TL;DR

Use Search Console to answer three questions: can Google access the important page, how is it appearing in search, and what specific action does the evidence support? Keep business-owned access and review priority services and locations before exploring every available chart.

Keep access under the practice’s control

Identify the practice’s verified owner and the people who have permission to use the property. An agency can help without becoming the only route to your historical data. Google distinguishes owners, full users and restricted users, with different capabilities. Its permissions guide explains those roles.

Ask the responsible administrator to document the access arrangement and offboarding process. Do not share one person’s password as a shortcut. A reporting workflow that depends entirely on a former contractor’s account is difficult to sustain.

Question one: what is happening to this URL?

Choose a priority service or location page and use URL Inspection. Compare the indexed information with a live test when investigating a recent repair. A live test examines the current page; it does not guarantee indexing or cover every indexing condition. Google’s URL Inspection documentation describes that boundary.

Record the exact URL, reported state, canonical information and inspection date. If the page points to an unintended canonical or is blocked, assign a technical investigation before commissioning more articles. If access appears sound, move to the next question without declaring that search visibility is guaranteed.

Question two: which search patterns matter?

The Performance report provides clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position, with dimensions including queries and pages. Use its page and date filters to examine a defined area of the site. Google’s Performance report guide explains those measures.

Separate branded searches from questions that do not name the practice when that distinction informs the decision. Compare like periods, retain the filter settings and note major website changes. A whole-site average can hide a useful change on one service page or a problem at one office.

Google includes AI search features in its Web performance reporting. That aggregate is not a clean count of AI-only referrals. Google’s AI features guidance explains that scope.

Also inspect the separate Generative AI performance report, which Google documents for AI Overviews and AI Mode impressions. It may be absent when a site has insufficient impressions. These are appearances of links in supported Google features, not visits, appointments or visibility across every assistant. Keep this series distinct from Web clicks and your own sampled answers.

Preserve the report name, date range, filters and any missing-data indicators. Google says unavailable values shown as - or ~ in the report become zeros in an export; do not silently interpret those exported zeros as confirmed absence. Review the original display when that distinction affects a decision.

Question three: what should change?

If a location page receives relevant queries about parking, inspect its arrival instructions. When that information is missing or hard to find, ask the office to verify the parking and entrance facts and add them prominently to the existing page. Check that option before proposing separate parking articles; the visitor needs directions connected to the correct office.

Record the query pattern, page, proposed improvement, operational reviewer and follow-up date. Treat the query as a clue, then inspect the actual page. A query impression alone does not prove that the user needs a new article or that a service is appropriate to offer.

Keep a short decision log

End the review with a few accountable actions. For example: investigate the canonical on a service page, clarify an office’s arrival instructions, or leave a page unchanged while collecting a more useful comparison period. Include “no action” when the evidence does not justify one.

Use booking-path and appropriate operational evidence alongside search data. Search Console cannot confirm that an appointment was scheduled or attended.

Frequently asked questions

Why can’t I reproduce a query’s reported result myself?

Results can vary with context and time. Inspect the reporting period and page evidence rather than assuming your current manual search must match every recorded impression.

Should every query become content?

No. First check relevance, the practice’s actual scope and whether an existing page can answer it clearly.