Search engine optimization is not a one-time task, but an ongoing process. As your site grows and Google’s algorithm evolves, inevitable SEO issues will likely occur.
Fortunately, Google Search Console will identify many of these, which represent opportunities to improve your organic rankings.
Duplicate pages
Duplicate pages split link authority, meaning both pages have less chance of ranking. Duplicate content is common on most sites for legitimate reasons. But you can negate the problem by:
Using redirects or canonical tags to point Google to the URL you want to rank for, link internally only to the canonical URL, including only the canonical version in your sitemap.
Search Console identifies (in its “Pages” section) duplicate pages that have internal backlinks, noting “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” or “Duplicate, Google chose a different canonical than the user.”
The Search Console Pages section lists duplicates. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Clicking on any item in the report will take you to a list of URLs that are linked internally (or in the sitemap) but not indexed by Google. Use the “Inspect URL” link on the right to find out which page Google is indexing and which page is linking to the duplicate.
Once you fix the errors, please update and resubmit your sitemap to force Google to do so recognize the changes faster.
Keyword opportunities
Keyword research tools help discover targeted search queries, for example, on your product and category landing pages. But your competitors have access to the same tools.
What competitors don’t have is your Search Console data, which often includes queries you don’t know about, a competitive advantage.
However, these queries may not generate traffic if you haven’t optimized them. A small adjustment to the page will sometimes make all the difference. For example, you can include a section on a page that addresses the query topic or answers a related question. Alternatively, the queries could inspire a whole new page.
To find lower performing searches, go to the “Performance” section and filter (using the funnel on the right) for queries that rank on the first page of search results, where the “Position” is lower at 11
Find underperforming search queries in the ‘Performance’ section and filter by ‘Position’.
Then sort by “Position” to see the keywords with the lowest average ranking in the top 10 results. Look for queries with a decent impression count, which indicates good search volume.
See the lowest ranking keywords in the top 10 results and analyze the number of impressions to gauge search volume. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Note that an average position between 7 and 10 with a good amount of clicks indicates that users are not satisfied with the top six results, which represents a great opportunity.
Try this report to see the top 10 rankings page by page or with a common modifier. To do this, use the filters at the top of the chart.
Access the performance report to see the top 10 rankings page by page or with a common modifier. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Poor clicks
You have worked hard to achieve first page positions in Google. But that effort is wasted if searchers don’t click on your listings.
In the Performance > Search Results report, set the filter on the right “Position” to “Less than 5” to see the queries where your page ranks in the top five. Then create another filter to see all queries with “Impressions” greater than 100.
Then sort the report by click-through rate to see the queries with the lowest rate at the top.
You can now search these queries to investigate why users aren’t clicking on the listing. For example, the listing may look outdated, or your competitor’s listings are enriched with additional details.
Don’t forget to review both mobile and desktop search results pages in your analysis, as they are often different.
Sort the report by click-through rate to see the queries with the lowest rate at the top. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Rich snippets fail
The “Enhancements” section of Search Console lists all qualified rich snippets. There’s no guarantee that a snippet will always appear “enhanced” (ie, rich) if it appears in this report, but the chances are pretty good.
You will see Enhancements only if you have structured data (eg Schema.org) in your pages.
This section shows if your structured data code is missing something and how your snippets can be improved.
Check your Improvements reports quarterly to make sure you’re not losing traffic to small things with quick fixes. Google will not list these as errors and therefore will not notify you of these opportunities by email.
See the Improvements report to discover structured data that needs improvement. Click on the image to enlarge it.
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