I've never been one for complex math.
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I needed a tutor for geometry and gave up the ghost at AP calc.​
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Still not sure how I married a theoretical physicist whose thesis is so mathy I can't get past the first page - yet somehow I'm the one who does the taxes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
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I get that dealing with numbers can get overwhelming.
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So I love sharing tools that it make it easy to answer big data questions at a glance.
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Last week in one of my 1:1 consult sessions, I took a minute to review my client's website inside Google Search Console (GSC).
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Never heard of Google Search Console (or maybe you set it up a million years ago)?
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Here's what I love about it:

• it's pretty simple to navigate (way less complicated than Google Analytics though you'll also want to set that up to get more site info)
• you can quickly review how your site is performing on Google
• you can see which search queries are bringing in the most traffic
• you can identify technical SEO issues (like slow loading pages or crawling errors)
• you can submit sitemaps and individual URLs for crawling (so Google can find your stuff!)

Now there are a few limitations and things to be aware of when using GSC

• it only shares info from the last 16 months - making it hard to compare to older data points
• the data may be delayed by a few days
• due to privacy, not all queries will be reported in the results (especially longer phrases with lower search volume)

The good news is that it's pretty easy (and free!) to set-up.
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Using Wordpress? Check out the Google Site Kit plugin.
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Using a different website platform? Go here and follow the on-screen instructions or check out this great tutorial on Semrush.​
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Once you've got it added to your site, you'll need to wait at a few days to start seeing data and running your reports.
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I like to review Google Search Console (and Google Analytics) monthly so I can answer key questions like:

• what are the top search queries for the site?
• what pages / posts are ranking well - and what is their position in the search results?
• is traffic going up, down or spiking - is there a reason why?
• are there any new technical issues that I need to fix?

Now go out there and collect some data!
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you've got this,
Michelle
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p.s. miss last week's email? read it here: outside is expensive​
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p.p.s. I'm recording something fun next week - got questions about writing your welcome sequence? Hit reply and let me know!