country, device, or page.
3. Improve CTR: Find keywords with low CTR and update titles/descriptions.
4. Optimize Old Pages: Use GSC to identify old posts that can be improved.
5. Use Regex (Advanced): In 2025, GSC allows regex filtering to find keyword patterns like question-based queries.
6. Export Reports: Analyze in Google Sheets or Excel for deeper insights.
7. Use Search Appearance Filters: Understand how rich results, FAQs, or sitelinks affect your visibility.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Ignoring “Discovered – not indexed” pages
• Submitting poor-quality content for indexing
• Not submitting a sitemap
• Forgetting mobile usability
• Not fixing security warnings
• Ignoring data over time — SEO is about trends

Conclusion: Why GSC is a Must-Have Tool in 2025

Google Search Console is more than just a tool — it’s your SEO control room. Whether you’re running a blog, eCommerce site, or business portfolio, GSC gives you real-time data, error tracking, and keyword insights that can shape your strategy.

So, if you haven’t fully explored GSC yet, now’s the time. Dive into it regularly, analyze the data, and take action. In the world of SEO in 2025, data-driven decisions are the key to success.