Definition
Search Console is Google's tool for site owners. It shows the queries that bring up your pages, impressions, clicks and average position, the indexing status page by page and crawl errors. It is also where you submit the sitemap.
Since late August 2026, every site has generative AI reports there, for Search and for Discover, and a setting that includes or excludes the site from Search's generative AI features.
Value for a business owner
It is the only source of figures that comes from Google itself. A monthly reading is enough to follow the queries that grow, the pages that drop out of the index and the presence in AI Overviews.
At Stratedge Consulting
Search Console and structured data are part of what we set up on a site, with the sitemap declared. See the SEO and AI visibility page. The AI Visibility offer starts its baseline from the AI reports.
Common mistakes
Declaring a single version of the site, with or without www, and missing part of the figures. A domain property covers every version at once.
Confusing impressions with visits. An impression means the page was shown in the results, not that it was opened.