What is Google Search Console (GSC)?
The free official view of how Google sees a site: impressions, clicks, positions, indexation, and issues. Audits join its demand data to crawl findings before prioritizing anything.
Related terms
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Event-based analytics measuring what visitors do after they arrive. Pair it with Search Console to connect rankings to engagement and conversions instead of optimizing positions blindly.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Clicks divided by impressions. Titles, descriptions, brands, and SERP features move CTR at stable positions, which is why snippet work precedes rank-chasing on converting queries.
Index Coverage Report
The Search Console view of indexed versus excluded URLs with reasons. The fastest way to confirm bloat, canonicalization, and crawl-vs-index gaps on a real site.
Impression
One appearance of a page or link in results or AI answers. Impressions without clicks diagnose snippets and intent fit; falling impressions diagnose demand or visibility loss.
Click
A visit from a result or citation. Clicks are the reality check on rankings: positions that never convert are research inputs, not assets.
Average Position
The mean rank of a page or query in Search Console. Directional, not literal: features, personalization, and averaging blur it, so read it with impressions and clicks.