What is the difference between Google Analytics and Google Search Console?

These two Google tools are complementary but answer different questions. Google Analytics tells you what happens ONCE the visitor has arrived on your site: how many pages they visit, how long they stay, where they come from (country, device), and if they convert (purchase, form, call). Google Search Console tells you how the visitor FOUND you before clicking: on what exact keyword, at what position in the results, and if Google displays your pages correctly in its results. The fundamental difference: Analytics is interested in post-click, Search Console is interested in pre-click. Both are free and complement each other perfectly. My advice: install Search Console first (it tells you if your pages are indexed), then Analytics (to understand what visitors do once there). A site without Search Console flies blind on its Google visibility; a site without Analytics flies blind on the visitor experience.

Do you need technical skills to use Google Search Console?

No, no technical skills are required to use Google Search Console. The installation itself is simple: Google offers several property verification methods, of which the fastest is via Google Analytics (if you already use it, verification is instantaneous). Otherwise, an HTML tag to copy into the header of your site — your developer or even your host can do it in 30 seconds. Once installed, the interface is designed to be accessible to non-techies: the main reports read in two clics. The Performance report lists your keywords, clics, impressions, and positions. The Indexation > Pages report shows you indexed pages and those posing problems. There is no code to write, no SQL query, no development knowledge needed. Bounce rates, Core Web Vitals, and SEO concepts are explained in the interface itself. If you know how to read an Excel sheet, you know how to read the Search Console.

Does Google Search Console work with AI and ChatGPT?

Partially. Google Search Console integrated in June 2026 a dedicated report for AI Overviews — the AI summaries Google generates at the top of its search results. This report shows you how many times your site is cited in these summaries, for which queries, and what the click-through rate is from these AI displays. This is a major evolution because it is the first time Google gives official visibility on traffic generated by AI in its own results. On the other hand, Search Console does not yet distinguish traffic coming from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, or other AI engines — these visits are classified as 'direct traffic' in Google Analytics. This is a blind spot that must be monitored with other tools. The AI Overviews report is an important first step: it recognizes that AI Search is no longer a parallel experience but an integral part of search. If you want to know if your site is cited in ChatGPT, you must go through other methods.

Is Google Search Console free? And what is it for?

The essentials: Google Search Console is Google’s free tool to understand how your site appears in its results. It tells you which keywords you are found on, which pages are posing problems, and what you need to correct to be more visible. No credit card, no subscription, no trap.

What you will learn:

Why Google Search Console is totally free (and will remain so)
Concretely what it is used for on your SMB website
How to know which keywords you are found on
How to check that your pages are in Google’s results
What relation to AI and ChatGPT
Where to start, step by step

Before continuing: you have a website and you do not know if it appears in Google. You may have heard of “Search Console” without understanding what it is. This article is for you. If you don’t have a site yet, read instead how much a website actually costs.

Published on June 18, 2026 ”¢ Updated on June 18, 2026

You have a site. You type the name of your business on Google. It doesn’t appear. Or it is on page 5, where no one ever goes.

The first question I’m asked in this case is often: “Do you have to pay to be on Google?”

No. Not to appear in organic results. But Google still has to understand your site. And that’s where a tool I use every week for the SMBs I support comes in.

It is called Google Search Console. It is free. And it tells you exactly what Google thinks of your site.

The problem: most SMB leaders do not know this tool exists, or think it is paid, or think they need to be a developer to use it.

The solution: this article explains what Google Search Console is, why it is free, what it is really used for, and how to start in 10 minutes.

La preuve : I use Search Console daily to audit the sites of the SMBs I support. It is the first thing I open when analyzing a site, even before looking at the site itself. Because what Google sees is often very different from what you see.

Is Google Search Console paid?

No. Google Search Console is completely free.

No trial version that expires after 30 days. No features blocked behind a payment. No “request a quote”. It is free, period.

You can use it for one site, for ten sites, for a hundred sites. Google will never ask you for a credit card.

Why does Google offer such a tool? Because its business depends on the quality of its search results. The more sites are well structured and understandable, the better Google can index and display them to the right people. Search Console is Google telling you: “Here is how I see your site, here is what is wrong, fix it and everyone wins.”

What I learned in the field: when I tell an SMB leader that Search Console is free, there is always a moment of hesitation. “Free? Coming from Google?” Yes. I use it every week and I have never paid a penny. The only thing it costs you is the time to install it and look at reports from time to time.

What you might believe	The reality
”You have to pay to be on Google”	No. Organic results are free.
”Search Console is for experts”	No. The main reports read in 2 clics.
”It’s a free trial, then paid”	No. No paid version exists.
”Google will spam me after”	No. You only receive useful alerts (indexation issue, manual action).

What is Google Search Console used for concretely?

Search Console is the dashboard Google places at your disposal to understand how your site is seen by its search engine. Here is what it shows you, concretely.

Your site’s performance in Google

How many times your site appeared in the results (impressions), how many times it was clicked (clics), and the average position. For each page. For each keyword. Over the last 16 months.

Here you discover that your site appears for keywords you had never thought of. Or that the page you spent three hours on receives no visits.

Pages posing problems

Google crawls your site constantly. When it hits a page that does not load (404 error), is blocked by mistake, or takes too long to display, it reports it to you. Search Console lists all these errors, page by page.

For an SMB, this is often the first time these problems are detected. Most sites I audit have between 5 and 50 crawl errors their owner knew nothing about.

Keywords bringing you traffic

The “Performance” report lists the exact queries people type into Google before arriving on your site. You see the keyword, clics, impressions, and average position.

Tip: filter by the last 7 days, sort by descending clics. The first 10 keywords give you an immediate idea of your real positioning, without any paid tool.

Backlinks — who links to you

Google shows you the sites pointing to yours, and which pages are most linked. This is free and usable immediately. Most paid SEO tools charge for this feature.

AI and rich results tracking

Since June 2026, Google Search Console integrates a report dedicated to AI Overviews: how many times your site is cited in Google’s AI summaries, for which queries, and with what click-through rate. It is the only free tool that gives you this information.

How does Search Console help me know which keywords I am found on?

This is the question I receive most. And it is the most powerful feature of Search Console.

Go to Performance > Search results. You see a table with four columns: Clics, Impressions, CTR, Position.

Filter by “Queries” and you get the list of all keywords for which Google displays your site. Not the ones you would like to target — the ones for which you are actually found.

Filter to apply	What you discover
Position between 8 and 20	Keywords where you are almost on the first page — the easiest to improve
CTR under 3%	Pages Google shows but no one clicks on — title problem
Impressions > 100	Queries with real volume, not anecdotal keywords
Queries filtered by specific page	Which keywords bring traffic to ONE specific page

What I learned in the field: one of my clients thought his site was found on “landscaper Toulouse”. Search Console showed me he actually received traffic on “landscaper contemporary garden creation Haute-Garonne”. These long-tail keywords are a gold mine: less competition, stronger buying intent. Without Search Console, we would never have identified them.

In this report, I also apply the “low-hanging fruits” method: identifying pages already in position 10-30 (so Google already likes them a bit), and optimizing them slightly to get them to the first page. I saw a site go from 300 to 2,800 visits in 4 months with this approach — solely by exploiting Search Console data, without creating a single new page.

If you discover your site is found on unexpected keywords but you are still not satisfied with your overall visibility, I wrote a complete guide to diagnose an invisible site that starts exactly where Search Console brings you.

How to check that my pages are in Google’s results?

Go to Indexation > Pages. This report shows you, for each page of your site, whether it is indexed (in Google’s results) or not — and why.

The statuses you will see:

Indexed page: it appears in Google results. Good.
Not indexed page: Google saw it but decided not to include it. The report tells you why (redirection, 404 error, noindex tag, different canonical page”¦).
Crawled - currently not indexed: Google read it, found it decent, but did not keep it. Often because its content is too poor.
Crawl error: Google failed to read the page (server problem, page not found).

For an SMB, the most concrete step is this:

Open the Indexation > Pages report
Locate “Not indexed” pages and “Crawl errors”
For each error, read the reason given by Google
404 errors: either restore the page, or redirect it to an existing page
“crawled - currently not indexed” pages: enrich them with more substantial content

You can also test a specific URL with the URL Inspection tool at the top of the menu. Paste your page address, and Google tells you instantly if it is indexed, when it was last crawled, and which version Google considers the official page.

What relation between Search Console, AI, and ChatGPT?

The question is more and more frequent, and it is normal: Google’s AI summaries (AI Overviews) cannibalize a portion of organic traffic.

Since June 2026, Google Search Console integrates a dedicated report for AI performance. It shows you:

How many times your site appears in AI Overviews
For which queries it is cited
The click-through rate from these AI summaries to your site

This is valuable because AI Overviews do not behave like classic results. A page that is first in classic SEO is not necessarily cited in the AI summary — and vice versa.

What GSC tracks	What GSC does not track yet
Apparitions in Google AI Overviews	Citations in ChatGPT
Clics from Google AI summaries	Traffic coming from Perplexity
Queries triggering AI Overviews	Apparitions in Bing Copilot

For traffic coming from ChatGPT or Perplexity, you will see nothing in Search Console today — these visits generally appear as “direct traffic” in Google Analytics. This is a blind spot, but GSC’s AI Overviews report is an important first step in the right direction. If this subject interests you, I detailed how to make your brand appear in ChatGPT and AI engines for SMBs wanting to go beyond Google.

“The integration of AI reports in Search Console is Google’s recognition that AI Search is no longer a parallel experience — it is part of search altogether.”
— Brodie Clark, SEO consultant, author of the tracking experiment of AI Overviews in GSC

Where to start with Google Search Console?

Here is how to install and use Search Console step by step. Count 10 minutes for installation, and 15 minutes for the first exploration.

1. Create your account and add your site

Go to search.google.com/search-console. Connect with your Google account (the same as for Gmail or Google Maps, you surely have one).

Click on Add property, enter your site address (with https://), and choose the verification method:

Via your host / Google account: if you already use Google Analytics, verification is instantaneous
Via an HTML tag: copy a line of code provided by Google into your site’s header
Via your DNS file: add a TXT record at your registrar or host

Verification by Google Analytics is the fastest if you already use it. Otherwise, ask the person who manages your site to copy the HTML tag — it takes 30 seconds.

2. Wait for the first data to arrive

Once verified, Google starts collecting data immediately. You will see the first numbers appear within 24 to 48 hours. Historical data (up to 16 months back) fills in progressively.

3. The 3 reports to check first

Performance: check which keywords you are found on. Note the surprises.
Indexation > Pages: verify that your important pages are indexed. Spot the errors.
URL Inspection: test your homepage and key pages to see if Google reads them correctly.

4. Configure email alerts

In settings, activate email notifications. Google will automatically warn you if your site encounters a serious problem (brutal traffic drop, security issue, manual action). It is free and you will be the first informed.

#	Action	Done?
1	Create Search Console account and add site	☐
2	Verify that my main pages are indexed (Indexation > Pages)	☐
3	Look at first 10 keywords in Performance	☐
4	Activate email alerts in settings	☐
5	Return in a month to see evolution	☐

Interpret your score:

0-1: Your site is invisible to yourself. Install Search Console today — it takes 10 minutes.
2-3: You have the bases. Go as far as email alerts, that’s what protects you from bad surprises.
4-5: You have a dashboard. Return to it once a month to monitor the trend.

Key Takeaways

Google Search Console is free — no trap, no trial, no paid version. It is Google’s official tool.
It shows you what Google sees — which keywords, which pages, which errors. Without it, you are blind.
It takes only 10 minutes to install — and the main reports read without technical skills.
It is your best ally if you want to be found on Google — before investing in an SEO provider, start there. You will know what you are talking about.

If your site is online and you have never opened Search Console, you are flying blind. The good news is, it is corrected in 10 minutes.

To go further

My website does not appear on Google: where to start? — the complete guide to diagnose an invisible site
My website and Google profile are online… but I still have zero clients. Why? — when the problem is not technical but strategic
How to make my brand appear in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI engines — the natural extension after mastering GSC

The first Search Console report you open will teach you more about your site than six months of hypotheses.