How to Set Up Google Search Console and Google Analytics for a New Website

When you launch a new website, two free Google tools give you the data you need to grow: Google Search Console shows how your site appears in Google Search, and Google Analytics shows what visitors do once they arrive. Setting them up on day one means you start collecting useful history immediately.

Search Console vs. Analytics

Google Search Console focuses on search. It tells you which queries show your pages, how many impressions and clicks you receive, which pages are indexed and whether Google found technical problems.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) focuses on behaviour. It shows how many people visit, where they come from, which pages they view, how long they stay and which actions they complete, such as form submissions or purchases.

Step 1: Set up Google Search Console

1. Sign in to Search Console with your Google account.
2. Add a property. A Domain property covers all versions of your site (http, https, www and subdomains) and is verified with a DNS record at your domain provider. A URL-prefix property covers one exact address and can be verified with an HTML file, a meta tag or Google Analytics.
3. Complete verification. DNS changes can take a little time to take effect.

On WordPress, the Site Kit by Google plugin can handle verification and connect Search Console for you directly from the dashboard.

Step 2: Submit your sitemap

A sitemap lists the pages you want Google to know about. Most SEO plugins create one automatically, often at an address such as /sitemap_index.xml. In Search Console, open “Sitemaps”, enter the sitemap address and submit it. Google will report how many URLs it discovered.

Step 3: Set up Google Analytics 4

1. Create an Analytics account and a GA4 property for your website.
2. Add a web data stream with your website address.
3. Install the tracking tag on your site, either by adding the Google tag to every page, using Google Tag Manager, or connecting through a plugin such as Site Kit.
4. Open the real-time report and visit your website to confirm data is arriving.

Step 4: Configure the basics in GA4

• Data retention: increase it to the longest available period so you can compare over time.
• Internal traffic: define your office IP address as internal traffic so your own visits do not skew results.
• Key events: mark important actions, such as contact form submissions, phone clicks or purchases, as key events.
• Link Search Console: connect the two tools so search data appears inside Analytics.

Step 5: Respect privacy

Update your privacy policy to explain that you use analytics and cookies. If you have visitors from regions with consent requirements, such as the European Economic Area or the UK, use a consent management solution that supports Google’s consent mode.

Reading your first reports

In Search Console

• Performance: shows queries, pages, clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position.
• Pages (Indexing): shows which pages are indexed and why others are not.
• Experience: shows Core Web Vitals and HTTPS status.

In Google Analytics

• Acquisition: where visitors come from, such as organic search, social or direct.
• Engagement: which pages are viewed and how long people stay.
• Key events: how many visitors complete your goals.

What to do with the data

Look for pages with many impressions but a low click-through rate; improving their titles and descriptions can bring more clicks. Find queries where you rank on page two; adding depth to those pages can move them up. In Analytics, compare which traffic sources produce enquiries or sales and invest more in those channels.

Be patient

New websites take time to appear in search results. It is normal to see little data for the first few weeks. Keep publishing helpful content, check Search Console for errors every week and review Analytics monthly to spot trends.

With both tools in place from the start, every decision about content, design and marketing can be based on real data rather than guesswork.