
STUDENTS
arnold on Nov 12, 2018
***Updated 11/04/2024***
One of the most powerful analytics type programs that is available to us is called Google Search Console. Google Search Console is essentially analytics for how well your website ranks in search engines. (At the end of this tutorial I will include a video that shows you some Search Engine Console data for a hair salon and some managerial implication you might take away based on the data).
Google Search Console seamlessly links with Analytics so that we can get some really impressive insights. This tutorial will show you how to set up Google Search Console and link it to your Google Analytics.
One plugins that we may use to install Google Search Console is Yoast. Let’s go ahead and get that installed first. Go to plugins in your WordPress dashboard and click Add New
Then search for YOAST and install and activate the YOAST SEO Plugin. After that continue to the steps below.
How To Install Google Search Console Into A WordPress Website
Go to the following URL:
https://search.google.com/search-console/about
You should see a screen that looks something like this:
Click START NOW
You will need to enter your URL and click “Add a property.” Copy the URL from the address bar of your browser and enter it where it says Site URL. DO NOT ENTER YOUR URL MANUALLY. If you type the URL in manually then it sometimes does not register without the http://
If you are logged into your Google Analytics, when you click “Add Property” it should auto verify as shown below:
IF your property does not auto verify you may need to install a tag into your yoast to verify. Go to the “Other Verification Methods” and copy the HTML tag as shown below:
To install your tag in Yoast go to “Yoast SEO” then to the SETTINGS tab.
Then you need to click on “Site Connections.” Once there past your HTML tag into GOOGLE and click save. Go back to Google Search Console and click verify.
You may need to click VERIFY up to ten times before it works as there is a time delay occasionally.
Once Verified you can “Go To Property” and look around or close out your GSC. There won’t be any data yet but Google will start to collect information about your website and there should be some information there in a few weeks.
Connecting Google Search Console To Your Google Analytics
Once you have your Google Search Console set up you can connect it to your Google analytics account.
To do this sign into you analytics and go into your Admin section and then click on “Search Console Links”:
Then Click Link
Find your property and check the box next to it. Then click Confirm.
When you see your property click NEXT.
Then Click SELECT
Next Click CHOOSE
Then click NEXT again.
You can finally link your Google Analytics to Search Console. Click SUBMIT to finalize the link.
You can click the X to exit out. Then you should see that the search console is connected. If I ask for a screenshot then something like the screenshot below would suffice.