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Getting ahead in Google with Search Console

  • 3 min read

At this point in our series on optimizing and improving your brand’s ranking in search, you have the tools needed to make a big difference for your brand. The best part of all: you did it without spending a dime on outside agencies! I always knew that the craft beverage industry was built by resourceful self-starters!  Today I put together a video walkthrough of my own site account on Google Search Console to show you just how easy it is to manage search performance.

It’s one thing to talk about best practices in search, and another thing entirely to put them into practice. I know: as recently as May of this year my website was hardly being indexed. With the simple changes we’ve discussed I’ve been much more successful getting my blog and other content listed and ranked in Google and Bing.

Let’s see the video

GOOGLE CONSOLE

Available at search.google.com/search-console, Search Console tools and reports “help you measure your site’s Search traffic and performance, fix issues, and make your site shine in Google Search results.” Don’t be intimidated by all the resources available to you on the site: some will be more important/relevant than others. Plus, any changes that you make to your account settings can be reset, allowing you to test and learn to find the combination that works best for improving your search presence.

Below I’ll highlight beneficial areas of Google Console and how they helped me improve my search ranking. Again, important performance measures for your craft beverage brand include:

  • Click-Through Rate: number of times visitors click to your site from search engines divided by the number of impressions.
  • Index Coverage: how many brand pages you have listed in the search index since the last update.
  • Crawl Errors: similar to index coverage, only this lists the number and URLs of pages that produce errors when hit by search crawlers.
  • Page Mobile Friendliness: websites should be designed for mobile first before desktop in most cases.

In the video you’ll see how easy it is to get real-time stats on each of the above measures, plus many more if you’re interested. In just under 90 seconds you will become familiar with the following areas of Google Console that will help propel craft beverage brands like yours forward in search:

  • Logging into your Search Console account using Google login.
  • Accessing the classic or switching to the new interface.
  • Understanding notifications from Google and how they highlight search issues/opportunities.
  • Viewing basic search and click performance for a time period.
  • Evaluating your site’s mobile search compatibility.
  • Determining whether or not your site content is being properly indexed.
  • Using a sitemap of content available to help Google Search crawl your site.

GOOGLE CONSOLE FOR SCOTTKOLBE.COM

If you’re spending money on advertising and marketing, having your search house in order first is even more important. And while your view of Google Console may vary slightly from mine, the hope is this behind-the-scenes view of my account helps your team see the benefit of actively managing search.

MailChimp archive:
https://mailchi.mp/729e2ba9a458/180924_searchconsole?e=a83dcf3085
Download:
https://app.box.com/s/sypgq27j6nz8l9h0ise4c6xdh7vij96n