Google Search Console is the only place Google will tell you, directly, what people typed into the search bar before they found your website. It shows you which searches you appear for, which ones people actually click, and whether Google is having any trouble reading your site. It is free, it takes about fifteen minutes to set up, and no serious practice website should run without it.
What Search Console Does (and What It Doesn't)
Think of it as Google's report card for your website. It answers questions like: Am I showing up when someone searches "estate planning attorney in Omaha"? How often do people click when they see me? Are all my pages actually in Google's index?
It does not track what visitors do once they land on your site. That job belongs to Google Analytics. The two tools answer different questions: Search Console tells you how people find you, Analytics tells you what they do after they arrive.
Setting It Up, Step by Step
You need a Google account and access to your domain. If you bought your domain yourself, you have everything required.
Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your Google account. Use the same account you use (or plan to use) for your Google Business Profile and Google Analytics. Keeping everything under one account saves you real headaches later.
Click Add property and choose the Domain option, then enter your domain exactly as it appears in your address bar, without "www" or "https". For example: smithlawomaha.com
The Domain option covers every version of your site at once (www and non-www, http and https), which is what you want.
Google will show you a short code called a TXT record and ask you to add it to your domain's DNS settings. DNS lives wherever you manage your domain, usually the company you bought it from.
- Copy the TXT record Google shows you.
- Log in to your domain provider, find DNS settings or DNS records, and add a new TXT record with that value.
- Return to Search Console and click Verify. DNS changes can take a few minutes to a few hours, so if it fails at first, wait and try again.
A sitemap is a file that lists every page on your site so Google doesn't have to guess. In Search Console, open Sitemaps in the left menu and submit: yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
Every SmashWebs site generates this file automatically and keeps it updated as your pages change, so there is nothing to build or maintain.
Search data takes two to three days to start appearing. When it does, the Performance report becomes the one screen worth checking: it lists the actual search phrases people used, how many times you appeared, and how many clicked.
The Three Numbers Worth Watching
- Impressions: how often your site appeared in search results. This is your visibility. Growing impressions mean Google is showing you to more people.
- Clicks: how often someone actually chose you. If impressions are high but clicks are low, your page titles and descriptions may not be earning the click.
- Queries: the exact phrases people searched. This is the goldmine. If clients are finding you through "small business accountant near me," you know exactly what language belongs on your homepage.
Check once a week for five minutes, the same cadence we recommend in our plain-English analytics guide. Look for trends over weeks, not day-to-day wiggles.
Seeing It All Inside SmashWebs
If your site runs on SmashWebs, you don't have to learn Google's dashboard to get the value. Open Analytics in your SmashWebs dashboard and click Connect Google. One sign-in connects Search Console, Google Analytics, and your Google Business Profile at the same time.
SmashWebs finds your verified site automatically and turns the raw data into a short written summary: which searches brought people in this week, what changed, and what it means for your practice. No charts to decode, no tabs to hunt through.