Getting Started Guide
A beginner-friendly walkthrough of every feature — no SEO experience needed.
1. What is Fuck SEO?
Fuck SEO is a free, open-source SEO analytics tool that connects to your Google Search Console (GSC) account to help you understand how your website appears in Google search results.
What is Google Search Console?
GSC is a free Google service that shows you how Google sees your website — which search queries bring visitors, how often you appear in search results, and your average ranking position.
Key terms you'll see throughout this tool:
- Clicks — How many times someone clicked on your website from Google search results.
- Impressions — How many times your website appeared in search results (even if nobody clicked).
- CTR (Click-Through Rate) — The percentage of impressions that resulted in clicks. Formula: Clicks ÷ Impressions × 100%.
- Position — Your average ranking in Google search results. Position 1 = top of the first page.
- Query — The search term a user typed into Google.
2. Signing Up & Connecting Your Account
Step-by-step:
1. Go to the homepage and click the Login button.
2. A Google sign-in popup will appear — choose your Google account.
3. Google will ask you to grant permission for Search Console read access. Click Allow.
4. (Optional) You may also be asked for Google Analytics 4 access — this enables traffic source analysis.
5. You'll be redirected to your Dashboard automatically.
Is it safe?
Yes. We only request read-only access — we cannot modify anything in your Google account. You can revoke access anytime at Google Account → Third-party apps.
I don't have a Google Search Console account?
You'll need one first. Go to search.google.com/search-console and add your website. Google will ask you to verify ownership (usually by adding a DNS record or HTML file).
3. Your Dashboard (Home Screen)
After login, you see the Portfolio Dashboard — a list of all websites connected to your Google account.
What to do here:
- Click on any website to view its detailed analytics.
- If you manage multiple sites, recently viewed ones appear first.
Team feature:
Click Team in the left sidebar to invite colleagues. They'll be able to view shared sites without needing their own GSC access.
4. Site Dashboard — Your Data Command Center
After clicking a site, you enter its Dashboard tab. This is where you see all your search performance data.
The Search Performance Chart (top area):
- The large chart shows your Clicks (blue line) and Impressions (orange line) over time.
- Click the legend items to toggle CTR and Position lines.
- Hover over any point to see exact numbers for that day.
- 📝 Click the small pencil icon on any date to add a Note (e.g., "Published new blog post" or "Updated homepage title").
Query Counting Cards (below the chart):
- Shows how many of your search queries get 0 clicks, 1-10 clicks, 11-100 clicks, or 100+ clicks.
- Why this matters: If most queries have 0 clicks, your pages appear in search but nobody clicks — you may need better titles/descriptions.
Top Queries / Pages / Countries / Devices tables:
- Shows your best-performing search terms, pages, countries, and device types.
- Each row has a green ↑ or red ↓ arrow showing whether performance improved or declined vs. the previous period.
- Click any column header to sort the table.
Changing the Time Period:
Click the time selector in the top-right corner. Options: 7 days, 14 days, 28 days, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, or 16 months. This affects ALL tabs — not just the dashboard.
Adding Filters:
Click the Filter button to narrow your data. For example:
- "Query contains: shoes" — only show queries about shoes.
- "Page contains: /blog/" — only show data for your blog section.
5. Keywords → Rank Tracking
What it does: Shows how your keyword positions change day by day.
How to read it:
- Each row is a search query your site ranks for.
- The columns show your position on each date.
- Position 1-3 = top of Google's first page (best!).
- Position 4-10 = rest of page 1.
- Position 11-20 = page 2 (most users never look here).
What to look for:
- Keywords that are moving up → Your SEO is working for these terms.
- Keywords that are moving down → Check if competitors published better content, or if your page needs an update.
6. Keywords → Striking Distance
What it does: Finds keywords where you're ranking on positions 5-20 — close to page 1 but not quite there yet.
Why this matters:
These are your easiest wins. A keyword at position 11 just needs a small push to reach page 1, where it could get 10x more clicks.
What to do with these keywords:
1. Find the page that ranks for the keyword.
2. Improve the content — add more detail, answer more user questions, include relevant images.
3. Add internal links — link to this page from other related pages on your site.
4. Optimize the title tag — make sure the keyword appears naturally in your page title.
5. Check back in 2-4 weeks to see if the position improved.
7. Keywords → Cannibalization
What it does: Detects when two or more pages on your site compete for the same keyword. This is called "keyword cannibalization."
Why it's a problem:
When Google sees multiple pages targeting the same topic, it gets confused about which one to rank. Instead of one page ranking well, both pages rank poorly.
How to fix it:
- Option A: Merge — Combine both pages into one comprehensive page and redirect the other with a 301 redirect.
- Option B: Differentiate — Make each page target a different angle of the topic.
- Option C: Canonical tag — Tell Google which page is the "main" one.
8. Pages → Decay Map
What it does: Finds pages where traffic is declining over time — your content is getting "stale."
How to read the heatmap:
- Red cells = traffic is dropping significantly. These pages need attention first.
- Green cells = traffic is growing. Don't touch these.
- Yellow/neutral = stable. Monitor but no urgent action needed.
How to fix declining content:
1. Update outdated statistics and information.
2. Add new sections addressing related questions.
3. Refresh images, screenshots, and examples.
4. Update the publication date after making substantial changes.
5. Check back in 2-4 weeks for improvement.
9. Pages → URL Groups
URL Groups lets you analyze performance by website section:
1. Add rules like
/blog/* or /products/*.
2. Or click Auto-suggest to let the system detect patterns.
3. Compare which sections drive the most organic traffic.10. Insights → Branded Traffic
What it does: Splits your traffic into branded (people searching your company/product name) and non-branded (people searching generic terms).
Setup: Go to Settings → General and add your brand keywords (e.g., your company name, product names).
Why this matters:
- Non-branded traffic growth = your SEO content strategy is working. People find you through general searches.
- Branded traffic growth = your brand awareness is growing, but this isn't really "SEO" — it's people who already know you.
- If your traffic is mostly branded → You need more content targeting non-branded keywords.
11. Insights → Traffic Sources & Seasonality
Traffic Sources (requires GA4 connection):
Shows where your visitors come from — Organic Search, Direct, Social Media, Referrals, etc.
- Setup: Go to Settings → General → connect your GA4 property.
- Watch your Organic Search percentage — is SEO becoming a bigger share of your traffic?
Seasonality:
Detects patterns in your traffic that repeat annually. For example, an e-commerce site may see spikes every November (Black Friday). Understanding seasonality helps you:
- Plan content ahead of seasonal peaks.
- Avoid panicking when traffic drops naturally (e.g., summer dips for B2B sites).
12. Settings → Indexing
What it does: Checks whether Google has indexed (added to its search database) each page on your site.
How to use it:
1. Go to Settings → General and add your sitemap URL (usually
yoursite.com/sitemap.xml).
2. Navigate to Settings → Indexing and click Run Check.
3. Wait for the results — the tool checks pages in batches.
Understanding results:
- ✅ Indexed — This page appears in Google search results. Good!
- ❌ Not Indexed — Google knows about this page but chose not to include it in search. Common reasons:
- The page has a noindex tag.
- The content is too thin (not enough text).
- The page is a duplicate of another page.
- Crawl errors prevented Google from accessing it.
What to do: For each unindexed page, use Google Search Console's URL Inspection tool to see the specific reason.13. Settings → Export
What it does: Downloads your data as a CSV file for use in spreadsheets.
When to use it:
- Creating reports for clients or management.
- Doing custom analysis in Excel or Google Sheets.
- Backing up your data for record-keeping.
14. Free SEO Tools (No Login Required)
We offer 17 free tools at /tools that work without any login:
Most useful for beginners:
- Meta Tag Generator — Create SEO-optimized title tags and meta descriptions. Just fill in the form and copy the generated HTML.
- Schema Generator — Create structured data (JSON-LD) that helps Google understand your content and show rich results.
- Search Intent Classifier — Paste your keywords to understand whether users want information, want to buy, or want to navigate somewhere.
- Heading Analyzer — Check if your page headings (H1, H2, H3...) are properly structured.
For more advanced users:
- Keyword Clustering — Group related keywords by topic using AI.
- Regex Builder — Build and test regex patterns for GSC filters.
- Hreflang Generator — For multilingual websites.
All tools run 100% in your browser — your data never leaves your computer.