Free Is A Very Good Price
October 12, 2017
Free Is A Very Good Price
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Google Search Console
We've used Google Search Console since it was introduced as Google Webmaster Tools as a way to upload sitemap information about websites. For years, it has been a standard line item in our website launch checklist as a vital resource for any site owner. Here you can interact with Google on how your site should be displayed, view any problems that may come up, see how Google views your website, and seemingly countless other useful things.
- Verify site ownership with Google.
- Upload real-time sitemaps to alert Google to new content on your website.
- Review your website's search health.
- View how Google looks at your website with specific page granularity.
- I think the standard con here is that Google is a big business with lots of access to your data. We hope they behave responsibly with it, but there isn't as much transparency with how they analyze data or position your website as we might like.
- The Search Console is completely free to use, so the biggest investment we put into it is time, and using it saves a lot of time in the long-run.
- Help you identify problem areas, diagnose problems, access important search analytics.
- What would improved search positioning mean to your business? Since it's a free resource and the time commitment is minimal, I would say that you can't afford not to use it.
The alternatives listed are really products to be used in conjunction with the search console. Where Analytics will give you information on the data specific to users on your website, the search console will give you information on how Google sees your website. There is a lot of depth to the tool, but the novice user will still be able to perform many actions. As they get deeper into the advanced features though, they may have to reach out for help.