If you asked us to name the one tool no Saudi site owner can do without, the answer comes without hesitation: Google Search Console. A completely free tool from Google itself that tells you exactly how the search engine sees your site: which keywords bring you visitors, which pages are indexed, which are excluded and why, and who links to you.
The irony is that most site owners either never set it up, or set it up once and left it full of unread alerts. This guide takes you from zero to a professional monthly review routine, with examples grounded in the Saudi market.
What is Search Console and why is it your most important free tool?
Search Console is the official communication channel between you and Google. Through it, Google tells you about problems on your site, and through it, you submit sitemaps and indexing requests. Its biggest gifts:
- Real query data showing exactly which searches your site appeared for, at a precision no paid tool can match.
- Indexing reports that reveal which pages are excluded from results and the reason for each exclusion.
- Instant alerts when your site has security issues or manual actions (penalties).
- Practical tools: inspect any URL, submit a sitemap, request removal of a page from results.
Every smart SEO decision starts from this data, which is why the first thing any serious specialist asks for before quoting you is access to Search Console. It is also the starting point of every
Adding your site and verifying ownership step by step
Go to search.google.com/search-console with the Google account that belongs to the business (never a personal account you might lose). You will see two ways to add a property:
| Property type | What it covers | Verification method | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain | Every version: http, https and all subdomains | TXT record in your DNS settings | The best choice for everyone |
| URL prefix | One specific version only | HTML file, HTML tag, or Analytics | Anyone without DNS access |
Choose the Domain property whenever you can. The DNS verification steps:
- Copy the TXT record Search Console displays.
- Log in to the domain control panel at the registrar where you bought your domain.
- Add the record in the DNS management section and save.
- Return to Search Console and click Verify. Propagation can take a few hours, so do not worry if the first attempt fails.
If your site runs on WordPress, Salla or Zid, you will usually find a ready-made field in the dashboard to paste the verification tag directly without touching DNS. Immediately after verification, submit your sitemap from the Sitemaps menu in the sidebar. It usually lives at sitemap.xml.
The Performance report: four numbers that tell your site's story
The Performance report is the one you will open most. It shows four metrics:
- Clicks: how many times searchers clicked through to your site.
- Impressions: how many times your site appeared in front of searchers, even without a click.
- Click-through rate (CTR): clicks divided by impressions, which varies dramatically by position.
- Average position: your average ranking for each query or page.
The real power sits in the tabs and filters: group the data by Queries to see keywords, by Pages to see which content works, and filter by country (Saudi Arabia) and device (mobile first, since most Saudi searches happen on phones). Compare the last 3 months against the previous period to know whether you are climbing or slipping.
How to mine the query data for growth opportunities
This is where the report turns from a screen of numbers into a goldmine. Three practical moves professionals repeat every month:
First, page-two keywords: filter queries with an average position between 8 and 20. These are terms Google already considers you qualified for, just not front-page material yet. Improve the target page: expand its answer, point more internal links at it, refresh its information, and a small push often moves it to page one where clicks multiply.
Second, high impressions with weak clicks: a query showing thousands of impressions with a CTR under 1% at a decent position means your title and description are not convincing anyone. Rewrite the title to match the search intent and add a hook.
Third, keywords you never planned for: you will find queries generating impressions for topics you never wrote dedicated content about. Each one is a ready-made, demand-proven idea for a new article or page. This is the same methodology behind the content plans in our
The Page indexing report: why pages get excluded and how to fix them
Open Indexing, then Pages, and you will see your URLs split into indexed and not indexed, with a reason for every exclusion. The most common statuses and their remedies:
| Status in the report | Meaning | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Excluded by noindex tag | The page asks Google to ignore it | Remove the tag if the exclusion is unintentional |
| Crawled, currently not indexed | Google saw the page and was not convinced of its value | Improve the content, link to it internally, and wait |
| Discovered, currently not crawled | Google knows the URL but has not visited yet | Normal for new sites; strengthen internal links |
| Duplicate without user-selected canonical | Similar versions confused Google | Declare the primary version with a canonical tag |
| Not found (404) | The URL does not work | Redirect it to a replacement or ignore it if intentional |
| Blocked by robots.txt | Your robots file forbids crawling | Edit the file if the block is unintentional |
Note carefully: not every exclusion is a problem. Cart pages, login pages and duplicate archives should stay out of the index anyway. It only becomes a problem when pages you want to rank appear among the excluded. And if crawl and indexing errors keep recurring with no obvious cause, that is a signal for a deeper look through our
The Experience and Enhancements reports
Under the Experience and Enhancements sections you will find a set of reports worth a monthly glance:
- Core Web Vitals: your site's speed and visual stability on mobile, split into good URLs, needs-improvement and poor.
- HTTPS: confirms every page is served over the secure version.
- Rich result reports: if your site uses
These reports do not track rankings directly, but they track the technical foundation your rankings stand on.
The Links report and other high-value tools
The Links report at the bottom of the menu shows the top sites linking to you, your most externally linked pages, and your internal link distribution. Review it monthly to see whether link building efforts are paying off, and to spot orphan pages that no internal link points to.
Do not overlook three small, high-value tools: URL inspection at the top of the screen gives you the live status of any page and lets you request indexing, Removals temporarily hides a page from results in emergencies, and Manual actions under the Security section should always be empty, because anything appearing there is a penalty demanding immediate action.
The monthly review routine: a working checklist
Block 30 minutes at the start of every month and run through this list:
- Compare clicks and impressions for the last 28 days against the previous period, and identify your top 3 rising and falling pages.
- Review queries sitting in positions 8 to 20 and pick two pages to improve this month.
- Open the indexing report and check for any sudden spike in excluded pages.
- Check Core Web Vitals and confirm poor URLs are not multiplying.
- Scan the Links report: any new links? Any suspicious ones?
- Confirm Manual actions and Security issues are empty.
- Submit important new pages for indexing via URL inspection.
Stick to this routine and you will catch problems before they cost you visitors, and find fresh opportunities every single month. Remember too that the same performance data serves you beyond Google: content that answers searchers' questions clearly is exactly what AI engines cite, as we explain in our guide to
When do you need a specialist reading the data with you?
The tool is free, but its real value lies in interpreting the data and turning it into decisions. If you find yourself staring at thousands of queries with no idea which deserve priority, or facing indexing errors that keep returning despite your fixes, or you simply want someone to convert these numbers into a clear monthly growth plan, that is exactly what the
To size the right investment for your site, see our SEO pricing in Saudi Arabia, or contact us and we will walk through your site's data with you in a single session, after which you will know exactly where you stand and what to do next.