Google Search Console is a free service that helps website owners monitor their indexing status, optimise pages to get more clicks, see which external domains are linking to them and much more.
However, there is a misconception that you can’t connect a Wix website to Google Search Console. While it’s true that you can’t connect to a free Wix website (one hosted on the Wix domain) to Google Search Console, nothing is stopping you from connecting a premium Wix website (one hosted on your own domain, either registered through Wix or via your own third party domain registrar).
So in this blog post, we are going to explore what Google Search Console is, why you should use it, and most importantly how to connect your Wix website to share data with this important service.
What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is a free service that allows website owners to monitor, maintain and troubleshoot their web presence.
The console dashboard allows website owners to better understand how Google sees their website. This information can then be used to analyse click-through rates, optimise content for various devices and control how often Google crawls their website.
Website owners can also be alerted about issues that Google has identified which may result in the website not appearing in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). So if you are not using Google Search Console to optimise your Wix website, you should be.
Benefits of connecting your Wix website to Google Search Console
Submit a sitemap
A sitemap allows the Google search bot to index pages on your website which cannot be easily found through standard navigation. So if your website has a lot of pages, submitting a sitemap can help ensure all pages are indexed.
Control how and when Googlebot crawls your website
Google Search Console allows you to control how often Googlebot crawls your website. For example, a website updated daily should be crawled every 24 hours, while a website updated less frequently should be crawled weekly or monthly.
Shows links to your website from external domains
Links from external domains remain an important ranking factor. Google Search Console allows you to see at a glance which websites are linking to you. You can then contact their editor with a thank you note and maybe look to work together on new content.
Highlights links that Google couldn't crawl
Google highlights the pages the bot couldn’t crawl. While sometimes you don’t want the Google Bot crawling a page, there may be times when the pages robots.txt file is set to not crawl by accident. So it is wise to always check these pages.
See what search phrases people are using to visit your site
Google highlights the phrases that led to your website showing up in SERPs. The associated click-through rates of each phrase are also shown allowing you to further optimise your website content.
Allows you to set a preferred domain eg; wixseoguy.com vs www.wixseoguy.com
It is good practice to set a prefered domain in Google Search Console to avoid duplicate content issues. Wix automatically sets your domain to use the www. by default but this can be changed to https://wixseoguy.com in the Manage DNS tab.
Receive notifications from Google about issues found on your Wix website
Googles search bot sometimes finds critical issues with websites that can result in your website being removed from SERPs, so you must act on any issues found quickly. These notifications can be easily found in Google Search Console.
Set up Rich Cards
Rich cards are a new mobile optimised search results format released by Google. They essentially provide a small preview of your page on the search results pages. When used correctly they can significantly increase click-through rates.
How to connect your Wix website to Google Search Console
Before you can connect your Wix website to Google Search Console you must first verify that you own the domain. Once this step is completed you can set up your Wix website on the platform.
Step 1: Sign-up to Google Search Console and download a meta tag
Sign-up to Google Search Console.
Enter your full URL eg: https://www.wixseoguy.com.
Click continue.
Click to expand “Add a meta tag to your site's home page”.
Copy the highlighted meta tag code.
Leave this page open.
Step 2: Insert the Meta tag into your Wix website
Go to your Wix website dashboard and click the SEO tools tab.
Click the site verification button.
Expand the Google Search Console box.
Insert the meta tag code copied in step one.
Click Save.
Step 3: Complete website verification
Next, return to Google Search Console and click the verify button. Google will now check the meta code has been successfully added to your Wix website.
Set up your Wix website in Google Search Console
Once you have successfully connected your Wix website to Google Search Console you need to add your sitemap and submit your robot.txt file.
Step 1: Submit your robot.txt file
In the Search Console Dashboard click Crawl.
Robots.txt tester.
Enter www.wixseoguy.com/robots.txt (changing 'wixseoguy.com' with your own actual domain name) into the text box.
Click verify.
Step 2: Add a sitemap
In the Google Search Console dashboard, click Add/Test Sitemap.
Enter “sitemap.xml” into the text box and click the Test button.
If the sitemap is found click the submit sitemap button.
Note: Wix automatically creates a sitemap, so if Google can’t find one make sure you entered the text correctly.
And that’s it, you’re done. You now have the full power of Google Search Console at your fingertips. Data is updated daily so you may have to wait a few hours before you start seeing data.
Need help getting traffic to your Wix website?
Connecting your website to Google Search Console is not a magic bullet, you won’t see web traffic increase overnight. The service is simply a tool to help website owners monitor how their website is performing and is Googles way of letting you know if they found anything wrong whilst crawling through your website.
To get the best out of Google Search Console you need to act on the information it provides. If you do not understand what the errors within Google Search Console mean or you are not sure how to fix them, take a look at our Advanced Wix SEO Training where you can have 1-2-1 personalised training sessions with the WiX SEO Guy himself.