Google Search Console terms, explained.

For example, a plumber who has never opened Search Console can still be sent a report built from it. If they want to look, they are added as a user on their own property and see exactly what we see.

For example, if your site has moved from http to https and added a blog on a subdomain, a domain property still shows all of it together. A narrower property would miss the old and the new versions.

For example, if the property was added as https://yourbusiness.co.uk/ and Google mostly shows the www version, the figures can look much smaller than reality. Nothing is broken, the property is simply looking at one of several versions.

For example, a web agency rebuilds a client's site and deletes the old verification tag along with other old code. A month later the owner finds Search Console asking them to verify again.

For example, the business owner is the verified owner, their office manager is a restricted user who just wants to see the figures, and we are a full user who can run the checks that go into the report.

For example, if you want to be sure your previous agency can no longer control your property, it is not enough to remove them as a user. If they verified it themselves, their tag or record also has to come off the website.

For example, a roofer opens it and sees 1,200 clicks and 40,000 impressions for the last three months. The same figures are in the report we send, just explained and compared with the previous period.

For example, a photographer may see very few clicks under Web but a good number under Image, because people find their work through image searches rather than ordinary ones.

For example, an accountant may find that people reach them by searching for "self assessment help Leeds" far more than the phrase on their main page, "personal tax services". That tells us which words to use.

For example, a dentist's blog post about wisdom teeth may bring in more clicks than the treatments page. That tells us the blog post is worth strengthening and linking onwards to the service page.

For example, a Cape Town electrician sees 30 per cent of impressions from the United States. They are not customers, so we filter to South Africa before judging whether visibility is growing.

For example, a bakery with product markup on its cake pages may see a Product results line here. A bakery without it will see nothing, and that is the cue to look at what extra detail could be added.

For example, comparing this October with last October for one service page shows whether a dip in clicks is the website's doing or just the normal seasonal pattern for that service.

For example, an owner sees the line drop sharply on the right-hand edge of the chart and worries. A look at it two days later shows the same days are back at their usual level.

For example, a solicitor sees 900 clicks in the chart but only 760 across the listed queries. The other 140 came from rare, one-off searches that Google does not name.

For example, the chart says 2,310 clicks and the Pages table adds up to 2,290. The gap is small and expected, and it does not mean either one is wrong.

For example, a business wants to prove its search traffic was higher in 2023 before a redesign. If nobody saved the figures at the time, Search Console can no longer show them.

For example, a florist called Rossi Florists sees 'rossi florists' counted as branded and 'wedding flowers Bristol' counted as not. If a search that is clearly about the florist is listed as non-branded, we note it in the report.

For example, a site with 80 pages might show 55 indexed and 25 not indexed. If the 25 are old tag pages, filtered shop pages and redirects, that is healthy. If they include your main service pages, that is the issue to fix.

For example, a tiling company has ten near-identical area pages that differ only in the town name. Google may store two and leave the rest as Crawled - currently not indexed, until each is given something genuinely local to say.

For example, a new service page is listed in the sitemap but not linked from the menu. A month later it is still waiting, until a link from the home page is added.

For example, a shop sells a jumper in four colours and each colour has its own address. Google picks one and lists the other three under this label. That is acceptable unless it picked a colour you stopped selling.

For example, a page says its real version is the address without a trailing slash, but every link on the site uses the one with. Google follows the links and ignores the tag.

For example, a page reached through a tracking link such as ?utm_source=newsletter correctly names the normal address as its main version. The tracking one shows up here, which is exactly right.

For example, a new website goes live with a setting that asks search engines not to index it, left over from the build. Weeks later the service pages are still listed under this label, and the business wonders why it has no enquiries from Google.

For example, a developer blocks the whole /shop/ folder while building it and forgets to lift the block at launch. Every product page then shows this label.

For example, a private price list is blocked by the robots file but linked from a supplier's site. It appears in Google as a bare address with no description, which is the opposite of what was wanted.

For example, a shop keeps the page for an out-of-stock range live, showing only the words "No products found". Google files it as a Soft 404.

For example, after moving to shorter web addresses, a business sees its 40 old addresses listed under this label. That confirms the redirects are working.

For example, a builder renames its extensions page and forgets the redirect. The old address, which a local magazine links to, now shows as Not found (404).

For example, a business removes a stray noindex from 14 pages and presses Validate fix. A fortnight later a notification confirms the fix worked, and the pages start returning to the Indexed list.

For example, a sitemap showing 120 discovered pages for a site with 40 real ones tells us it is listing old, removed or duplicate pages, which is worth tidying.

For example, a client asks why their new offers page is not on Google. A quick inspection shows it was found but never visited, so the next step is to link to it, not to rewrite it.

For example, after removing an accidental noindex, a live test confirms Google no longer sees it. That is worth knowing before waiting weeks to see if anything changes.

For example, after publishing a new service page we request indexing once. If it is still not stored after a few weeks, the fix is links and content, not more clicks on the button.

For example, a group of product pages is marked Poor on mobile because the largest image takes four seconds to appear. The group will take a few weeks to turn green after the image is fixed, as new visits replace old ones.

For example, a page loading its main image in 2.2 seconds is Good for loading. At 3.5 seconds it would be Need improvement, and over 4 seconds, Poor.

For example, a few older blog posts still link to images using the insecure form of the address. The report lists those pages, and the fix is to update the image links.

For example, a bakery's Product report shows 12 valid pages and 3 with errors. The three are missing a price, so they cannot show it in the search result until it is added.

For example, if a guide tells you to check the Mobile Usability report and you cannot find it, nothing is broken with your account. It has simply been removed.

For example, a business that bought a package of links years ago finds a manual action listed. Until the links are removed and Google reviews the site, search work will have little effect.

For example, a garage's website begins appearing for unrelated medication searches under its own name. The pages were injected by a hacker, and the owner only learned of it from this report.

For example, the report shows a local newspaper and a trade association among the top linking sites. That is a good sign, and tells us which kind of site is worth approaching for more.

For example, a price list with the wrong prices goes live by mistake. A temporary removal hides it from search the same day while the website is corrected.

For example, an owner opens Insights and sees that one blog post is trending up. They can then ask us whether it is worth building a service page around the same topic.