Google Search Console for Contractors: Find and Investigate Website Problems

Google Search Console helps you investigate how Google discovers your website and how it appears in search. Use it to identify questions worth investigating, then check the relevant pages and business context before deciding what to change. A report is evidence for a diagnosis, not a promise of ranking improvement.

Start with the property and available data

Confirm that you are looking at the correct verified property and date range. Begin with access and indexing checks even if the property has little traffic. For performance comparisons, use enough observations to distinguish a pattern from a few isolated impressions. Record the period, country, device, and filters so the comparison can be repeated.

Search Console's Performance report includes clicks, impressions, click-through rate, and average position. Query tables are not a complete record of every search: privacy filtering and reporting limits omit some rows. Average position is an aggregate measure, not a fixed ranking seen by every customer. Read the Performance report overview and its query-data limitations.

Investigate changes in clicks and impressions

Compare suitable date ranges and look for pages or queries with a meaningful change. Consider seasonality and changes in demand. Select a query, then inspect the Pages tab to see which URLs appeared for it. Read those pages and check whether they answer the customer's question accurately and clearly.

Titles and headings should describe the actual service and page content. Before adding claims such as same-day availability, licensing, or years in business, verify them. A low click-through rate alone does not establish that the title is the problem, and moving between two average positions does not imply a fixed increase in clicks. Google explains how to compare performance and identify pages shown for a query.

Investigate important pages that are not indexed

The Page indexing report distinguishes indexed and not-indexed URLs and explains reported reasons. Not every excluded URL needs to be indexed: redirects, duplicates, and intentional exclusions can be appropriate. Prioritize the canonical service, location, and other useful pages that you intend people to find.

Read the reported reason before changing content or requesting indexing. A not-indexed status alone does not prove that a page is thin or duplicated. The report also cannot list a URL Google does not know about. See Google's Page indexing guidance.

Use URL Inspection to separate live access from index status

Inspect an important URL to review Google's stored information. Use the live test when you need to check the current page's accessibility. A successful live test does not prove the page is indexed and cannot check every condition that affects indexing.

After fixing an issue, request indexing when appropriate and keep your sitemap accurate. Do not promise that Google will index the page within a fixed number of hours. Record the change and check again as Google processes it. Read the URL Inspection documentation.

Interpret search appearance within current feature rules

Search appearance data depends on the features and data available for the property. An absent appearance row is not proof of missing structured data. Evaluate markup against the requirements of the specific supported feature.

Google stopped showing FAQ rich results on May 7, 2026. Adding FAQPage markup to contractor service pages will not restore that retired feature. Google also excludes self-serving LocalBusiness and Organization reviews from its review-star feature. Do not treat FAQ dropdowns or stars as guaranteed benefits of adding markup. See Google's FAQ retirement notice and review snippet guidelines.

Keep a record of decisions and outcomes

For each change, record the affected page, observed problem, evidence, action, and date. Revisit the same filters and compare the results when sufficient data is available. Search clicks and impressions describe search performance; use your analytics and lead records to investigate what those visits produced for the business.