---
title: "Connect Google Search Console"
label: "Search Console"
description: "Monitor search visibility. Track keywords, rankings, and indexing status for your job board."
publishedAt: 2025-12-31
updatedAt: 2026-07-13
order: 3
status: "published"
faqs:
  - question: Do I need an existing Search Console property?
    answer: "No. Cavuno automatically creates the property for your board, verifies ownership, and submits your sitemap. You just need a Google account."
  - question: How long does setup take?
    answer: "Usually under five minutes. After you sign in with Google, Cavuno handles verification and sitemap submission. You may see a 'Setting up' status briefly while this completes."
---

## What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console shows how your website performs in search results. For job board operators, it reveals which keywords bring visitors, how your pages rank, and any issues blocking Google from indexing your jobs.

Cavuno connects directly to Search Console so you monitor search performance without leaving your dashboard.

## What Search Console shows

Search Console provides Google's first-party search performance and indexing data. Some queries are anonymized or omitted, and totals can differ from analytics tools:

- **Search queries**: Reported queries that led to impressions or clicks
- **Ranking positions**: Where your pages appear in search results
- **Click-through rates**: How often searchers click your listings
- **Page indexing**: Which pages Google has indexed and why other pages are not indexed

## Connect Search Console

Cavuno handles the entire setup: property creation, site verification, and sitemap submission.

1. Go to **Settings → Google Search Console**
2. Find the **Google Search Console** section
3. Click **Connect**
4. Sign in with your Google account and grant access

Cavuno then automatically:

- Creates a Search Console property for your board
- Verifies site ownership using a meta tag
- Submits your sitemap to Google
- Enables the [Google Indexing API](/docs/job-board-seo/indexing-api) (if your board has a custom domain)

You may see a **Setting up** status while this completes. Once finished, search performance data appears in Cavuno.

If you already have a Search Console property for your board's domain, Cavuno connects to it and enables the Indexing API.

## Verify the connection

Return to **Settings → Google Search Console** and confirm the connection no longer shows **Setting up**. The connected state should show your board's Search Console property. Open Search Console and check **Sitemaps** for your board's `/sitemap.xml` submission. Search performance can remain empty until Google records impressions or clicks; an empty report immediately after setup does not mean the connection failed.

## Requirements

Before connecting Search Console:

- **Custom domains need a primary domain configured.** Set your primary domain in domain settings before connecting.

## Disconnect Search Console

To remove the connection:

1. Go to **Settings → Google Search Console**
2. Find the **Google Search Console** section
3. Click **Disconnect**

## Monitor your search performance

### Performance report

The performance report shows your search visibility across four dimensions:

- **Queries**: What people search to find your board
- **Pages**: Which pages appear in results
- **Countries**: Where your visitors search from
- **Devices**: Mobile vs desktop breakdown

### Key metrics

- **Impressions**: Times you appeared in search
- **Clicks**: Visits from search results
- **CTR**: Click-through rate
- **Position**: Average ranking

### Page indexing

Open **Indexing → Pages** in Search Console to see:

- **Indexed:** pages currently included in Google's index
- **Not indexed:** pages grouped by the reason Google did not index them

The report helps diagnose discovery and indexing, but a submitted or valid page is not guaranteed to appear in search results.

## Improve your search performance

### Use Search Console data to find opportunities

1. **Review pages with impressions but few clicks**: Check whether their titles and descriptions match the query intent
2. **Review not-indexed reasons**: Resolve technical blocks or content issues that apply to pages you want indexed
3. **Improve low-CTR pages**: Rewrite titles and descriptions that searchers skip over
4. **Track winning keywords**: Double down on queries already bringing traffic

### Common issues and fixes

| Issue | What to do |
|-------|------------|
| Pages not indexed | Check robots.txt and review the reason under **Indexing → Pages** |
| Low click-through rate | Rewrite page titles and meta descriptions |
| Dropping rankings | Review content freshness and check competitor changes |
| Mobile layout concerns | Test the page with Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, and real devices |

## Troubleshoot the connection

If the connection remains on **Setting up**, confirm that the board's primary custom domain is active, then reconnect with a Google account that can create or manage the property. If the sitemap reports a fetch error, open `https://yourboard.com/sitemap.xml` directly and retry after the URL loads successfully. Contact support with the board domain and the status shown in Cavuno if setup still does not complete.

## Manually submit your sitemap

Cavuno submits your sitemap automatically when you connect Search Console. If you need to submit it manually:

1. In Search Console, go to **Sitemaps**
2. Enter your sitemap URL: `yourboard.com/sitemap.xml`
3. Click **Submit**
4. Return later to review processing or fetch errors; timing varies

Cavuno keeps the sitemap at a stable URL, so you normally submit that URL once. Submission helps Google discover URLs but does not guarantee crawling or indexing.

## Next steps

Review [Google for Jobs](/docs/job-board-seo/google-for-jobs) to validate job structured data, then use the [Indexing API](/docs/job-board-seo/indexing-api) guide to understand how eligible job-page updates are submitted.