{"id":31569,"date":"2019-11-12T03:37:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T11:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=31569"},"modified":"2023-01-30T21:30:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T02:30:54","slug":"google-search-console","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-search-console\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Google Search Console to Improve SEO (Beginner\u2019s Guide)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-txt\">Google Search Console is one of the most powerful, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/free-seo-tools\/\">free SEO tools<\/a>&nbsp;out there. But most people never use it for anything more than checking vanity metrics like clicks and impressions.<\/div>\n<p>While there\u2019s nothing wrong with looking at those things once in a while, they provide little value as standalone metrics.<\/p>\n<p>Translation: staring at them isn\u2019t going to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-improve-seo\/\">improve SEO<\/a>&nbsp;anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>In this guide, you\u2019ll learn:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#what-is-google-search-console\">What Google Search Console is<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-set-up-google-search-console\">How to set up Google Search Console<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-verify-your-website-in-google-search-console\">How to verify your website in Google Search Console<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-add-a-sitemap-in-google-search-console\">How to submit a sitemap in Google Search Console<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-add-users-in-google-search-console\">How to add additional users to Google Search Console<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-use-google-search-console-to-improve-seo\">How to use Google Search Console to improve your&nbsp;SEO&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"what-is-google-search-console\">What is Google Search Console?<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Search Console<\/a>&nbsp;(previously Google Webmaster Tools) is a free service from Google that helps you monitor and troubleshoot your website\u2019s appearance in their search results.<\/p>\n<p>Use it to find and fix technical errors, submit sitemaps, see backlinks, and&nbsp;more.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-to-set-up-google-search-console\">How to set up Google Search Console<\/h2>\n<p>Sign in to <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Search Console<\/a>&nbsp;with your Google account.<\/p>\n<p>You should see a welcome message with two options. Select the first one, then enter your domain or subdomain (without the&nbsp;<code>http(s):\/\/<\/code>).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"677\" class=\"wp-image-31529\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/domain-property-search-console.png\" alt=\"domain property search console\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/domain-property-search-console.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/domain-property-search-console-768x578.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/domain-property-search-console-565x425.png 565w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>Hit \u201cContinue.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">DON\u2019T WANT TO ADD YOUR ENTIRE DOMAIN?<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>Google <a href=\"https:\/\/webmasters.googleblog.com\/2019\/02\/announcing-domain-wide-data-in-search.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">states<\/a>&nbsp;that \u201cdomain properties show data for all URLs under the domain name, including all protocols, subdomains, and&nbsp;paths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is perfect if you want a complete view of your website in Search Console, but what if you want to restrict data to a specific URL path? (e.g., domain.com\/blog)<\/p>\n<p>The answer is to use a URL prefix property instead. This adds only URLs under a specified address and protocol (i.e., HTTP\/HTTPS, www\/non-www).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"763\" height=\"605\" class=\"wp-image-31535\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/url-property-search-console.png\" alt=\"url property search console\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/url-property-search-console.png 763w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/url-property-search-console-536x425.png 536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 763px) 100vw, 763px\"><\/p>\n<p>Note that you can add both Domain and URL prefix properties for the same domain.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h2 id=\"how-to-verify-your-website-in-google-search-console\">How to verify your domain in Search Console<\/h2>\n<p>Before you can see any data in Search Console, you first need to verify ownership. This process differs according to the property type you&nbsp;added.<\/p>\n<p>Jump straight to the instructions that apply to&nbsp;you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#domain-property-verification\">I added a Domain&nbsp;property<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#url-prefix-verification\">I added a URL prefix&nbsp;property<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"domain-property-verification\">Verification for a <em>Domain<\/em>&nbsp;property<\/h3>\n<p>Hit the instructions dropdown. Check if your domain is registered with any of the listed providers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"645\" height=\"448\" class=\"wp-image-31542\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-provider-dropdown.png\" alt=\"search console provider dropdown\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-provider-dropdown.png 645w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-provider-dropdown-612x425.png 612w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 645px) 100vw, 645px\"><\/p>\n<p>If so, select the provider and hit the \u201cStart verification\u201d button.<\/p>\n<p>Sign in to your registrar account and follow the instructions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"775\" height=\"379\" class=\"wp-image-31549\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ionos-add-domain-search-console.png\" alt=\"ionos add domain search console\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ionos-add-domain-search-console.png 775w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ionos-add-domain-search-console-768x376.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ionos-add-domain-search-console-680x333.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 775px) 100vw, 775px\"><\/p>\n<p>You should see a message like&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"286\" class=\"wp-image-31543\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/success-ownership-verified.png\" alt=\"success ownership verified\"><\/p>\n<p>If your registrar isn\u2019t on the dropdown, select \u201cAny DNS provider.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sign in to your account with your domain provider, select your domain, then look for an option to manage DNS or Domain Name Servers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"741\" height=\"407\" class=\"wp-image-31562\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/modify-dns.png\" alt=\"modify dns\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/modify-dns.png 741w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/modify-dns-680x373.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 741px) 100vw, 741px\"><\/p>\n<p>Choose the option to add a TXT record, paste in the record from Search Console, then save&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"348\" height=\"209\" class=\"wp-image-31567\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/dns-txt-record.png\" alt=\"dns txt record\"><\/p>\n<p>Go back to Search Console and hit \u201cVerify.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the verification fails, keep trying. It can take a few minutes to go through.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">HAVING ISSUES?<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>If your web host differs from your domain registrar, then you may find that your registrar doesn\u2019t let you edit DNS records. In that case, you\u2019ll need to edit DNS records on your hosting account instead.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re doing this in cPanel, it\u2019s super simple.<\/p>\n<p><em>Login to Cpanel &gt; Zone editor &gt; Manage (next to the domain) &gt; Add record &gt; Type &gt;&nbsp;TXT<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Next, choose a name, copy and paste the TXT record from Search Console into the \u201cRecord\u201d box, then hit \u201cAdd record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"725\" height=\"134\" class=\"wp-image-31539\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/add-record-cpanel.png\" alt=\"add record cpanel\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/add-record-cpanel.png 725w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/add-record-cpanel-680x126.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 725px) 100vw, 725px\"><\/p>\n<p>Go back to Search Console and hit \u201cVerify.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the verification fails, keep trying until it&nbsp;works.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h3 id=\"url-prefix-verification\">Verification for a <em>URL prefix <\/em>property<\/h3>\n<p>Google offers a few ways to do this. Their default (and recommended) method is to upload an HTML file to your website. However, to keep things simple, we recommend choosing the Domain name provider option, then following <a href=\"#url-prefix-verification\">the instructions above<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"646\" height=\"559\" class=\"wp-image-31557\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/domain-name-provider-search-console.png\" alt=\"domain name provider search console\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/domain-name-provider-search-console.png 646w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/domain-name-provider-search-console-491x425.png 491w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px\"><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-to-add-a-sitemap-in-google-search-console\">How to add a sitemap to Google Search Console<\/h2>\n<p>Sitemaps tell Google where to find important content on your website, and how they can crawl that content. We recommend that everyone submit a sitemap to Google via Search Console.<\/p>\n<p>To do that, choose \u201cSitemaps\u201d from the menu, paste the URL of your XML sitemap into the box labeled \u201cEnter sitemap URL,\u201d then hit \u201cSubmit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"397\" class=\"wp-image-31525\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/submit-sitemap.png\" alt=\"submit sitemap\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/submit-sitemap.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/submit-sitemap-768x339.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/submit-sitemap-680x300.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div>&nbsp;If you don\u2019t already have a sitemap or aren\u2019t sure where to find it, read <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-create-a-sitemap\/\">this<\/a>. <\/div>\n<p>You should see a message like&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"588\" height=\"206\" class=\"wp-image-31518\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/sitemap-submitted.png\" alt=\"sitemap submitted\"><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-to-add-users-in-google-search-console\">How to add a user to Google Search Console<\/h2>\n<p>Users are people with access to some or all of the data in Search Console.<\/p>\n<p>There are three&nbsp;types:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Owner<\/strong>: Has full control over the property in Search Console, including the power to add and remove other users. There are two types of owner: <em>verified<\/em>&nbsp;and <em>delegated<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Full user: <\/strong>Has view rights to all data within the selected property and the power to take some actions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Restricted user: <\/strong>Has restricted view rights, meaning they may not be able to view all&nbsp;data.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Recommended reading:<\/strong>&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/7687615?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Managing owners, users, and permissions<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>By default, when you verify a property in Search Console, you have <em>owner<\/em>&nbsp;privileges.<\/p>\n<p>To add another user, go&nbsp;to:<\/p>\n<p><em>Search Console &gt; Choose a property &gt; Settings &gt; Users and permissions &gt; Add&nbsp;user<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"443\" class=\"wp-image-31532\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-users.png\" alt=\"search console users\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-users.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-users-768x378.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-users-680x335.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>Type their email address, then select either <em>full<\/em>&nbsp;or <em>restricted<\/em>&nbsp;access.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"592\" height=\"298\" class=\"wp-image-31556\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/add-user-search-console.png\" alt=\"add user search console\"><\/p>\n<p>If you ever need to revoke or change their access, just return here.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-to-use-google-search-console-to-improve-seo\">How to use Google Search Console to improve your&nbsp;SEO<\/h2>\n<p>Instead of going through each Search Console report in excruciatingly boring detail, we\u2019re going to focus on a few actionable ways to use it to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-improve-seo\/\">improve SEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-fxveb_eklhk\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:500\/281\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer 'none';autoplay 'none';bluetooth 'none';browsing-topics 'none';camera 'none';clipboard-read 'none';clipboard-write;display-capture 'none';encrypted-media 'none';gamepad 'none';geolocation 'none';gyroscope 'none';hid 'none';identity-credentials-get 'none';idle-detection 'none';keyboard-map 'none';local-fonts;magnetometer 'none';microphone 'none';midi 'none';otp-credentials 'none';payment 'none';picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create 'none';publickey-credentials-get 'none';screen-wake-lock 'none';serial 'none';summarizer 'none';sync-xhr;usb 'none';web-share;window-management 'none';xr-spatial-tracking 'none';\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-fxveb_eklhk\" data-lenis-prevent data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/FXVEb_eklhk?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" loading=\"lazy\" name referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/FXVEb_eklhk?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" title width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 id=\"h.rzxya6a7rj88\">1. Improve rankings for underperforming keywords<\/h3>\n<p>Underperforming keywords are those where you don\u2019t yet rank in positions one or&nbsp;two.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re underperforming because most people click one of the first two results, meaning that if you rank in lower positions, you\u2019re missing out on tons of traffic.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if you rank in position eight, roughly 1.8% of searchers will click on your result.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"644\" height=\"396\" class=\"wp-image-31555\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ctr-curve-8.png\" alt=\"ctr curve 8\"><\/p>\n<p>Bump that keyword ranking to position two, and the number jumps to almost 14%.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"651\" height=\"397\" class=\"wp-image-31568\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ctr-curve-2.png\" alt=\"ctr curve 2\"><\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s say the keyword in question has a monthly search volume of 1,000.<\/p>\n<p>Ranking in position 8 gets you 18 visits from organic search per month, compared to 160 for position two.<\/p>\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-84\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-84 tablepress-responsive tablepress-ahrefs-width-720px\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1 odd\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Position<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">CTR<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">Monthly organic search traffic<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">#2<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">13.94%<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">139<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">#8<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">1.8%<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-84 from cache -->\n<p>That\u2019s <strong>8x<\/strong>&nbsp;more traffic just by jumping a few positions.<\/p>\n<p>To find these underperforming keywords in Google Search Console, go to the \u201cSearch Results\u201d report and toggle the average CTR and position data.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1119\" height=\"612\" class=\"wp-image-31540\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-data.gif\" alt=\"search console data\"><\/p>\n<p>Next, scroll to the queries report and set the average ranking position filter to below 8.1, then sort the results by average position in descending order.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"793\" height=\"308\" class=\"wp-image-31553\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/filter-by-position-search-console.png\" alt=\"filter by position search console\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/filter-by-position-search-console.png 793w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/filter-by-position-search-console-768x298.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/filter-by-position-search-console-680x264.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 793px) 100vw, 793px\"><\/p>\n<p>From here, it\u2019s a case of skimming the list for underperforming keywords. I.e., those that you\u2019re already ranking for in positions 3-8 and getting some traffic from.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s one we found in our Search Console:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"609\" height=\"100\" class=\"wp-image-31527\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/local-seo-search-console.png\" alt=\"local seo search console\"><\/p>\n<p>Our average ranking position for this keyword is 7.6, and we\u2019re getting a CTR of 1%. That might seem quite low, but it\u2019s not too far below the average for this position.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s the important part: Despite this low ranking position, we\u2019ve still averaged almost 1,200 clicks in the past three months and saw 121,000+ impressions. That\u2019s around 400 clicks per&nbsp;month.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div>&nbsp;Impressions are the number of times we\u2019ve appeared in the search results for this&nbsp;query.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>So let\u2019s click on this keyword and go to the \u201cPages\u201d tab to see which page is ranking. From here, we can check whether the page is about the same topic and determine if there\u2019s scope to further optimize it for this keyword.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"388\" height=\"103\" class=\"wp-image-31528\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/page-ranking-local-seo.png\" alt=\"page ranking local seo\"><\/p>\n<p>Looks like there is optimization potential here, as the page that\u2019s ranking is <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/local-seo\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/local-seo\/\">our local SEO guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019s probably worth us performing an individual analysis of this page and seeing if we can boost its position by improving our <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/on-page-seo\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/on-page-seo\/\">on-page SEO<\/a>, adding some relevant <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/internal-links-for-seo\/\">internal links<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-get-backlinks\/\">getting more backlinks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/core-web-vitals\/\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/advanced-pagespeed-guide\/\">improving page speed<\/a>, or something else.<\/p>\n<p>Just be sure to use common sense when going through this process. For example, our average ranking position for \u201cgoogle keyword planner\u201d is 5.6, and we get thousands of visits per month from that keyword.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"709\" height=\"99\" class=\"wp-image-31559\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/google-keyword-planner-term.png\" alt=\"google keyword planner term\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/google-keyword-planner-term.png 709w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/google-keyword-planner-term-680x95.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\"><\/p>\n<p>But if you look at the current US rankings for that query in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer\">Ahrefs\u2019 Keywords Explorer<\/a>, we see that there\u2019s only one result above us that <strong>isn\u2019t<\/strong>&nbsp;from Google themselves.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"544\" height=\"478\" class=\"wp-image-31538\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/google-keyword-planner-serp.png\" alt=\"google keyword planner serp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/google-keyword-planner-serp.png 544w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/google-keyword-planner-serp-484x425.png 484w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 544px) 100vw, 544px\"><\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re unlikely to ever rank in position 1 or 2 for this keyword, no matter how hard we&nbsp;try.<\/p>\n<p>The point here is that it makes sense to push some keywords more than others.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"h.az6q86wr0osd\">2. Optimize pages with high keyword rankings, but low&nbsp;CTR<\/h3>\n<p>Not every page that ranks #1 will get 30% of clicks. That\u2019s just the average.<\/p>\n<p>Some will perform better than average, and some will perform worse.<\/p>\n<p>So what we can do is find the pages that perform worse than average, analyze why that\u2019s the case, then see if there\u2019s a way to boost their CTR to get more traffic.<\/p>\n<p>To do this, head to the \u201cSearch results\u201d report, toggle the average CTR and position data, then filter for keywords with average rankings below 3.1. These are the keywords for which you already rank in the top&nbsp;3.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"712\" height=\"174\" class=\"wp-image-31560\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-high-rankings.png\" alt=\"search console high rankings\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-high-rankings.png 712w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-high-rankings-680x166.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 712px) 100vw, 712px\"><\/p>\n<p>Sort the report by CTR in ascending order, then look for keywords with lots of impressions but lower-than-average CTR.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s one we&nbsp;found:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"642\" height=\"100\" class=\"wp-image-31565\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/diy-seo-search-console.png\" alt=\"diy seo search console\"><\/p>\n<p>Despite ranking in position three on average, our clickthrough rate is only 2.1% where it should be around 3-5x higher than that\u2014especially as we\u2019re definitively matching <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/search-intent\/\">search intent<\/a>&nbsp;here.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s Google this keyword and see if we can figure out what\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"805\" height=\"1474\" class=\"wp-image-31537\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/diy-seo-serp.jpg\" alt=\"diy seo serp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/diy-seo-serp.jpg 805w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/diy-seo-serp-768x1406.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/diy-seo-serp-232x425.jpg 232w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 805px) 100vw, 805px\"><\/p>\n<p>Looks like Google is showing an ad, a featured snippet, a video carousel, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/people-also-ask\/\">\u201cpeople also ask\u201d box<\/a> above the \u201ctraditional\u201d rankings where we are. Because these SERP features take up so much real estate, they\u2019re almost certainly \u201cstealing\u201d clicks from&nbsp;us.<\/p>\n<p>So the best course of action for us here would probably be to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/featured-snippets\/\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/find-featured-snippets\/\">optimize the page to try to win the featured snippet<\/a>, which gets 8.6% of clicks on average.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"556\" class=\"wp-image-31536\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ahrefs-featured-snippets-ctr.jpg\" alt=\"ahrefs featured snippets ctr\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ahrefs-featured-snippets-ctr.jpg 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ahrefs-featured-snippets-ctr-768x474.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ahrefs-featured-snippets-ctr-680x420.jpg 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>But averages can be misleading. So let\u2019s take a look at the \u201cOrganic keywords\u201d report in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Ahrefs\u2019 Site Explorer<\/a>&nbsp;for the page that owns the snippet to see how much traffic it sends their&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"634\" height=\"124\" class=\"wp-image-31558\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/diy-seo-snippet.png\" alt=\"diy seo snippet\"><\/p>\n<p>Looks like the featured snippet alone sends them 170 monthly organic visitors in the US, which is 38.5% of all US organic traffic to the&nbsp;page.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">TIP: How to win more SERP real estate with&nbsp;video<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>For keywords with video carousels in the search results, there\u2019s an opportunity to rank a YouTube video on Google. If you can do this and also rank in the ten blue links with your website, you can dominate the SERP. This is something we did for the keyword \u201cSEO tutorial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"879\" height=\"664\" class=\"wp-image-31523\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/seo-tutorial-serp-domination.png\" alt=\"seo tutorial serp domination\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/seo-tutorial-serp-domination.png 879w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/seo-tutorial-serp-domination-768x580.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/seo-tutorial-serp-domination-563x425.png 563w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 879px) 100vw, 879px\"><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Just be careful when doing this as not all keywords present a good opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>For example, we get a measly 3.4% CTR for the query \u201clink building tools\u201d despite ranking between positions two and three for the past few months. But if we look at the search results, there are lots of ads above the organic results.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"779\" height=\"742\" class=\"wp-image-31519\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ads-link-building-tools.png\" alt=\"ads link building tools\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ads-link-building-tools.png 779w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ads-link-building-tools-768x732.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ads-link-building-tools-446x425.png 446w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\"><\/p>\n<p>This tells us that this keyword may have commercial intent, so people are likely clicking ads instead of the organic results.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"h.bjte8wgv1w2l\">3. Fix sitemap issues<\/h3>\n<p>If there are issues with the sitemaps you submitted to Google, that may cause problems and confuse crawlers. This leads to wasted time and resources on their end, and can also cause them to index the wrong URLs in some&nbsp;cases.<\/p>\n<p>To check for issues with submitted sitemaps, head to the \u201cSitemaps\u201d report, click on the icon next to a sitemap, then click the \u201cSee index coverage\u201d button.<\/p>\n<p>You should now see a few tabs showing the number of errors, warnings, valid URLs, and excluded ones.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"899\" height=\"567\" class=\"wp-image-31530\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/sitemap-search-console-errors.png\" alt=\"sitemap search console errors\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/sitemap-search-console-errors.png 899w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/sitemap-search-console-errors-768x484.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/sitemap-search-console-errors-674x425.png 674w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 899px) 100vw, 899px\"><\/p>\n<p>Looks like we don\u2019t have any errors for our blog, but there is one URL under \u201cExcluded.\u201d If we click that tab, we see that one page has been excluded from the search results because it appears to be a duplicate of another submitted URL.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"306\" height=\"175\" class=\"wp-image-31544\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/sitemap-exclusion-warning.png\" alt=\"sitemap exclusion warning\"><\/p>\n<p>If we then click on this error, we see that the culprit is this URL related to guest blogging.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"386\" height=\"92\" class=\"wp-image-31545\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/exclusion-url.png\" alt=\"exclusion url\"><\/p>\n<p>If we look at the HTTP status for this URL using <a href=\"https:\/\/httpstatus.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a free online tool<\/a>, we see that it <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/301-redirects\/\">redirects<\/a>&nbsp;to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/guest-blogging\/\">a newer post about guest blogging<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"711\" height=\"125\" class=\"wp-image-31554\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/301-redirect-guest-articles.png\" alt=\"301 redirect guest articles\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/301-redirect-guest-articles.png 711w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/301-redirect-guest-articles-680x120.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 711px) 100vw, 711px\"><\/p>\n<p>The reason this happened is that the old URL is still set as published in WordPress, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\/\">SEO plugin<\/a>&nbsp;we\u2019re using automatically adds all published URLs to our sitemap.<\/p>\n<p>So all we had to do was delete this post, and the issue soon resolved itself.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"739\" height=\"439\" class=\"wp-image-31561\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/exclusion-resolved-searchconsole.png\" alt=\"exclusion resolved searchconsole\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/exclusion-resolved-searchconsole.png 739w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/exclusion-resolved-searchconsole-680x404.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 739px) 100vw, 739px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">IMPORTANT<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>Excluded pages are common in Google Search Console and aren\u2019t always indicative of an issue. Errors and warnings tend to be more serious, so tackle those&nbsp;first.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h3 id=\"h.cgabe339t6bl\">4. Learn which content types and topics get the most backlinks<\/h3>\n<p>Backlinks are an important ranking factor. Google has told us this on numerous occasions, and we also found a clear positive relationship between organic search traffic and backlinks when <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/search-traffic-study\/\">we studied 920 million pages.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" class=\"wp-image-31521\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/referring-domains-vs-organic-search-traffic-ahrefs-content-explorer.png\" alt=\"referring domains vs organic search traffic ahrefs content explorer\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/referring-domains-vs-organic-search-traffic-ahrefs-content-explorer.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/referring-domains-vs-organic-search-traffic-ahrefs-content-explorer-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/referring-domains-vs-organic-search-traffic-ahrefs-content-explorer-638x425.png 638w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> Correlation \u2260 causation.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>So getting more backlinks to your content should be a priority if you want more traffic.<\/p>\n<p>But what type of content should you publish to attract backlinks? And what topics should you talk&nbsp;about?<\/p>\n<p>The best way to answer this question is to learn from the content you\u2019ve already published.<\/p>\n<p>To do that, go to the \u201cLinks\u201d report, then click \u201cMore\u201d on the \u201cTop linked pages\u201d report under the \u201cExternal links\u201d subheader.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"796\" height=\"610\" class=\"wp-image-31552\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-linked-pages-search-console.png\" alt=\"top linked pages search console\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-linked-pages-search-console.png 796w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-linked-pages-search-console-768x589.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-linked-pages-search-console-555x425.png 555w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\"><\/p>\n<p>Sort the report by \u201cLinking sites\u201d in descending order to see which of your pages have the most backlinks from unique websites, then look for patterns.<\/p>\n<p>For example, four of the ten most-linked pages on our blog are studies.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"728\" height=\"590\" class=\"wp-image-31563\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-linking-pages-ahrefs-blog.png\" alt=\"top linking pages ahrefs blog\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-linking-pages-ahrefs-blog.png 728w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-linking-pages-ahrefs-blog-524x425.png 524w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\"><\/p>\n<p>This is a clear sign that original research tends to attract links in our industry, but this might differ for&nbsp;you.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, while we can\u2019t check the top linked pages for other sites in Google Search Console, we can in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Ahrefs\u2019 Site Explorer<\/a>. And if we paste in a popular web design blog and check the \u201cBest by links\u201d report, we see that many of the top-linked pages are inspirational list-style posts.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"767\" height=\"740\" class=\"wp-image-31526\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/web-design-blog-linked.png\" alt=\"web design blog linked\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/web-design-blog-linked.png 767w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/web-design-blog-linked-441x425.png 441w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 100vw, 767px\"><\/p>\n<p>So this might be a better type of content to create if you want links in this industry.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"h.jd9e1p6e9iac\">5. Find pages that need more internal links or to be pruned<\/h3>\n<p>Imagine that you\u2019re publishing a new page about protein powder.<\/p>\n<p>If you already have a blog post about protein shake recipes and another about high protein foods, then it would make sense to add internal links from those to your new&nbsp;page.<\/p>\n<p>There are two benefits to&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>They may help your new page get indexed faster.<\/li>\n<li>They will transfer <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-pagerank\/\">PageRank<\/a>&nbsp;to the new page, which may help it <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-rank-higher-on-google\/\">rank higher in the search results<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Now, if there are posts and pages on your website that don\u2019t have many or any internal links, then they\u2019re probably old or forgotten posts. These usually won\u2019t bring much traffic to your site or have much SEO value, so it\u2019s often worth deleting them.<\/p>\n<p>To find pages with few internal links, go to the Links report in Search Console. Click \u201cMore\u201d under the \u201cTop linked pages\u201d report under the \u201cInternal links\u201d subheader.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"690\" height=\"729\" class=\"wp-image-31524\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-internal-links.png\" alt=\"top internal links\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-internal-links.png 690w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/top-internal-links-402x425.png 402w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\"><\/p>\n<p>Sort the list by \u201cInternal links\u201d in ascending order to see \u201cforgotten\u201d pages.<\/p>\n<p>One of the first URLs that pops up for us is <code>\/seo-case-studies\/<\/code>, which has just three internal links.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"561\" height=\"97\" class=\"wp-image-31534\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/seo-case-studies-links.png\" alt=\"seo case studies links\"><\/p>\n<p>If we visit the page, we see that it was published back in September 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Because this isn\u2019t exactly in-line with what we publish on the blog today, it would make sense for us to delete this post or redirect it elsewhere. In which case, we\u2019d need to remove the few internal links that currently point to&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n<p>To do that, click the URL in the \u201cTop linked pages\u201d report to see which pages have internal links.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"592\" height=\"401\" class=\"wp-image-31541\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/internal-links-search-console.png\" alt=\"internal links search console\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">IMPORTANT<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>Don\u2019t delete pages on your site without making sure that they little or no organic traffic. To do that, go to the \u201cSearch results\u201d report in Search Console, filter for the URL, then check the total number of clicks.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"565\" height=\"204\" class=\"wp-image-31520\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/seo-case-studies-traffic.png\" alt=\"seo case studies traffic\"><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>If you find pages with few internal links that are worth keeping, then it would make sense to either:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Add more relevant internal links to&nbsp;them;<\/li>\n<li>Update the content and add more internal links where appropriate.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>For example, we recently published <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/what-are-backlinks\/\">a post explaining what backlinks are and why they\u2019re important<\/a>. But it looks like this page has only three internal links, so we could do with adding a few more where relevant.<\/p>\n<p>To do that, we can search Google for something like <code>site:ahrefs.com\/blog\/ \"backlinks\"<\/code>, which will return all the pages on our blog that mention the word \u201cbacklinks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"783\" height=\"274\" class=\"wp-image-31522\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/backlinks-site-search.png\" alt=\"backlinks site search\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/backlinks-site-search.png 783w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/backlinks-site-search-768x269.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/backlinks-site-search-680x238.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 783px) 100vw, 783px\"><\/p>\n<p>Because a lot of these will be relevant contextual internal linking opportunities, so all we need to do is visit the pages and add internal links where it makes&nbsp;sense.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"h.wk92m97zlbj8\">6. Update pages that are losing organic traffic<\/h3>\n<p>Most pages won\u2019t continue to get organic traffic forever because rankings tend to drop as they become outdated.<\/p>\n<p>But how do you find pages with diminishing traffic in Search Console?<\/p>\n<p>Go to the \u201cSearch results\u201d report, then add a date range comparison to see stats for the past six months compared to the previous six months.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"355\" height=\"331\" class=\"wp-image-31550\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/six-month-comparison.png\" alt=\"six month comparison\"><\/p>\n<p>For this, we only care about clicks, so let\u2019s toggle the \u201cimpressions\u201d data off to clean things up.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"591\" height=\"321\" class=\"wp-image-31566\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-impressions-off.gif\" alt=\"search console impressions off\"><\/p>\n<p>Click on \u201cPages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sort the report by Difference in ascending order to see the pages with the biggest traffic drops.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31616\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-difference-ascending.png\" alt width=\"870\" height=\"279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-difference-ascending.png 870w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-difference-ascending-768x246.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/search-console-difference-ascending-680x218.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\"><\/p>\n<p>For us, one page that immediately stands out is <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/free-online-marketing-courses\/\">our list of free online marketing courses<\/a>. This has received around 40% less organic traffic in the last six months compared to the previous period.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"107\" class=\"wp-image-31551\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/free-online-marketing-courses.png\" alt=\"free online marketing courses\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/free-online-marketing-courses.png 850w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/free-online-marketing-courses-768x97.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/free-online-marketing-courses-680x86.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\"><\/p>\n<p>If we click on the URL, then switch to the \u201cQueries\u201d report and sort by \u201cDifference,\u201d we can see which queries are sending us less traffic.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"756\" height=\"344\" class=\"wp-image-31533\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/free-online-marketing-courses-queries.png\" alt=\"free online marketing courses queries\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/free-online-marketing-courses-queries.png 756w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/free-online-marketing-courses-queries-680x309.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px\"><\/p>\n<p>Looking at this page in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Ahrefs\u2019 Site Explorer<\/a>, it becomes clear why traffic is dropping. Our rankings for these have been dropping like a stone over the past six months or&nbsp;so.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"744\" height=\"409\" class=\"wp-image-31531\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ranking-drop.png\" alt=\"ranking drop\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ranking-drop.png 744w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ranking-drop-680x374.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 744px) 100vw, 744px\"><\/p>\n<p>Given that we published this post in mid-2018 and new online marketing courses are released all the time, it\u2019s likely that Google is demoting us in the search results because our post is outdated.<\/p>\n<p>So it might be worth us updating this post to see if we can reclaim some of that traffic.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">IMPORTANT<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>Make sure to keep seasonality in mind when comparing six month periods like this. For example, if you have a post about Christmas trees, it would be perfectly reasonable to see lower traffic in the months from February to July than the six months prior for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h2 id=\"h.slj4hm74v2o5\">Final thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>Google Search Console is a powerful free tool that shows a lot of data and insights about your website. But that\u2019s its biggest limitation because SEO isn\u2019t a single-player game, it\u2019s multiplayer.<\/p>\n<p>Ranking in Google means competing against other websites for the top spot. If you don\u2019t understand the competitive landscape, there\u2019s no way of knowing where you fall short or what you should do to improve rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, it pays to combine insights from Google Search Console with those from a third-party competitive research tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/\">Ahrefs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Google Search Console tells us that we rank in position #6 on average for \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/301-redirects\/\">301 redirect<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"607\" height=\"100\" class=\"wp-image-31564\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/301-redirect-search-console.png\" alt=\"301 redirect search console\"><\/p>\n<p>It even tells us how many backlinks that page has from unique websites.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"582\" height=\"98\" class=\"wp-image-31546\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/linking-sites-301-redirect.png\" alt=\"linking sites 301 redirect\"><\/p>\n<p>But it can\u2019t tell us who\u2019s outranking us and why. Do they have more backlinks than us? Do they have tons of <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/website-authority-checker\">authority<\/a>? Are the pages on strong domains?<\/p>\n<p>If we look at this keyword in a tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer\">Ahrefs\u2019 Keywords Explorer<\/a>, we see that all the pages outranking us are on stronger domains and have way more backlinks from unique websites.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"760\" height=\"557\" class=\"wp-image-31548\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/serp-overview-301-redirect-ahrefs-keywords-explorer.png\" alt=\"serp overview 301 redirect ahrefs keywords explorer\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/serp-overview-301-redirect-ahrefs-keywords-explorer.png 760w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/serp-overview-301-redirect-ahrefs-keywords-explorer-580x425.png 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\"><\/p>\n<p>Now we have some ideas as to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-difficulty\/\">how difficult ranking for this keyword might be<\/a>, and that we likely need to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-get-backlinks\/\">get more backlinks<\/a>&nbsp;to compete.<\/p>\n<p>Got more questions about Google Search Console? Leave a comment or <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshuachardwick?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ping me on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While there\u2019s nothing wrong with looking at those things once in a while, they provide little value as standalone metrics. Translation: staring at them isn\u2019t going to improve SEO&nbsp;anytime soon. In this guide, you\u2019ll learn: What Google Search Console is<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":31571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[335],"tags":[],"coauthors":[336],"class_list":["post-31569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Use Google Search Console to Improve SEO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to use Google Search Console to improve your SEO today in 6 simple steps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-search-console\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Use Google Search Console to Improve SEO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how to use Google Search Console to improve your SEO.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-search-console\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-12T11:37:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-31T02:30:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" 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