Search Console — Setup Runbook

Pick the Domain property, not URL-prefix. One Domain property covers every subdomain and both http/https at once — ideal when you run apps on subdomains. It verifies through DNS, so it can't break if a page or tag changes.

1. 1Open search.google.com/search-console and sign in with the Google account that should own this site.
2. 2Click the property dropdown (top-left) → Add property.
3. 3Choose the Domain option (left panel). Enter the bare root domain — no https://, no www. Just yourdomain.com.
4. 4Google shows a TXT record. Copy the whole value (it starts with google-site-verification=).
5. 5Open your DNS host (for a Hostinger domain that's hPanel → Domains → DNS / Nameservers; if your nameservers point to Cloudflare, add it there instead).
6. 6Add a new record — Type TXT, Name/Host @ (the root), Value = the pasted string, TTL default. Save.
7. 7Back in Search Console, click Verify. If it fails, DNS hasn't propagated yet — wait 15–60 min and click Verify again.

The sitemap tells Google every URL worth crawling. Submitting it and confirming Success with the right URL count is your proof that Google can read your whole site, not just the homepage.

1. 1First confirm the sitemap exists: open https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml in a browser. It should return XML, not a 404. (Some frameworks use sitemap_index.xml.)
2. 2In Search Console left nav → Indexing → Sitemaps.
3. 3In the “Add a new sitemap” box, type just the path — sitemap.xml — since the domain is already prefilled. Click Submit.
4. 4Wait a minute, refresh, and check the Status column reads Success.
5. 5Check Discovered URLs — the number should roughly match how many real pages your site has. Way too low means the sitemap is missing entries.

Waiting for the first crawl can take days. A manual Request indexing on your most important URLs nudges Google to fetch them sooner.

1. 1Paste your homepage URL into the “Inspect any URL” bar at the very top of Search Console. Press Enter.
2. 2Read the verdict: URL is on Google (already indexed) or URL is not on Google (not yet).
3. 3Click Request indexing. Google runs a quick live test, then queues the page. Wait for the confirmation popup.
4. 4Repeat for your top 5–10 pages — best-selling products, key category and landing pages.

Over the first weeks Google sorts your URLs into “indexed” and “not indexed” buckets. Two buckets need your attention: pages Google saw but skipped, and duplicates where Google picked a different canonical than you did.

1. 1Go to Indexing → Pages. Look at the “Why pages aren't indexed” table below the graph.
2. 2Discovered – currently not indexed: Google knows the URL but hasn't crawled it. Usually a crawl-budget or low-priority signal — improve internal links to that page and be patient.
3. 3Crawled – currently not indexed: Google fetched it but judged it too thin/duplicate to index. Strengthen the content, or remove it if it's low value.
4. 4Duplicate without user-selected canonical / Google chose different canonical: add a proper <link rel="canonical"> to the version you want ranked, and make sure the sitemap only lists canonicals.
5. 5After a fix, open the URL in the inspector and click Validate fix so Google re-checks that bucket.

Core Web Vitals measure real-user speed and stability — a ranking factor. It reports field data (real Chrome visitors), so it needs enough traffic before it fills in.

1. 1Open Experience → Core Web Vitals. Review the Mobile and Desktop tabs separately — mobile is usually the weaker one.
2. 2Understand the three metrics and their “good” thresholds:
   good thresholds (field data)Copy

   LCP  — Largest Contentful Paint   < 2.5s
   INP  — Interaction to Next Paint  < 200ms
   CLS  — Cumulative Layout Shift    < 0.1

3. 3Click any group flagged Poor to see example URLs, then run those URLs through PageSpeed Insights for specific fixes (image sizing, lazy-loading, reserved space for ads/embeds to kill layout shift).
4. 4Fix, deploy, then hit Validate fix in the report. Field data updates on a rolling 28-day window, so improvements show up gradually.

A manual action or hacked-content flag can silently tank your rankings. Confirm both are clean now, and make sure email alerts are on so you hear about any new issue within hours, not weeks.

1. 1Open Security & Manual Actions → Manual actions. It should read “No issues detected.”
2. 2Open Security & Manual Actions → Security issues. Same — “No issues detected.”
3. 3Confirm email alerts are on: click the gear / Settings, and check that your account is a verified Owner (owners get alert emails by default). Optionally review notification preferences in your Google account.
4. 4If either report ever shows an issue, fix the cause first, then use Request review — don't request a review before the problem is actually resolved.

Linking surfaces your search queries and landing pages right inside Google Analytics — so you can see which keywords bring traffic and how those visitors behave, in one place. The link is created from the GA4 side.

1. 1In GA4, go to Admin (bottom-left gear) → under Product links → Search Console links.
2. 2Click Link → Choose accounts, pick the Search Console property you just verified, Confirm.
3. 3Select the GA4 web data stream to associate, then Submit.
4. 4Back in GA4 Reports, open the Library (bottom of the left nav) and Publish the “Search Console” collection so the reports appear in your nav.

Bing's index feeds Copilot and parts of ChatGPT search — increasingly where people (and AI answers) discover sites. The best part: you can import everything from Search Console in two clicks, no re-verification.

1. 1Go to bing.com/webmasters and sign in (a Microsoft account works fine).
2. 2On the “Add your sites” screen, choose Import from Google Search Console.
3. 3Authorize your Google account, pick the property, and Import. Bing pulls in verification + your sitemaps automatically.
4. 4Confirm the sitemap shows up under Sitemaps in Bing, and glance at Site Explorer once it starts crawling.