Google Search Console

Not to be confused with Google Play Console.

Google Search Console

Type of site	Webmaster tools
Owner	Google
URL	search.google.com/search-console
Commercial	yes
Launched	2006;19 years ago (2006)

Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) is a web service by Google which allows webmasters to check indexing status, search queries, crawling errors and optimize visibility of their websites. ^[1]

Until 20 May 2015, the service was called Google Webmaster Tools. ^[2] In January 2018, Google introduced a new version of the search console, with changes to the user interface. In September 2019, old Search Console reports, including the home and dashboard pages, were removed. ^[3]

Since 2019, Search Console has supported Domain properties, which combine all protocol and subdomain variations (such as http, https, www, and non-www) into a single property, simplifying site management and reporting. ^[4]

Features

The service includes tools that let webmasters

• Submit and check a sitemap. ^[5]
• Check the crawl rate, and view statistics about when Googlebot accesses a particular site. ^[6]
• Receive alerts when Google encounters indexing, spam, or other issues on your site. ^[7]
• Show you which sites link to your website.
• Write and check a robots.txt file to help discover pages that are blocked in robots.txt accidentally. ^[8]
• List internal and external pages that link to the website.
• Get a list of links which Googlebot had difficulty in crawling, including the error that Googlebot received when accessing the URLs in question.
• Set a preferred domain (e.g. prefer example.com over www.example.com or vice versa), which determines how the site URL is displayed in SERPs.
• Highlight to Google Search elements of structured data which are used to enrich search hit entries (released in December 2012 as Google Data Highlighter). ^[9]
• View site speed reports from the Chrome User Experience Report.
• Page Experience Report including - Core Web Vitals, and HTTPS. ^[10]
• Receive notifications from Google for manual penalties. ^{[11] [12]}
• Provide access to an API to add, change and delete listings and list crawl errors. ^[13]
• Check the security issues if there are any with the website. (Hacked Site or Malware Attacks)
• Add or remove the property owners and associates of the web property.

See also

• Bing Webmaster Tools
• Google Insights for Search
• Google Analytics
• Schema.org
• Google Tag Manager
• Google PageSpeed
• Google Optimize

References

1. "Linking Google Analytics to Webmaster Tools". Google Developers. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
2. "Announcing Google Search Console - the new Webmaster Tools" . Retrieved 2015-05-21.
3. "Saying goodbye to the old Search Console" . Retrieved 2019-09-10.
4. "Domain properties in Search Console". Google Search Central Blog. Retrieved 2025-10-26.
5. "SEO Starter Guide: The Basics | Google Search Central". Google Developers. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
6. "Crawl Stats report - Search Console Help". support.google.com. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
7. "About Search Console - Search Console Help". support.google.com. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
8. "How To Use Search Console | Google Search Central". Google Developers. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
9. Boudreaux, Ryan (2013-06-18). "How to use Google Data Highlighter, part 1". TechRepublic . Retrieved 2015-09-04.
10. "Page Experience report - Search Console Help". support.google.com. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
11. DeMers, Jayson. "3 Steps to Take When You Suspect an Algorithmic Penalty From Google". searchenginejournal.com. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
12. Cutts, Matt. "View manual webspam actions in Webmaster Tools" . Retrieved 7 March 2014.
13. "Webmaster Tools API | Google Developers". Google Developers. Retrieved 2015-06-02.

External links

• Official website
• Google Search Central