Nothing in Webmaster Tools disappeared with yesterday's rename to Search Console. Get owner access in your own name, then check four reports monthly: messages, Search Analytics, crawl errors and mobile usability.

A new name for the same tool

Yesterday Google renamed Webmaster Tools. It is now called Search Console.

Nothing inside it disappeared. The reports, the data, the login and the way a site proves who owns it are all the same, and there is nothing to do because of the rename.

Google's reason was the name itself. Webmaster sounded like a job title, and the people using the tool include owners, marketers and designers as well as developers.

For many small businesses, the news is the first time they have heard of it at all.

Why so few owners have opened it

Search Console is free, and it is the one place where Google reports directly on how it sees your site. Yet most small business owners have never looked inside.

Often the web designer verified the site years ago, under their own Google account. The owner was never added, so Google's messages about the site go to someone else's inbox.

The old name did not help. Nor did reports full of words like crawl and index, which seemed meant for somebody technical.

None of that makes the information less useful to the person who owns the business.

The four reports worth a monthly look

The first matters most and is usually empty. When it is not, it may be telling you the site has been hacked or penalised, and nobody else will.

Getting access in your own name

Ask whoever built the site to add your own Google account as an owner. They can stay on as a user, which keeps them able to help.

Use a Google account that belongs to the business rather than one person's private account, so access does not leave with an employee.

If nobody remembers who set it up, you can verify the site yourself, with a file or tag on the site, a record at the domain registrar, or your Analytics account.

Add every version of the address: with www and without, and the secure version if the site has one. Then set the preferred version in the site settings.

Search Analytics replaces Search Queries

The other change this month is a new report. Search Analytics has replaced the old Search Queries report.

For the last ninety days, it shows how often your pages appeared in Google's results, how often they were clicked and their average position. Results can be grouped by search, page, country or device, and two periods compared.

The figures will not match the old report exactly, because they are counted a little differently. Compare the new report with itself from now on.

Filtering by device is the most useful new habit. It shows how the site fares in searches made on phones, which is where April's mobile ranking change applies.

A worked example

A bicycle frame builder makes custom steel frames to order in a small workshop, with a website showing past builds, the fitting process and an enquiry form.

The designer who built the site had verified it in Webmaster Tools four years ago and never mentioned it. The owner asked about it early this month, after reading about Google's change to searches on phones.

Once added as an owner, he found months of messages nobody had read. Crawl Errors listed several dozen old gallery addresses, removed in a redesign, still linked from cycling forums.

Search Analytics showed something he had not expected: steady impressions for searches about frame repair and repainting, landing on a page that mentioned repairs in one sentence.

The old gallery addresses now redirect to the matching builds, and a proper repair page explains what he takes on and how long it takes.

Neither change needed new advertising. Both came from reading what Google was already reporting.

Messages and security issues

Make sure messages are forwarded by email to an address someone reads. The email preference is in the settings menu.

Most messages are routine: a new owner added, a rise in pages not found, a notice that some pages have problems on phones. Read them anyway, since a routine one is also proof the warnings will reach you.

A security issue means Google has found hacked content or malware. A manual action means a reviewer has penalised something on the site. Both need attention the same week.

Crawl errors and mobile usability

Crawl Errors lists addresses Google could not reach. A handful of not found pages is normal; old pages that other sites still link to deserve a redirect to their closest match.

Server errors are more serious. A run of them means Google often finds the site down or too slow to answer.

Mobile Usability lists pages where the text is too small to read, links sit too close to tap accurately, or the content spills past the edge of the screen. Since April 21 those problems affect rankings in searches on phones.

Fifteen minutes a month

Book a recurring quarter of an hour at the start of each month. Read the messages first, then the three reports, and note anything new.

Keep a short log of what you saw. Three lines a month are enough, and they make a sudden change easy to spot.

Anything you do not understand goes to whoever maintains the site, with a screenshot. That is a better use of their time than waiting for something to break.

The counter-case

A very small site with little search traffic will show thin data, and the monthly look may often find nothing at all.

Search Console also fixes nothing by itself. It reports, and the work still has to be done on the site.

For some businesses the web company reviewing it each month is the right arrangement. Even then, the owner should hold owner access, so the information does not leave when a supplier does.

This month

  1. Ask who verified your site, and when.
  2. Add your own account as an owner.
  3. Add every version of the address.
  4. Turn on email forwarding for messages.
  5. Read Search Analytics by page and device.
  6. Redirect old pages that sites still link to.
  7. Book fifteen minutes on the first of each month.

Step two is where everything else starts. Until your own account is an owner, the warnings go to someone else, and the reports are only as useful as that person's memory.

The Mobile Usability report and the fixes it usually points to are covered in small reasons pages fail the mobile-friendly test.

Frequently asked questions

What changed with the rename to Search Console?

Only the name. The reports, data, login and verification are the same as in Webmaster Tools, and nothing needs doing because of the rename itself.

What is the Search Analytics report?

The report that replaced Search Queries this month. It shows how often your pages appeared and were clicked over the last ninety days, and their average position, by search, page, country or device.

Why have I never seen Search Console?

Often the web designer verified the site under their own Google account and never added you, so Google's messages about your site go to their inbox.

How do I get access?

Ask whoever built the site to add your Google account as an owner, or verify it yourself with a file, a tag, a domain record or Analytics.

Which reports should I check each month?

Messages, including security issues and manual actions; Search Analytics; Crawl Errors; and Mobile Usability. A quarter of an hour at the start of each month is enough.

Should my web company still have access?

Yes, as a user, so they can help. But your own account should be an owner, so the information stays with the business if suppliers change.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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