How to set up Google Search Console for a small business website (and what to check each month)

Short answer: Google Search Console is a free Google tool that shows whether Google can find and index your website, and which searches lead people to it. To set it up, sign in at Search Console, add your website as a Domain property if you can edit your domain's DNS settings, and verify ownership. Then check the Page indexing and Performance reports about once a month. You don't need Search Console for your site to appear in Google, but without it you're guessing about problems you could see for free. (Google Search Central: Get started with Search Console; Google: About Search Console)

Search Console won't improve your rankings by itself. It's a diagnostic tool: it tells you what Google sees, so you can fix things that are within your control.

Search Console and your Business Profile measure different things

It's easy to mix these up:

• Your Google Business Profile performance report covers your listing on Google Search and Maps: calls, direction requests, profile views. We explain it in How to read your Google Business Profile performance report.
• Search Console covers your website: which pages Google has indexed and how often they appear and get clicked in Google Search results.

Most local businesses benefit from both.

Step 1: Check whether someone already set it up

Before adding anything, ask your web designer or previous agency whether they created a Search Console property for your site. If a property already exists, ask its current owner to add your business-controlled Google account as an owner through Settings → Users and permissions → Add user. Search Console has three main permission levels: owner (full control, including adding and removing users), full user (sees all data and can take some actions) and restricted user (view-only on most data). Only an owner can add other users. (Google: Manage users and permissions)

An owner added through the user-management screen is a delegated owner. To become a verified owner, complete ownership verification from your own account using your own verification token. Both owner types have the same permissions, but the property needs a verified owner to retain access. Our recommendation: keep a business-controlled account verified and give agencies or freelancers full-user access when that covers their work. (Google: Owner types)

During an ownership handover, review old users and their verification methods. Removing a verified owner from the user list alone does not prevent them re-verifying while their token remains. Check what a token supports before removing it, because other Google services may rely on it. (Google: Remove owners and unused verification tokens)

Step 2: Choose the right property type

For a website, choose between a Domain property and a URL-prefix property (Google: Add a website property):

Our recommendation: choose a Domain property if you (or whoever manages your domain) can add a DNS record. It catches every version of your site in one place. If DNS access is difficult, a URL-prefix property for the exact address of your homepage (including https:// and www. if you use it) is a reasonable alternative.

Step 3: Verify that you own the site

• For a Domain property: follow Search Console's DNS verification instructions. You may be offered an automatic provider connection or a DNS record to add manually, usually a TXT record; CNAME is also supported. Add the record wherever your domain's DNS is currently managed, which may be different from the company that sold you the domain. Keep existing records, then return to Search Console and select Verify. Manual DNS records can take two or three days to become available, so if verification fails, allow time and retry. (Google: DNS verification; Google: Find where your DNS is managed)
• For a URL-prefix property: check your website builder's Search Console instructions first. It may offer a built-in verification setting. The HTML tag method involves pasting a meta tag into your homepage's <head>; many builders have a field for this in their SEO or site settings.

Keep the verification in place. If the DNS record, file or tag is removed, for example during a website redesign, Google may no longer be able to confirm your ownership. You will be notified, and access can expire after a grace period if the issue is not fixed. Keep the record after verification succeeds. Where supported, you can add another verification method as a backup. (Google: Verify your site ownership)

Data collection begins when anyone first adds the property to Search Console, even before verification. Allow a few days for a new property's data to appear; verification gives you access to it. (Google: Add a website property)

Step 4: Decide whether you need to submit a sitemap

A sitemap is a file listing the pages you want Google to know about. For many small businesses this step is optional:

• Google can find pages without a sitemap (source).
• Google says sites of about 500 pages or fewer, where every page can be reached by following one or more links from the homepage, may not need one (Google: Sitemaps report).
• Hosted builders such as Wix and Squarespace often create sitemaps automatically. Check your platform's documentation for where yours lives (source).

If you do have a sitemap, submitting it in the Sitemaps report lets you see whether Google can read it. Submission doesn't guarantee every page will be crawled or indexed (source).

An empty Sitemaps report does not necessarily mean Google has no sitemap for your site. The report lists sitemaps submitted through it or the Search Console API, rather than every sitemap Google discovers another way. (Google: Sitemaps report limitations)

Step 5: Read the Page indexing report without panicking

The Page indexing report shows which of your URLs Google has indexed and why others aren't. Google is clear that you shouldn't expect every URL to be indexed; the question is whether your important pages are indexed and whether the others have an acceptable reason (Google: Page indexing report).

A canonical URL is the main version of a page when more than one address shows the same or similar content. Use URL Inspection to check the index status of a specific page and see which URL Google chose as canonical. The Page indexing report is an overview; its example URL lists are not exhaustive. (Google: Check important pages)

Reasons that are often fine

• Page with redirect: this address redirects elsewhere and is not indexed. The destination may or may not be indexed; check the destination separately with URL Inspection.
• Alternate page with proper canonical tag: Google has indexed the main version of a duplicate page. Google says there's nothing you need to do.
• Not found (404): fine if you deliberately removed the page with no replacement. If it moved, set up a redirect.
• URL marked 'noindex': fine if you meant to keep it out of Google Search (a thank-you page, for example). A problem if it's your services page.

Reasons worth investigating

• Server error (5xx) and Soft 404: real problems to raise with your web host or developer.
• The canonical versions of important pages (home, main services, contact) unexpectedly remaining unindexed.

All explanations above are from Google's Page indexing report help.

Step 6: Ask Google to look at a new or updated page

When you publish an important new page, paste its address into the search bar at the top of Search Console to open the URL Inspection tool, then select Request indexing. Google checks for immediate indexing problems first. Requests are limited, and neither indexing nor timing is guaranteed. Check progress later with URL Inspection. (Google: URL Inspection tool)

You need owner or full-user access to request indexing. Crawling can take days to weeks. Requesting the same URL repeatedly won't speed things up, so request once and check back later. (Google: Ask Google to recrawl your URLs)

Step 7: Use the Performance report to learn what people search for

The Performance report shows (Google: Performance report):

• Clicks: how often someone clicked through to your site from Google Search.
• Impressions: how often your site appeared in results.
• CTR: clicks divided by impressions.
• Average position: the average position of your highest-ranking result over the selected period. The chart uses your site's topmost result, while table rows depend on the grouping.

The useful part for a small business is the Queries tab. Hypothetical example: if [Business name], an aircon servicing company, sees impressions for "aircon chemical wash price" but its services page doesn't mention pricing at all, that suggests adding a clear pricing section or explaining how quotes work. That's a content decision informed by data, not a guarantee of more clicks.

This is not a complete list of every search: privacy protection and reporting limits mean some queries are omitted. (Google: Query data and limitations)

A 15-minute monthly routine

Google suggests checking around once a month, or after you change your site, and emails you when it finds new issues (source). A simple routine, which may take about 15 minutes:

1. Open any emails from Search Console and deal with genuine errors.
2. Page indexing: check for unexpected changes or new problems. Use URL Inspection to confirm the canonical versions of your home, services and contact pages when you need to check a particular page.
3. Performance: compare the last 3 months with the previous period. Use the Pages tab to identify pages with a sharp drop. For a new property, compare the periods you have data for rather than expecting six months of history immediately.
4. Queries: pick one search term you appear for but don't answer well, and add it to your website to-do list.
5. After a redesign or platform change, check that verification is still in place.

Related guides

• How to read your Google Business Profile performance report
• 7 practical tips to improve your Google Business Profile
• Pencil Glow guides