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This article is a birds-eye view of a free tool that reveals how people discover your business online and why the information inside is extremely valuable. Every day, Google collects information about your website. What people searched before finding you. Which pages attract attention. Which topics generate interest. Most business owners never see any of it and it's mainly because they don't know it exists. Continue reading as we break down one of Google's most overlooked tools, how BizzOS customers gets this feature baked into their workflow and how it can help you better understand your customers, your content, and your online visibility.
Every day, Google collects information about your business.
What people searched before finding your website.
Which pages they visit.
Which pages they ignore.
Which topics generate impressions.
Which pages Google understands.
Which pages it struggles to understand.
…and so much more.
Most business owners never see any of it and it’s mainly because they don't know it exists.
This article is one of the many in our Customer & Market Discovery series.
Google Search Console
A free tool from Google that shows how your website appears in Google Search.
Keyword
A word or phrase someone types into Google.
Indexing
The process of Google adding a page from your website into its searchable records.
Property
The website Google is tracking inside Search Console.
Sitemap
A file that helps Google discover and organize the pages on your website.
Ask a business owner: "How do customers find you?"
Most would answer. Referrals. Social media. Word of mouth. Repeat customers.
Now ask: "What exact words did someone type into Google before finding your website?"
Most would answer. I don’t know.
Most also doesn’t know that Google often has the answer or can help you get it through Google Search Console.
Google tracks an enormous amount of information about how people discover websites.
Search terms people use before visiting your site
Pages that appear in search results
Pages receiving clicks
Pages receiving impressions but few clicks
Pages Google has indexed
Pages Google has not indexed
…and much more.
Google is constantly gathering feedback about how your business is being discovered online.
One of the most valuable reports inside Search Console is the search query report.
This report shows the words and phrases people searched before landing on your website. Sometimes the results are expected. Other times they're surprising.
A financial advisor may discover visitors are searching for retirement planning, not wealth investment.
A contractor may discover people are finding them through storm damage searches, not roadside cleanup.
A nonprofit may discover people are finding them through their searching for words in the mission statement, not a program they’re offering.
These are marketing insights, customer insights and sometimes just validation points you already know through conversation, but now you actually have data that supports your intuition. This helps you have more conversations with team, customers, funders, lenders, etc…
More than any of that it’s powerful, because it reveals how people describe their needs in their own words. You drive your business, but your customers DESCRIBE your business.
And that information guides you for better:
Website content
Blog topics
Service pages
Sales conversations
Advertising campaigns
Product development
…and much more.