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Your direct line to how Google sees your site. Performance reports show actual clicks, impressions, CTR, and position data. Index Coverage shows what's indexed and why pages are excluded. URL Inspection lets you see exactly how Googlebot renders any page.

Deploy and manage marketing tags without touching code. Essential for analytics, conversion tracking, and any third-party scripts. Server-side GTM available for better performance and privacy.

The industry standard for web analytics. GA4 is event-based, integrates with GSC, and handles cross-device tracking. The learning curve is real, but it's free and comprehensive. Connect it to Search Console for the full picture.

If you have a physical location or serve local customers, this is your local SEO foundation. Powers your Maps listing, local pack rankings, and provides direct engagement features. Unclaimed GBP = leaving money on the table.

Relative search interest over time. Doesn't give you volume numbers, but shows seasonality, rising trends, and regional interest. Essential for understanding if a topic is growing or dying. Compare terms to see which variant people actually search for.

Free dashboarding that connects directly to GSC, GA4, and other Google products. Build client reports, internal dashboards, and automated tracking. Steep learning curve, but the output is professional and it's actually free.

Shows both lab data (Lighthouse) and field data (CrUX) for Core Web Vitals. The field data is what actually matters for rankings since that's what Google uses. Don't chase perfect scores - focus on passing Core Web Vitals thresholds.

Validates your structured data and shows if you're eligible for rich results. More practical than the Schema.org validator because it tells you what Google actually supports. Test before deploying schema changes.

Quick check for mobile rendering issues. Less critical now that mobile-first indexing is standard, but useful for debugging specific mobile rendering problems. URL Inspection in GSC shows similar info.

Programmatic access to URL Inspection data. For developers building SEO tools or automating index status checks at scale. Most SEOs won't need this directly.

The hub for all Google search documentation. Blog posts, documentation, guidelines, and updates. Subscribe to the blog and you'll know about changes before most SEO news sites report them.

The 170+ page document Google gives to human raters. Not a ranking algorithm, but shows what Google considers quality. E-E-A-T, YMYL, and page quality concepts all come from here. Read it once cover to cover, reference it often.

Google's official beginner guide. Good for sharing with clients or developers who need SEO fundamentals. Nothing groundbreaking for experienced SEOs, but useful reference for "what does Google actually say?"

Official changelog of algorithm updates and ranking system changes. When your traffic drops, check here first before panicking about penalties. Most "penalties" are just algorithm updates affecting your niche.

Real-time status of Google Search systems. When indexing seems broken or you see weird SERP behavior, check if there's a known issue before assuming it's your site.

Official documentation on mobile-first indexing. Most sites are already on mobile-first, but reference this if you're diagnosing content parity issues between mobile and desktop.

How to optimize for Google Images. Covers alt text, image sitemaps, responsive images, and the ImageObject schema. Image SEO is underutilized - significant traffic opportunity for visual content.

How to appear in Google Discover (the mobile feed). Requires high-quality images, engaging content, and E-E-A-T signals. Can drive significant traffic for publishers. Very different optimization than traditional search.

Hreflang implementation, country/language targeting, and international SEO best practices. Essential reference if you're managing multi-region sites. Hreflang errors are common.

Documentation for the link disavow tool. You almost never need this - Google ignores bad links automatically. Only use if you've received a manual action for unnatural links. Overusing it can hurt.

How Google generates sitelinks. You can't force them, but this explains what makes them more likely. Good internal linking, clear site structure, and brand authority are the keys.

For news publishers wanting to appear in Google News. Submit your publication, manage your presence, and access Publisher-specific tools. Relevant for media sites and legitimate news publishers.

Required for Google Shopping, free product listings, and rich product results. E-commerce sites need this for product visibility. Connects to Shopping ads and organic product results.

SEO Office Hours, technical deep-dives, and updates from Google's Search team. John Mueller, Gary Illyes, and Martin Splitt answer real questions. Better signal-to-noise ratio than most SEO content.

Official documentation for GBP management. Covers verification, category selection, reviews management, and profile optimization.

Documentation on Google Business Profile categories. Category selection significantly impacts local visibility. Choose primary category carefully.