Google Search Console Setup for Lead Generation

Your tracking foundation is complete—GTM and GA4 are installed, and you can measure what happens when people click your ads. Now let’s set up Google Search Console.

Search Console is technically a tool for organic search, not paid advertising. But here’s why it matters for your Google Ads strategy: since a lot of Google Ads is paying for search terms—whether it’s through Search Ads, Performance Max, or other placements related to search queries—it’s always a good idea to see what free traffic you’re getting from Google as well.

Understanding your organic search performance informs your paid strategy. You’ll discover which keywords people are using to find you, where you’re ranking, and which pages are performing well. This data is gold for planning your Google Ads campaigns.

This will probably become even more important as AI summaries and AI overviews continue to grow in Google and other search engines. Organic visibility is changing, and Search Console helps you understand where you stand.

Setting up Search Console takes about 20 minutes and gives you free keyword data, technical health monitoring, and insights that directly improve your paid campaigns.

Why Search Console Matters for Google Ads

Search Console shows you real search data—the actual terms people type into Google when they find your website organically. This is incredibly valuable for paid advertising.

It gives you ideas for search terms you’re indexed for but ranked very low. For example, you might discover you’re ranking #12 for “emergency HVAC repair” with 1,000 impressions per month but only 20 clicks. That’s a keyword people are searching for, Google thinks you’re relevant, but you’re not visible enough to get clicks. You can augment that with paid ads immediately while you work on improving your organic ranking.

This is one of the best uses of Search Console for Google Ads strategy—finding the keywords where you’re “almost there” organically and using ads to capture that traffic now.

It also shows if your branded searches are growing. If you see searches for your company name increasing over time, that can often be partially attributed to awareness being formed by your advertising. People see your ads, remember your name, and later search for you directly. That’s a sign your advertising is building brand recognition.

When I was running my furniture business, I obsessed over this metric. We’d launch a campaign targeting “mid-century modern furniture,” and within a few weeks, I’d see searches for “The Sofa Company” start climbing in Search Console. That told me our ads weren’t just driving immediate clicks—they were building awareness that led to direct searches later. Those branded searches converted at much higher rates and cost us nothing.

Search Console gives you free keyword research from real search data—not keyword tools making educated guesses, but actual searches from real users. You’ll discover long-tail variations you never would have thought of, see seasonal trends, and understand how people phrase their searches in their own words.

Technical issues identified in Search Console hurt your Quality Score in Google Ads. If your site is slow, has mobile usability problems, or has pages Google can’t crawl, those issues affect user experience. Poor user experience means higher bounce rates, which signals to Google that your ads aren’t leading to good outcomes. That lowers your Quality Score, which increases your cost per click.

Search Console alerts you to these technical problems so you can fix them before they tank your ad performance.

Setting Up Search Console

Like all of the Google tools we’ve covered, it’s helpful to have Search Console set up at the beginning so your data is accurate and reliable from the start. You can’t go back and collect historical data—once you verify your site, Search Console starts tracking from that point forward.

Let’s get it set up properly.

Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with your Google account (the same one you used for Google Ads, GA4, and GTM).

Click “Add Property.” You’ll have two options: Domain property or URL prefix property.

Domain property covers all versions of your site—http, https, www, non-www, subdomains. This is the better option for most businesses because it captures everything in one place.

URL prefix property is for a specific version of your site. Use this if you only want to track one specific subdomain or version.

For most lead-gen businesses, choose Domain property and enter your domain (example.com, not https://www.example.com).

Verify Ownership

Google needs to confirm you own the website before showing you data. There are several verification methods:

HTML file upload (upload a file to your website)
HTML tag (add a meta tag to your site’s head section)
Google Analytics (if GA4 is already installed and you have Admin access)
Google Tag Manager (if GTM is installed—this is the easiest method)
Domain name provider (add a DNS TXT record)

If you installed GTM in the previous step, use the GTM verification method. It’s instant and requires no additional code. Search Console detects that GTM is on your site, verifies you have access to the GTM account, and confirms ownership automatically.

If GTM isn’t an option, the HTML tag method works well—just add one line of code to your site’s header (or ask your developer to do it).

Once verified, Search Console starts collecting data. It takes a few days to accumulate enough data to be useful, but the sooner you set it up, the sooner you’ll have historical data to analyze.

Submit Your Sitemap

A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your website, helping Google find and index them. Most websites have one automatically generated—it’s usually located at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml.

In Search Console, go to “Sitemaps” in the left menu and submit your sitemap URL. If you’re not sure where your sitemap is, ask your web developer or check your website platform’s documentation (WordPress, Shopify, Wix, etc. all generate sitemaps automatically).

Submitting your sitemap helps Google discover all your pages faster, which improves your organic visibility and gives you more complete data in Search Console.

Link to Google Analytics

Connect Search Console to your GA4 property so the data flows between tools. In Search Console, go to Settings → Associations and link your GA4 property.

This allows you to see Search Console data inside GA4 reports, giving you a more complete picture of how organic and paid traffic work together.

Using Search Console to Inform Your Google Ads Strategy

Now that Search Console is set up, let’s talk about how to actually use it to improve your Google Ads campaigns. This is where I spend significant time with Pixelocity clients—mining Search Console data for keyword opportunities they’re missing.

Find High-Value Keywords to Add to Your Campaigns

Go to the Performance report in Search Console. This shows you every search query that led to your site appearing in Google search results, along with impressions, clicks, click-through rate, and average position.

Look for keywords with high impressions but low clicks. These are searches where your site is showing up, but you’re not getting clicks because you’re ranking too low (usually position 5-15).

Here’s the workflow I use with every client:

Export the search queries from the last 90 days. Filter by impressions—look for keywords with at least 500-1,000 impressions. Then look at the average position column. Any keyword ranking between position 5-15 is a perfect candidate for Google Ads.

Why? Because Google already thinks you’re relevant for that keyword (otherwise you wouldn’t be ranking at all). People are searching for it. But you’re not visible enough to get consistent clicks. Run ads for those keywords and you’ll capture that traffic immediately while you work on improving your organic ranking.

For example, when I was running my furniture business, Search Console showed me that “contemporary sectional sofa” had 2,000 impressions per month but we were ranking #8. We were getting maybe 50 clicks organically. I added that keyword to our Google Ads campaigns, and it became one of our top-performing keywords—high intent, ready-to-buy customers. Eventually, our organic ranking improved to #2-3, but ads gave us that traffic immediately while SEO caught up.

I’ve found this same pattern with almost every Pixelocity client. There are always 5-10 high-value keywords ranking just outside the top positions that are perfect for paid advertising.

Discover New Keyword Ideas

People search in ways you don’t always expect. Search Console shows you the actual language real users type into Google, and it’s often different from what you assume.

You’ll find long-tail variations you never would have thought of. You’ll see regional differences in how people phrase searches. You’ll discover questions people ask that you can answer with content and ads.

I remember discovering in Search Console that people were searching for “furniture stores that deliver to [specific cities]” way more than I expected. We weren’t targeting delivery-related keywords in our ads at all. Once we added those terms and emphasized free delivery in our ad copy, conversions jumped.

Go through your search queries report monthly and look for patterns. Group similar queries together. You might discover entire categories of searches you weren’t targeting that represent significant opportunity.

Identify Which Pages to Use as Landing Pages

The Pages report in Search Console shows which of your pages get the most organic traffic. These are proven to be relevant and valuable to users.

If a page is getting 500 organic visits per month, that’s a strong signal it’s a good landing page for ads targeting those same keywords. Use your top-performing organic pages as landing pages for your paid campaigns—you already know they convert organic traffic, and they’ll likely convert paid traffic too.

Conversely, if a page is getting high traffic but you’re not seeing conversions (you can cross-reference with GA4), that page needs optimization. Fix it before sending paid traffic there.

Monitor Branded Search Growth

Track searches for your business name over time. If you see branded searches increasing, that’s often partially attributed to awareness being formed by your advertising. People see your ads, remember your name, and later search for you directly.

This is a sign your ads are working beyond just direct conversions—you’re building brand recognition that leads to organic traffic growth. At Pixelocity, we track this metric for clients to show the full impact of their advertising, not just immediate conversions.

Technical Health Monitoring

Search Console isn’t just for keyword data—it also monitors the technical health of your website. These technical issues directly impact your Google Ads performance.

Slow site speed equals lower Quality Score, which equals higher costs. If your landing pages take 5+ seconds to load, people bounce before they even see your offer. Google sees that high bounce rate and lowers your Quality Score. Your cost per click goes up.

I’ve seen clients waste thousands of dollars because their site was slow and they didn’t know it. Search Console’s Core Web Vitals report shows how fast your pages load, how quickly they become interactive, and whether elements shift around as the page loads (visual stability). These metrics affect user experience and Quality Score.

Mobile usability is critical. Over 70% of searches happen on mobile devices. If your site has mobile usability issues—text too small, buttons too close together, horizontal scrolling required—you’re losing most of your traffic. Search Console’s Mobile Usability report identifies these problems so you can fix them.

Indexing and coverage issues mean Google can’t crawl or index certain pages on your site. If Google can’t index a page, it can’t rank it organically, and it also signals technical problems that might hurt your ad performance.

Security issues—if your site gets hacked or infected with malware—can get your Google Ads disapproved entirely. Search Console alerts you immediately if Google detects security problems.

Fix these issues as soon as Search Console reports them. They’re not just hurting your organic rankings—they’re costing you money in higher ad costs and lost conversions.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Not verifying all versions of your site. If you have both www.yoursite.com and yoursite.com, verify both (or use Domain property to cover everything at once).

Not submitting your sitemap. Google will eventually find your pages, but submitting a sitemap speeds up the process significantly.

Ignoring technical errors. The red errors in Search Console aren’t suggestions—they’re problems actively hurting your performance. Fix them.

Not checking reports regularly. Set a calendar reminder to review Search Console monthly. Look for new keyword opportunities, check for technical issues, and monitor your growth.

Not using the data to inform your ads strategy. This is the biggest missed opportunity I see. Search Console hands you free keyword research and competitive insights—use them. At Pixelocity, this is one of the first things we review with new clients because there’s almost always low-hanging fruit.

You’re Ready to Build Campaigns

Your complete Google setup is now in place:

☐ Search Console property added and verified
☐ Sitemap submitted
☐ Linked to GA4
☐ Performance report reviewed for keyword opportunities
☐ Technical health checked (Core Web Vitals, Mobile Usability)

You have your entire Google ecosystem connected and working together. Google Ads account created, Google Business Profile optimized for local visibility, Google Tag Manager managing all tracking codes, Google Analytics 4 capturing user behavior, and Google Search Console monitoring organic performance and technical health.

All these tools are linked, data is flowing between them, and you have the infrastructure to measure, optimize, and scale your campaigns profitably.

Now it’s time to move from setup to strategy. Understanding the different Google Ads campaign types available for lead generation—which ones work best, which to avoid, and how to choose the right campaign type for your business goals—is the next critical step in building campaigns that actually generate customers.