Start inside Performance → Search results, because this is your main “scoreboard” for SEO. Here you’ll see total clicks (traffic), total impressions (visibility), average CTR (how attractive your snippet is), and average position (ranking trend). To properly measure improvements, use the Compare feature-like “Last 28 days vs Previous 28 days”-so you can spot meaningful trends instead of reacting to daily fluctuations. If you made a big update recently, comparing shorter ranges like “Last 7 days vs Previous 7 days” can show early signals, but longer comparisons are usually more stable.

Next, segment the data so you know exactly what changed. Most people only look at totals, but smart tracking happens in filters: use the Query filter to monitor your target keywords, and the Page filter to measure the exact page you optimized (service page, location page, or blog post). You can also split performance by device (mobile vs desktop) and country to find hidden issues-sometimes rankings improve on desktop but drop on mobile, or a specific location starts performing better after local optimization.

To keep your tracking clean, always note the dates you made changes. Add annotations in Search Console to mark when you published a new page, updated meta titles, changed headings, or improved site speed. This helps you connect ranking or traffic changes to specific actions. After major edits, also use URL Inspection to confirm the page is indexed correctly and review the Page indexing report for any crawl or indexing problems that could block your results. If your changes were performance-related, checking Core Web Vitals reports can also help you understand whether speed or usability improvements are being reflected.

Finally, build a simple weekly routine so tracking becomes easy. Each week, review which queries gained impressions but didn’t gain clicks (usually a title/CTR problem), which pages lost position (often needs a refresh or internal linking), and which pages gained clicks (double down with supporting content). When you consistently track SEO changes this way-compare date ranges, segment by query and page, confirm indexing, and document updates-you’ll know what’s working and where to focus for maximum growth.