The best way to do SEO yourself is to start with Google Search Console, a free tool that shows exactly how Google sees your website: which pages are indexed, which searches you appear for, and what’s broken. Set it up, submit your sitemap, learn to read three reports (Performance, URL Inspection, and Page indexing), and fix what they flag. That alone puts you ahead of many business owners who are guessing.
This beginner’s guide walks you through each step in order, including Bing Webmaster Tools, and ends with the first fixes worth making.
Step 1: Set Up Google Search Console
Go to the Search Console site (search “Google Search Console” and sign in with a Google account you’ll keep long term, ideally a business account rather than a personal one).
Choose a property type
- Domain property covers every version of your site: http, https, www, non-www, and subdomains. It requires adding a DNS record through your domain registrar. This is the better choice if you can access your DNS settings.
- URL-prefix property covers one exact version, like https://www.example.com/. You can verify it with an HTML file, a meta tag, Google Analytics, or Google Tag Manager. It’s easier if DNS access is a hassle.
Once verified, data starts collecting. Some reports show historical data right away; others fill in over the following days.
Add other users safely
If a web designer or agency needs access, add them as a user under Settings rather than sharing your login. You keep ownership and can remove access anytime.
Step 2: Add Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing powers its own search results and feeds data to other services, including some AI assistants. Bing Webmaster Tools lets you import your verified sites directly from Search Console in a couple of clicks, so there’s no reason to skip it. It offers similar reports plus its own SEO scan.
Step 3: Submit Your XML Sitemap
Your sitemap is a file listing the pages you want search engines to find. Most WordPress SEO plugins create one automatically, often at /sitemap_index.xml or /sitemap.xml. Platforms like Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify generate one too.
- Open your sitemap URL in a browser to confirm it loads.
- In Search Console, go to Sitemaps, paste the sitemap address, and click Submit.
- Check back in a few days. The status should say “Success,” with a count of discovered pages.
Do the same in Bing Webmaster Tools.
Step 4: Read the Performance Report
The Performance report shows how your site appears in Google Search. Set the date range to the last three months to start.
The four numbers
- Clicks: how many times someone clicked through to your site.
- Impressions: how many times your pages appeared in results, even if nobody scrolled to see them.
- CTR (click-through rate): clicks divided by impressions.
- Average position: your average ranking for those impressions.
Use the tabs
The Queries tab lists the searches that triggered your pages. The Pages tab shows which pages earn the most visibility. Click a query, then switch to Pages, to see which page ranks for it.
What to look for as a beginner
- Queries with high impressions and low CTR. You’re showing up but not getting clicked. A clearer title tag may help.
- Queries where your average position is roughly 8 to 20. You’re close to page one. Improving that page’s content can move it up.
- Surprising queries. A mobile dog groomer might discover people find them for “cat grooming at home.” That’s a content opportunity.
Step 5: Use the URL Inspection Tool
Paste any URL from your site into the search bar at the top of Search Console. URL Inspection tells you:
- Whether the page is indexed.
- When Google last crawled it.
- Which URL Google chose as the canonical version.
- Whether Google detected valid structured data, such as breadcrumbs or FAQ markup.
Click “Test live URL” to see how Google renders the current version. If you’ve just published or significantly updated a page, you can click “Request indexing” to ask Google to recrawl it. There’s a daily limit, and requesting doesn’t guarantee indexing, so save it for important pages.
Step 6: Understand the Page Indexing Report
Under Indexing, then Pages, you’ll see how many of your URLs are indexed and a list of reasons others aren’t. Many reasons are normal. Here are the common ones and what they mean:
| Status | What it means | Should you worry? |
|---|---|---|
| Page with redirect | The URL redirects elsewhere | Usually no |
| Alternate page with proper canonical tag | A duplicate pointing to the main version | Usually no |
| Excluded by “noindex” tag | The page tells Google not to index it | Only if it’s a page you want found |
| Not found (404) | The page doesn’t exist | If it had links or traffic, redirect it |
| Discovered, currently not indexed | Google knows the URL but hasn’t crawled it yet | Check internal links and site quality |
| Crawled, currently not indexed | Google crawled the page and chose not to index it | Yes, for important pages |
About “Crawled, currently not indexed”
This one confuses many owners. It means there’s no technical block; Google simply decided the page wasn’t worth adding right now. Common causes include thin content, near-duplicate pages (like city pages with only the name changed), and pages that add little beyond what’s already on your site or elsewhere. The fix is usually to make the page more substantial and useful, merge it with a similar page, or link to it more prominently from relevant pages. Repeatedly requesting indexing without improving the page rarely helps.
Step 7: Your First Fixes
- Remove accidental noindex tags from pages you want found. A common culprit is a “discourage search engines” setting left on after a site launch.
- Redirect important 404s to the closest relevant page.
- Rewrite title tags on pages with high impressions and low CTR so they clearly describe the page and include the search phrase.
- Strengthen thin pages flagged as crawled but not indexed, or consolidate them.
- Link to key pages from your homepage and navigation so Google sees them as important.
Search Console tells you about search visibility, but not what visitors do once they arrive. For that side, pair it with Google Analytics 4, covered in our post on measuring website traffic with GA4. And if some of these terms are new, our plain-English explanation of SEO covers the fundamentals.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I check Search Console?
A quick look weekly is plenty for most small businesses, with a deeper review monthly. Google also emails you when it detects significant new issues, so make sure those notifications go to an inbox you read.
Why don’t Search Console clicks match my analytics visits?
They measure different things. Search Console counts clicks from Google Search results, while analytics counts sessions from all sources and may miss visitors who block tracking. Expect the numbers to differ.
Is DIY SEO enough for a small business?
For many local businesses, the basics in this guide plus a strong Google Business Profile go a long way. Help becomes valuable when technical issues are beyond your comfort level, or when competition is stiff enough that you need more pages, links, and ongoing work than you have time for.
Learn the Tool, Then Decide What to Delegate
Even if you eventually hire help, knowing how to read Search Console means you can ask better questions and spot problems early. Start with these reports, make the first fixes, and watch what changes over a few weeks. When you’re ready to go further than DIY allows, our SEO services pick up from the same reports you’ve just learned, so you’ll always understand what’s being done and why.