Google Search Console Setup

Overview

Google Search Console (GSC) is a free tool from Google that shows you how your site appears in search results, which pages are indexed, and what issues Google encounters when crawling your site. If you are serious about SEO, this is the first tool you should set up.

Once RndrKit is active on your domain, Google will start seeing your fully rendered HTML instead of an empty SPA shell. GSC is where you will see the impact — more pages indexed, fewer errors, and better coverage over time.

Step 1: Add Your Property

  1. Go to Google Search Console.
  2. Sign in with your Google account.
  3. Click the property dropdown in the top left and select Add property.
  4. Choose URL prefix and enter your full domain URL:
https://www.example.com

Use the exact URL that your site is live on, including https:// and www if applicable. If your site uses www.example.com, enter that — not example.com.

Why URL prefix? The URL prefix method is simpler and works with any verification method. The Domain method requires DNS verification at the registrar level and covers all subdomains, which is useful for larger sites but overkill for most RndrKit users.

Step 2: Verify Ownership

Google needs to confirm that you own the domain. The easiest method for RndrKit users is DNS TXT record verification through Cloudflare.

  1. On the verification screen, select Domain name provider (or Other verification methods > DNS record).
  2. Google will give you a TXT record value that looks like:
google-site-verification=abc123xyz456...
  1. Go to your Cloudflare dashboard.
  2. Select your domain.
  3. Go to DNS > Records.
  4. Click Add record and enter:
TypeNameContentTTL
TXT@google-site-verification=abc123xyz456...Auto
  1. Save the record.
  2. Go back to Google Search Console and click Verify.

DNS propagation usually takes a few minutes, but can take up to 24 hours. If verification fails, wait a bit and try again.

Alternative: HTML Tag Verification

If you prefer not to touch DNS, you can verify with a meta tag:

  1. On the verification screen, select HTML tag.
  2. Google gives you a meta tag like:
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="abc123xyz456..." />
  1. Add this to the <head> of your homepage (using React Helmet or your framework's head management).
  2. Make sure to purge the cache in RndrKit so Google's verification bot sees the updated HTML.
  3. Click Verify in Search Console.

Step 3: Submit Your Sitemap

A sitemap tells Google about all the pages on your site. Submitting one speeds up the discovery and indexing process.

  1. In Google Search Console, go to Sitemaps in the left sidebar.
  2. In the "Add a new sitemap" field, enter:
https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
  1. Click Submit.

Google will fetch your sitemap and start processing the URLs. You can check back later to see the status — it will show how many URLs were discovered and how many have been indexed.

If you do not have a sitemap yet, see Sitemaps to generate one through the RndrKit dashboard, or Dynamic Sitemaps if your content is database-driven.

Step 4: Request Indexing for Priority Pages

Google will crawl and index your pages on its own schedule, but you can request priority indexing for your most important pages.

  1. Go to URL Inspection in the left sidebar.
  2. Enter the URL of a page you want indexed (e.g., https://www.example.com/services).
  3. Google will check the URL and show its current index status.
  4. Click Request Indexing.

This tells Google to prioritize crawling that specific URL. It does not guarantee immediate indexing, but it typically speeds things up significantly.

Good candidates for manual indexing requests:

  • Your homepage
  • Main service or product pages
  • Recently published blog posts
  • Pages you have just updated with new content or SEO improvements

You can request indexing for a limited number of pages per day, so focus on the ones that matter most.

Step 5: Monitor Coverage

The Pages report (formerly "Coverage") shows you the indexing status of your entire site. This is where you will see the impact of RndrKit's pre-rendering.

What the Statuses Mean

StatusWhat It MeansAction
IndexedGoogle has crawled and added this page to its index. It can appear in search results.No action needed.
Crawled - currently not indexedGoogle crawled the page but chose not to index it. This often means the content was thin, duplicate, or low quality.Improve the page's content or check for duplicate content issues.
Discovered - currently not indexedGoogle knows about the page (from sitemap or links) but has not crawled it yet.Wait — Google will get to it. If it persists for weeks, request indexing manually.
Excluded by robots.txtYour robots.txt file is blocking this page.Check your robots.txt if you want this page indexed. See Robots.txt.
Blocked by noindexThe page has a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag.Remove the noindex tag if you want the page indexed.
RedirectThe URL redirects to another page.Normal if you have intentional redirects set up.
Server error (5xx)Google got a server error when trying to crawl the page.Check your server logs and RndrKit's rendering status for that page.
Soft 404The page returned a 200 status but Google thinks it is an error page (very little content).Add meaningful content to the page or return a proper 404 status.

Common Coverage Patterns After Enabling RndrKit

When you first enable RndrKit on a domain that was previously an unrendered SPA, you will typically see:

  1. First few days: Google re-crawls your pages and sees full HTML for the first time. Existing "Crawled - currently not indexed" pages may start getting indexed.
  2. First 1-2 weeks: Indexed page count starts climbing as Google processes the rendered HTML.
  3. First month: Most of your important pages should be indexed. Check the Excluded tab for any stragglers.

This timeline varies by site size and how often Google crawls your domain.

Useful GSC Features

URL Inspection Tool

The URL Inspection tool is your best friend for debugging. Enter any URL to see:

  • Whether it is indexed
  • When it was last crawled
  • Whether Google found any issues
  • A rendered screenshot of what Google sees

Click Test Live URL to have Google fetch the page right now and show you the live result. This is the best way to confirm that RndrKit's pre-rendering is working for a specific page.

Performance Report

The Performance report shows your search traffic over time:

  • Clicks -- How many people clicked through to your site from Google
  • Impressions -- How many times your pages appeared in search results
  • CTR -- Click-through rate (clicks / impressions)
  • Position -- Average ranking position for your pages

Filter by page, query, country, or device to understand which pages and keywords are performing well.

The Links report shows which external sites link to you and which of your pages get the most links. This is useful for understanding your site's authority and identifying link-building opportunities.

Next Steps

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OG & Social Previews

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Authentication