Your website may have a page for each service, a contact form and a few photos. Does Google see them? Which searches bring people to it? Is anything broken that you cannot see from the outside?
You do not have to guess. Google has a tool for answering these questions directly, called Search Console, and you do not need to be technical to read the parts that matter.
First, prove the site is yours
Search Console shows data only to people who can prove they own or manage a site. Google's documentation says you need a Google account, then you add your site and verify ownership, and that you must verify ownership of a property before you can see any data for it.
Google's help page lists several ways to verify:
- Upload an HTML file to your site.
- Add an HTML meta tag to your home page.
- Use a Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager snippet you already have.
- Add a DNS record (this one is required only for a Domain property).
You do not have to do it yourself. Whoever manages your website can usually do it in a few minutes. Google also says that if you cannot verify ownership, you can ask a current owner to grant you access. Make sure the owner of the account is someone in your business, not only an agency or a former freelancer, so you do not lose access later.
Report 1: Performance
Google's guide describes it as the report that shows how much traffic you are getting from Google Search, with breakdowns by queries, pages and countries. The data covers clicks, impressions, click through rate and average position.
How a business owner can read it:
| What you see | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Queries | What do people type before they find me? Are they the words I use on my site? |
| Pages | Which pages bring people? Is it the service page I care about, or a page I forgot? |
| Impressions with few clicks | People see my result and do not click. Is my title or description unclear? |
| Countries and devices | Where are they and are they on phones? |
Two cautions. A position is an average, not a promise, and nobody can guarantee a position. And clicks are not customers: the number that matters is still how many people called, messaged or booked, which you count yourself.
The useful habit is to compare the queries with the questions customers ask. If customers ask for "a drain cleaning on Sunday" and no page on your site mentions it, you have found a gap you can fill.
Report 2: Page indexing
Google's reports overview describes it as the report that shows the index status of the pages on your site. The pages are grouped by whether they are, or can be, indexed, with a description of why they could or could not be.
This matters because a page that Google has not indexed cannot appear in Search at all. The report helps you find out why.
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Your key pages are listed as indexed | Good. Check again after big changes to the site |
| An important page is listed as not indexed | Read the reason Google gives and ask whoever manages the site to fix it |
| A sudden drop in indexed pages | Something changed on the site. Ask what and when |
| Pages you did not expect to be listed | Old, duplicate or test pages that may confuse customers |
You do not have to fix these yourself. You do have to know the report exists, so you can ask the right question.
Report 3: Generative AI performance
Google's May 2026 guide for its generative AI features mentions a performance report in Search Console to see how your content performs in those features. It also says that a site must be included in the Search generative AI features setting in Search Console, in addition to Search's technical requirements. We could not open Search Console from here, so we cannot describe the report's screens. Look for it in your account and check that your site is included.
Be cautious with any other tool that claims to show you your "AI visibility" without saying where the data comes from. Google's guide warns against third party tools that claim to have access to its internal systems.
A monthly routine of twenty minutes
- Open the performance report. Note the five queries and the five pages with most clicks.
- Compare them with what you want to be known for. Are they the same?
- Open the page indexing report. Check that your key pages are indexed.
- Look for anything new that Google flags and pass it to whoever manages the site.
- Write down one change: a page to improve, an answer to add, a question customers ask.
That is all. A site is not optimized once; it is checked and kept true to the business every month.
Where AI helps, and where it does not
AI can help you read an export of your queries, group them by customer question and draft the page that is missing. It does not know whether a query brings the customer you want, and it cannot tell why Google did not index a page without looking at the real report. The data comes from Google, and the judgment comes from the person who knows the business.
Questions to ask an agency before you hire them
- Is Search Console set up for my site, and who is the owner of the account?
- Which reports will you show me every month, and what will you do with them?
- How do you connect what people search with what my customers ask?
- What will you do if an important page is not indexed?
- Will I always have access to my own data if we stop working together?
The short version
Search Console shows how Google sees your site. You verify ownership first, then open three areas: performance (queries, pages, clicks and impressions), page indexing (which pages Google can show and why others are missing) and the generative AI report mentioned in Google's guide. Spend twenty minutes a month on it, compare what people search with what your customers ask, and make sure the account belongs to your business.