Google Search Console Tips
Google Search Console (previously called Webmaster Tools) is a free tool provided by Google for website owners to monitor performance and traffic. GSC also offers search engine optimization recommendations and fixes. Our SEO Office Hours recaps below cover a range of advice from Google to help you better understand and get the most out of this fundamental SEO tool.
Use Redirects & Canonical Tags to Stop Data From Other Site on Same IP Being Included in GSC
If there are internal links between two sites on the same IP address, data for both sites can sometimes appear in the same GSC account. If you don’t want Google crawling the other site then add redirects or canonical tags pointing to the main site.
Use Global Identifiers in JSON-LD so Google Can Group Different Versions of Products
Global identifier markup is useful so Google can potentially group together different versions of the same product or different sites selling the same product.
URL Removal Tool Hides Pages But Doesn’t Impact Crawling or Indexing
The URL Removal Tool only hides a page from the search results. Nothing is changed with regards to the crawling and indexing of that page.
Missing Sitemap Data in GSC API is a Known Error
When switching over to the new GSC UI for sitemap reporting, which took place early April 2019, an issue occured within the API where data stopped updating. The team are looking into this and John expects they will document the error soon, with advice for those affected.
Excluded Pages in GSC Are Included in Overall Crawl Budget
The pages that have been excluded in the GSC Index Coverage report count towards overall crawl budget. However, your important pages that are valid for indexing will be prioritised if your site has crawl budget limitations.
Validate Fix Feature in GSC Checks a Sample of 5-10 Pages Before Reprocessing Rest of Errors
When you select ‘Validate Fix’ for a group of errors in Google Search Console, a small sample of around 5 to 10 pages will be checked first to see if the error has been fixed on those. If they have, the rest of the pages will then be reprocessed.
Blocked Resources Report Dropped From Old GSC as Less Sites Have This Issue
The Google Search Console team have dropped the Blocked Resources report from the old UI because this used to be a big issue to flag to people for mobile-first indexing, but this is no longer as much of a problem as most sites are more mobile-friendly now.
Use URL Inspection Tool to See if Googlebot Can See Embedded Comments
The URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console can show whether or not Googlebot is able to see comments embedded on your pages, such as Facebook comments.
GSC Data Across Duplicate Language Versions Will Only be Shown for Selected Canonical
Even if you have hreflang set up correctly, Google can fold together similar language version pages and choose one to index, meaning that data in Google Search Console will only be shown for the one selected canonical page.
The Request Review Option in GSC Is The Best Way to Inform Google That Content is Legitimate
If Google Search Console is flagging that content appears to be hacked, the request review approach is the best way to inform Google that the content is legitimate.