Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool that reports how a site performs in Google organic search. It shows queries, clicks, impressions, and average position, plus indexing status, structured-data validity, and Core Web Vitals.
Why It Matters
It is the only source of truth for how Google actually sees and ranks your pages. It surfaces indexing problems, query opportunities, and technical issues that analytics platforms cannot show.
Common Mistake
Only checking it when traffic drops. Regularly reviewing the performance and index-coverage reports catches decaying pages, cannibalization, and crawl errors before they cost meaningful traffic.