How to set up Google Search Console

Last updated 10 October 2026 · By the XKey team

Why every website needs Search Console

An SEO checker like XKey looks at your pages from the outside. Search Console shows Google's own view from the inside: the actual searches people used to find you, how often you appeared, how many clicked, and any page Google couldn't index along with the reason. It costs nothing and takes about 15 minutes to set up.

Step 1: choose a property type

Go to Google Search Console, sign in with a Google account and click Add property. You'll see two choices:

• Domain property – covers every version of your site (http and https, www and non-www, and all subdomains). It can only be verified with a DNS record, so you need access to wherever your domain is managed.
• URL-prefix property – covers one exact address, such as https://www.example.co.uk/. It offers more ways to verify, including uploading a file or adding a meta tag.

If you can edit your DNS, choose Domain. If your web designer manages everything, a URL-prefix property for the exact address your site uses is fine.

Step 2: verify that you own the site

For a Domain property, Google gives you a TXT record to add in your DNS settings (at your registrar, or Cloudflare if you use it). For a URL-prefix property, the simplest options are uploading the HTML file Google gives you to your site's root folder, or pasting a meta tag into your home page's <head>. Sites already using Google Analytics or Tag Manager can often verify with one click. Then press Verify. DNS changes can take a little while to be seen – if it fails, wait an hour and try again.

Step 3: submit your sitemap

Open Sitemaps, type the address of your sitemap (often sitemap.xml or sitemap_index.xml) and click Submit. Google should show "Success" and the number of pages it found. Not sure you have one? Run the sitemap checker, or make one with the XML sitemap generator.

Step 4: learn the four reports that matter

• Performance – searches, clicks, impressions and average position. Filter by page to see what each one ranks for.
• Pages (under Indexing) – which pages are indexed and, for the rest, why not: noindex, redirect, not found, duplicate or "crawled – currently not indexed".
• URL inspection – type any address into the bar at the top to see exactly how Google last saw it, and request indexing after you've fixed or published a page.
• Core Web Vitals – real-visitor speed data, grouped into good, needs improvement and poor. Our Core Web Vitals guide explains it.

Step 5: add Bing too

Bing Webmaster Tools can import your verified sites straight from Search Console, so it takes a couple of minutes. Bing also powers several other search services, so it's worth having.

What Search Console won't tell you

It doesn't check your titles, structured data, security headers or AI crawler access in detail, and it only reports on your own site. Pair it with a regular SEO check and weekly monitoring to catch problems before they show up in Google's data.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google Search Console free?

Yes, completely. There's no paid version.

How long until data appears?

Usually a few days after verification. Performance data then covers up to the last 16 months, starting from when Google first collected it.

Does using Search Console improve my rankings?

Not by itself. It shows you what to fix and lets you ask Google to recrawl pages, which helps new and updated pages get picked up sooner.