Free Checklist · Updated 2026-11

The 10-Minute Search Console Weekly Checklist (12 Checks)

12 checks, every Monday, including the new Generative AI performance report. Google's own data on what is working, what is broken and which searches almost bring you customers.

Twelve checks you can run in Google Search Console in about ten minutes a week, in the order that finds problems fastest. Plus first-time setup, a near-win decision table, a copy-paste question filter and a weekly log, so you catch dropped pages and easy ranking wins before they cost you customers.

For: Business owners and small teams who set up Search Console once and never really opened it again.

One-time setup (if you only have 15 minutes, do this) · 5
1. Performance: is search sending people? (4 minutes, checks 1-5) · 5
Near-win decision table: what to do with each query · 6
2. Problems: did anything break? (4 minutes, checks 6-10) · 5
3. One action before you close the tab (2 minutes, checks 11-12) · 2
Copy-paste: filters and the weekly log · 3
Once a month: four bigger views · 4
Common mistakes · 6

How to use it

Not set up yet? Do the one-time setup first (about 15 minutes).
Then block 10 minutes on the same day each week. Go top to bottom: group 1 is about money, group 2 is about problems, group 3 is your one action.
Write the numbers in the log template so you can see the trend, and do the monthly views once a month.

One-time setup (if you only have 15 minutes, do this)

Add a Domain property
Go to search.google.com/search-console, click Add property, choose Domain and enter yoursite.com (no https, no www). One Domain property covers http, https, www and all subdomains.
Verify with DNS
Google gives you a TXT record. Paste it in your domain registrar's DNS settings (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare and so on). Verification can take from minutes to a day.
Submit your sitemap
Indexing > Sitemaps. Enter the sitemap address (often sitemap.xml or sitemap_index.xml) and submit.
Add your team as users
Settings > Users and permissions. Give your developer or writer their own access instead of sharing your login.
Bookmark the three reports
Performance > Search results, Indexing > Pages, and the Generative AI performance view under Performance. That's 80% of the weekly routine.

1. Performance: is search sending people? (4 minutes, checks 1-5)

Open Performance > Search results. Set the date to the last 7 days and click Compare to the previous 7 days.

1. Write down total clicks, impressions and average position for the week
Clicks are visits from Google. Impressions are how often you showed up. One number alone lies; the three together tell you what changed.
2. Open the Pages tab and sort by the Clicks difference column
A page that lost most of its clicks in a week usually has a reason: it was edited, it broke, it got deindexed or a competitor moved above it.
3. Open the Queries tab, sort by Impressions, and find searches with high impressions but low CTR
These are the searches that almost bring you customers. Google already shows you; people just aren't clicking. A better title and description is often the fix.
4. Filter Position to queries averaging between 8 and 20
Practical advice: page 1 bottom and page 2 are where a small content improvement or a few internal links can move you up. Position 50 needs a new page, not a tweak.
5. Open the Generative AI performance report and note this week's impressions and top pages
It shows how often links to your pages appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode, by page, country, device and date. It counts impressions only; clicks from AI features stay in the main report under Web. If it doesn't appear, Google says your site may not have enough AI impressions yet.

Near-win decision table: what to do with each query

What you see	What it means	This week's action
High impressions, CTR much lower than your other queries, position 1-5	You rank but the snippet doesn't win the click	Rewrite the title and meta description to match the search exactly
Position 8-20, decent impressions	Google thinks you're relevant but not the best	Add the missing answer to the page and 2-3 internal links to it
Query is a question your page doesn't really answer	You're ranking by accident	Add a section that answers it in the first sentence, or write a new page
Two of your pages swap for the same query	They compete with each other	Merge them or make each clearly about a different question
Page shows in AI features but clicks fell	The answer may be shown on the results page itself	Make the next step (price, tool, booking) the reason to click
Position 30+	Not close	Ignore for now, or plan a dedicated page

2. Problems: did anything break? (4 minutes, checks 6-10)

6. Pages report (Indexing > Pages): did the number of indexed pages drop?
A sudden drop often means a noindex tag, a robots.txt block or a redirect went live by accident.
7. Pages report: check 'Why pages aren't indexed' for any reason that grew this week
'Crawled - currently not indexed' means Google saw the page and chose not to index it yet. 'Excluded by noindex tag' on a money page is an emergency.
8. Sitemaps report: status says Success and the last read date is recent
If Google couldn't fetch your sitemap, new pages are found more slowly. A sitemap full of redirected or 404 URLs wastes Google's time.
9. Core Web Vitals report: any URLs moved to Poor on mobile?
Google's 'good' thresholds are LCP 2.5 s or less, INP 200 ms or less and CLS 0.1 or less at the 75th percentile. Poor starts above 4 s, 500 ms and 0.25. The report groups similar URLs, so one template fix can clear many pages.
10. Security issues and Manual actions: both say No issues detected
A manual action or hacked-site warning can wipe out traffic. Google also emails verified owners, but email gets missed.

3. One action before you close the tab (2 minutes, checks 11-12)

11. Pick ONE near-win query and write down the page you will improve this week
A weekly check with no action is just reading. One improved page a week is 52 a year.
12. After you fix or publish a page, paste its URL into URL Inspection and click Request indexing
Google says requesting a crawl doesn't guarantee indexing, and there is a quota for individual URLs. Use it for important pages only. Asking again for the same URL doesn't speed it up.

Copy-paste: filters and the weekly log

Question-query filter (Performance > + Add filter > Query > Custom (regex))

^(who|what|why|how|when|where|which|can|does|do|is|are|should)\b

Shows only searches phrased as questions. These are the easiest to answer with a new section or a new page. Search Console's regex filter uses RE2 syntax.

Brand-exclusion filter (Query > Custom (regex) > Doesn't match regex)

yourbrand|your brand|yourbrand\.com

Replace with your brand name and common misspellings. Non-brand clicks show whether SEO is finding you new customers.

Weekly log (copy into a sheet or notes app)

Week of: ____
Clicks: ____ (vs last week: +/- ____)
Impressions: ____ (vs last week: +/- ____)
Avg position: ____
AI feature impressions (Generative AI report): ____  Top page: ____
Biggest drop (page): ____  Reason: ____
Near-win query: ____  Page to improve: ____
Indexed pages: ____  New not-indexed reason: ____
Sitemap OK? Y/N   CWV Poor URLs: ____   Manual actions / security: none / ____
This week's one action: ____

Twelve weeks of this log tells you more than any dashboard, because you wrote down why things changed.

Once a month: four bigger views

Look at the last 3 and 16 months
Search Console keeps up to 16 months of Performance data. Compare this month to the same month last year to see past seasonal dips. Export it if you want a longer history.
Filter by Device: Mobile vs Desktop
If mobile CTR or position is much worse than desktop, look at the page on a phone. Google mainly uses the mobile version of your site for indexing.
Check the Links report
Look at Top linking sites and Top linked pages. You can't control who links to you, and Google says it ignores most spammy links. This is just so you know which pages earn links.
Check Enhancements and Search appearance
If you use structured data, these reports show whether rich results are valid. FAQ rich results no longer appear in Google Search (since May 2026), so ignore FAQ there.

Common mistakes

Panicking over one bad week
Holidays, news and weekends move numbers. Look for drops that last 2-3 weeks or hit one page hard.
Comparing a 7-day period to a 28-day period
Always compare like with like: 7 vs previous 7, or the same month last year.
Trying to fix every 'not indexed' URL
Many reasons are normal, says Google. Only act on pages you want found.
Requesting indexing for dozens of pages a day
There's a quota. For many URLs, submit a sitemap instead.
Expecting clicks in the Generative AI report
It shows impressions only. AI feature clicks are counted inside the normal Web search results report.
Reading the numbers and changing nothing
Check 11 exists for a reason. One action every week.

Unlock the full checklist

Everything above, plus the branded PDF to keep.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How often should I check Google Search Console?

Once a week for about ten minutes is enough for most small sites. Check daily only during a launch, a redesign or a migration.

What does 'Crawled - currently not indexed' mean?

Google crawled the page but decided not to index it, at least for now. You don't need to resubmit it. Improve the page so it's clearly useful and link to it from your important pages.

Does Search Console show AI Overview traffic?

Yes, partly. The Generative AI performance report shows how often links to your site appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode (impressions, by page, country, device and date). Google says it rolled out to all sites by 31 August 2026. Clicks from AI features are counted in the main Performance report under the Web search type, not split out.

Why are my impressions up but clicks down?

You are showing for more searches but people aren't clicking. Common reasons: you rank low for new queries, an AI Overview or other feature answers the question, or your title doesn't match what people want.

How long does Search Console keep data?

The Performance report keeps up to 16 months of data. Export it if you want a longer history.