Google Search Console (GSC) is Google’s free tool that shows how your website performs in Google Search. The Performance report is where you will spend most of your time.
The four numbers
| Metric | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Clicks | How many times people clicked your site in Google results. |
| Impressions | How many times your site appeared in results. |
| CTR | Click-through rate: clicks ÷ impressions × 100. |
| Average position | Your average ranking. Lower is better — 1 is the top. |
The tabs below the chart
- Queries – the searches that showed your site.
- Pages – which of your pages appeared.
- Countries and Devices – where and on what people searched.
Three quick wins to look for
- High impressions, low CTR. People see you but do not click. Rewrite the title and meta description to be clearer and more compelling.
- Position 8–20. You are close to the top. Improve the page content and add internal links to push it onto page one.
- Queries you did not expect. If a page appears for a related topic, add a section that answers it properly.
Compare periods
Use the date filter to compare the last 28 days with the previous 28 days. A drop in impressions can mean an indexing problem or seasonality; a drop in CTR with stable impressions usually means your result looks less attractive than others.
Other reports to check monthly
- Pages (Indexing) – which pages are indexed and why others are not.
- Sitemaps – submit your XML sitemap and check it shows “Success”.
- Core Web Vitals – real-user speed and stability.
- Manual actions and Security issues – should say no issues.
