Google Search Console is a powerful tool for website owners and developers to monitor and maintain their website’s visibility in Google Search results. It can help you identify and fix issues that may be preventing your website from appearing in Google’s search engine results.
However, if you’re new to using Google Search Console, it can be intimidating to figure out the issues and how to fix them. In this article, we’ll discuss the most common problems that occur in Google Search Console and provide tips on how to fix them:
Looking for a complete WordPress Maintenance Plan?
With all ThriveWP care plans, we include free migration, malware removal, daily/hourly backups, plugin theme and core updates, ongoing support and 24/7 security monitoring and firewall.
1. Soft 404 Errors
Soft 404 errors occur when a webpage that a user attempts to access is not found, but the webpage returns a “200 OK” status code instead of a “404 Not Found” code. This can confuse search engines, as they will try to index a page that isn’t there.
How to Solve:
The best way to fix a Soft 404 error is to ensure that any broken links on your website are returning a “404 Not Found” status code. You can also redirect broken links to other existing pages on your website.
2. Sitemap Errors
A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your website. Search engines use this file to determine which pages to crawl and index. Sitemap errors can occur when a search engine attempts to crawl a page and receives an error, or if the page is blocked from search engines in the robots.txt file.
How to Solve:
If you are receiving Sitemap errors, the first thing you should do is check your robots.txt file to make sure none of the pages listed in your sitemap is blocked from being crawled. If you find that a page is blocked, you can unblock it or remove it from your sitemap. You should also check your sitemap to ensure all the links listed are valid and working correctly.
3. Duplicate Content Errors
Duplicate content errors occur when a search engine finds multiple versions of the same page indexed in its database. This can negatively affect your website’s rankings, as it dilutes search engines’ signals to determine a page’s relevance.
How to Solve:
The best way to fix duplicate content errors is to use the “rel=canonical” tag to tell the search engine which version of the page is the original and should be given priority when ranking pages. You can also use a 301 redirect to permanently redirect any duplicate URLs to the original.
4. Mobile-Friendly Errors
Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool checks your website’s pages to ensure they are optimized for mobile devices. A page failing the test can result in a Mobile-Friendly error.
How to Solve:
The best way to fix Mobile-Friendly errors is to ensure your website is optimized for mobile devices. This includes ensuring that the font size is easy to read, that clickable elements are large enough to tap and that all content fits within the viewport. You can also use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to diagnose and fix any issues.
5. Crawl Errors
Crawl errors occur when a search engine’s crawlers have difficulty accessing the pages on your website. This can happen for various reasons, such as blocked resources, long redirect chains, or a malfunctioning robots.txt file.
How to Solve:
To fix Crawl errors, you should first check your robots.txt file to ensure it is accessible by search engines. If it is blocked, you should unblock it or remove it altogether. If the issue is related to redirects, you should ensure that any redirects point to the correct destination. You can also use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to help identify and diagnose any issues.
Conclusion
These are just some common errors you may encounter in the Google Search Console. If you’re having trouble diagnosing or solving any of these errors, you can contact your website support or an SEO specialist for assistance.
ThriveWP is a UK-based company specializing in providing support and website maintenance services for WordPress websites. We offer a variety of services to help keep WordPress websites running smoothly. Contact our team to learn about our services!
