Guide
Search Console is free, and it's the only place that tells you the truth about how Google actually sees your site. Most business owners have never opened it. Here's what to check, and in what order.
Set up once
A DNS TXT record is the most reliable method and survives a site redesign or platform switch — an HTML file or meta tag can get wiped out the next time someone touches the site.
Under Sitemaps, submit sitemap.xml directly. This is what tells Google every page you actually want indexed, instead of relying on it to stumble onto them by following links.
Under Security & Manual Actions — if either shows anything, it overrides everything else on this list. A manual penalty or a hacked-site flag means the rest of your SEO doesn't matter until it's cleared.
Check monthly
Shows every page Google has and hasn't indexed, and why not (duplicate content, crawled but not indexed, blocked by robots.txt). A page that doesn't show up here can't rank for anything, no matter how well it's written.
Shows the actual search terms people used to find you, how often you showed up, and where you ranked. This is the single best source of what to write more of — real queries you're already getting found for, just not high enough.
Flags text too small to read, clickable elements too close together, content wider than the screen — real problems on the device more than half of your visitors are using.
Measures how fast the page actually feels to load and use. A slow site doesn't just rank worse — it loses the visitor before the quote form even loads.
Common mistakes
Most accounts were verified once, years ago, and never opened again — the errors and opportunities inside go unread indefinitely.
A page Google visited but chose not to index is usually a real content or duplication problem, not a fluke — and it means that page will never show up in search until it's fixed.
After a meaningful update to a page, use the URL Inspection tool to request re-indexing instead of waiting for Google to notice on its own schedule.
A query with high impressions and low clicks usually means you're ranking on page 2 — worth knowing before assuming the content itself isn't working.
The paid diagnostic reviews your search visibility against this exact checklist — plus your Google Business Profile and your phones — and hands you a page-by-page strategy for what to fix first.