Overview
The Google Search Console module shows your clicks, impressions, CTR and position in Google Search, with top queries, pages, countries and devices.
The Google Search Console module shows how your site performs in Google Search. It shows how many people saw your site in the results, how many clicked, what they searched for and which pages they landed on. The Overview page is the start page of the module.
Before you start
- Verify the domain. VitalSentinel monitors nothing until the domain is verified. Until then, the page shows the chip Waits for verification and a Verify domain button. See Verify ownership.
- Connect Google Search Console and link a property to the domain. See Connect Google Search Console.
- To open the module, select Google Search Console > Overview in the sidebar. The module is in the Search & traffic group.
- All members of the workspace can see the Google Search Console pages. Only owners and admins can watch a page in Page Monitoring or edit brand terms. See Members.
If no property is linked, the Overview page shows the message "Connect Google Search Console to see how your site performs in Google Search". If you already signed in to Google, the page shows the properties that match your site, each with a Link button. A property shows Unavailable when its Google account needs a new sign-in.
States of the Google Search Console module
After you link a property, the Google Search Console pages can show one of these states instead of data:
- Waiting for the first data. The property is linked, but no data has arrived yet. The page says "Google Search Console data is usually 2–3 days behind." No action is necessary.
- Google needs you to sign in again. The Google access for this workspace expired or was revoked. The data stays frozen until you click Reconnect Google.
- Google Search Console has not sent any data yet. No data arrived after you linked the property. Make sure that it is the correct property and that Google reports search data for it. Click Open the connection to check.
- Google Search Console stopped sending data. No new data came from Google for some time. Make sure that the property still exists and that your Google account can still see it. Click Open the connection to check.
The second and the fourth state also say "Your history is kept." For the states of all modules, see Using the app.
Where the Google Search Console data comes from
VitalSentinel reads your data from Google Search Console. The access is read-only. VitalSentinel never changes anything in your Google account.
- First data. The first data arrives within 24 hours after you link a property.
- History. When you connect, VitalSentinel loads up to 16 months of history.
- Delay. Google Search Console data is usually 2–3 days behind. The newest day you can select is three days ago.
- Still updating. The chart marks the newest days with a hatched band named Still updating. Google is still filling in these days, so their numbers can rise.
- Reports. The analysis pages, for example Trends & Anomalies and Opportunities, update automatically after each new data pull from Google. The first time a report runs, the page can show "Waiting for this report" and "The first one can take a few minutes."
Why the numbers can differ from Google Search Console
The "?" icon beside each page title says "Figures can differ slightly from Google Search Console". Google's API applies its own row limits and rounding, and VitalSentinel works out a few metrics differently.
Google also hides some searches to protect the privacy of searchers. These hidden searches are in the totals, but not in the query lists. When you filter by search term, the KPIs cover only the searches that Google shows. The page then says how many clicks Google hid in the period.
The pages of the Google Search Console module
The sidebar entry Google Search Console has these pages:
| Sidebar label | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Overview | Clicks, impressions, CTR and position, with queries, pages, devices and countries |
| Trends & Anomalies | The direction of your clicks, unusual days and branded searches |
| Organic revenue | The sales that follow your Google clicks, page by page |
| Content changes | What Google did after Page Monitoring caught a change on a page |
| New pages | If Google finds, indexes and shows the pages you publish |
| Opportunities | Searches where a small change can win more clicks |
| Clusters | Your searches grouped by topic, and your site sections |
| Internationalization | If searchers in other countries land on a page in their language |
| Performance & engagement | If slow pages, or pages that visitors leave fast, get fewer clicks |
| Data Quality | How far you can trust the numbers |
The filter dock in Google Search Console
The filter dock is the bar at the bottom of the page. On the Google Search Console Overview it has these controls. For how the dock works in general, see Using the app.
- Date range. The presets are Last 7 days, Last 28 days (the default), Last 30 days, Last 90 days, Last 6 months, Last 12 months, This year and Last calendar year. You can also select your own dates. A range can be up to 480 days.
- Compare. Compares the range with an earlier period. Each KPI and table value then shows the earlier value and the change.
- Search type. Web (the default), Image, Video, News or Discover.
- Filters. Conditions on the fields in the next section. You join conditions with And or Or, and you can put conditions in groups.
Filter fields on the Overview
| Field | What it matches |
|---|---|
| Query | The search term. Operators include contains, equals, matches regex and matches any (batch) |
| Page | The page address |
| Country | The country of the searcher |
| Device | Desktop or Phone |
| Brand | Brand queries or Non-brand queries, from your brand terms |
| Impressions, Clicks | Each row's total over the date range, is more than or is less than |
| CTR | In percent: 5 means 5% |
| Position | Average position over the date range: 1 is the top |
A filter applies to the KPIs, the chart and every table. If you compare periods and use a Clicks, Impressions, CTR or Position filter, each period keeps only the rows that pass it. The page then says that the comparison is between two different sets of rows.
Discover and News have fewer fields
Discover and News have no search term, no device and no position. When you select one of them, the page hides the Average position KPI and the Queries and Devices tables. The Query, Device and Brand filters are left out, and the page says so.
Filters on the other Google Search Console pages
Your Overview filters go with you when you open another page of the module. Most analysis pages show the whole site in Web search. If the filters do not apply on a page, the page says, for example, "The filters chosen on the Overview don't apply here. This page shows your whole site." Click Clear filters to remove them.
Brand terms in Google Search Console
A branded search contains your brand name, for example the name of your company or product. People who make a branded search already know you. The Google Search Console module uses your brand terms in two places:
- The Brand filter in the dock (Brand queries or Non-brand queries).
- The Branded vs non-branded card on Trends & Anomalies.
You set brand terms in the domain settings. Owners and admins can open them from the filter hint ("Set your brand terms in Domain settings") or from the Edit brand terms button on Trends & Anomalies. Theo can suggest brand terms from your top searches, and you confirm each one. See Domain settings. If a domain has no brand terms, no search counts as branded.
Site Health banner on the Overview
When Google Search Console data opens issues in Site Health Monitoring, a banner shows at the top of the Overview. The banner says, for example, "5 open issues from Google Search Console". Chips show the count of issues per severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low) and the count of Opportunities. Click Open in Site Health Monitoring to see the issues. See Site Health overview.
The analysis pages show the same banner for their own issues only, for example "Opportunities: 2 open issues".
Search performance card
The first card on the Google Search Console Overview shows four KPIs. Each KPI is also a tab of the chart under it.
| KPI | What it means |
|---|---|
| Clicks | How many times people clicked through to your site from Google Search |
| Impressions | How many times your pages appeared in Google Search results |
| CTR | The share of impressions that became clicks (click-through rate), weighted by impressions |
| Average position | Where your pages ranked on average, weighted by impressions. Lower is better |
If the period has no impressions, CTR and Average position show "No impressions in this period". When compare is on, each KPI shows the change and a line such as "vs 4,000 previous period". If the earlier period has no data, the KPI shows "No data in the comparison period".
The chart on the Overview
Select one or two KPI tabs to draw them on the chart. Clicks and Impressions show by default. The second metric uses the right axis. The Average position axis is upside down, so position 1 is at the top.
Use Day, Week or Month above the chart to change the grouping. When compare is on, the chart also shows the earlier period. The chart marks Google updates with a Google mark.
If Google data stops arriving for some days, a note says so, for example "Search Console data is 4 days behind". The chart then leaves those days out, and the KPIs show no change.
Queries, Pages, Devices and Countries tables
Under the chart, the Google Search Console Overview shows four tables, each with the full list on pages. Each table has the columns Clicks, Impressions, CTR and Position. When compare is on, each value shows the earlier value and the change. A faint bar behind each row shows its share of the clicks. Click a row to filter the whole page to that query, page, country or device.
- Queries. What people typed into Google before they saw or clicked your site. The Top tab sorts by clicks. Click a column header to sort by another column.
- Pages. Your pages that Google showed in its results, with their clicks.
- Devices. Phone and Desktop. The "?" icon says which device brings most of your clicks, for example "Phone brings most of your clicks, and Desktop ranks lower."
- Countries. Where the people who searched were.
New queries and new pages
The Queries and Pages tables have a New tab. It lists the queries or pages that appeared in Google Search in this period. They did not appear in the period of the same length just before it.
If the earlier period starts before your first Google Search Console data, the New tab says "Not enough history to tell what is new". Select a shorter range.
Icons after each page in the Pages table
Each page in the Pages table shows small icons with facts from other modules:
- Indexing. If Google indexed the page, from Indexing Monitoring.
- Crawling. How often Googlebot visited the page, from Server Log Monitoring.
- Speed. How fast the main content loads (Fast, Okay or Slow), from RUM Monitoring.
- Status chip. A red chip such as "Returns 404 – Not found" when the page answers with an error. A grey chip shows a redirect.
If one of these modules is not set up, a short note above the table offers to connect it. Owners and admins can click the eye icon on a row to Watch in Page Monitoring. See Page Monitoring overview. The Open this page in menu on a row opens the same page in other modules.
Troubleshooting
Why does Google Search Console show no data?
If you linked the property less than 24 hours ago, wait. The first data can take up to 24 hours. If the page asks you to connect, link a property. See Connect Google Search Console. If your site gets very few searches, Google can report few or no rows.
Why is Google Search Console data a few days old?
Google Search Console data is usually 2–3 days behind. The newest day you can select is three days ago. The newest days on the chart show Still updating because Google can still add to them.
Why do my numbers differ from the Google Search Console website?
Google's API applies its own row limits and rounding. Google also hides some searches for privacy. A filter on the search term cannot count the hidden searches. A page filter adds up each page's own clicks, which can come to slightly more than the site total.
Why does the comparison say "No data in the comparison period"?
The earlier period has no Google Search Console data. This occurs when the earlier period starts before your first data. Select a shorter range or a different comparison.
Why do I not see the Queries table?
If the search type is News or Discover, Google reports no search terms. Select Web, Image or Video in the dock.
Why does Google Search Console say "Google needs you to sign in again"?
The Google access for this workspace expired or was revoked. VitalSentinel keeps your history, but no new data arrives. Click Reconnect Google and sign in with the Google account that can see the property.
Why does a Google Search Console page say "Couldn't load this report"?
The analysis of that page failed. Click Try again. If the error stays, contact support.
Why does a property show "Unavailable"?
The Google account authorization of that property is no longer valid. Reconnect the Google account, then link the property. See Connect Google Search Console.
Related
- Connect Google Search Console - link a property to the domain
- Trends & Anomalies - unusual days and branded searches
- Opportunities - searches where you can win more clicks
- Indexing Monitoring - which pages Google indexed
- Data Quality - how far you can trust the numbers
- Using the app - the filter dock, drawers and page tours
Settings
Set the Page Monitoring defaults for new pages, keep your top pages watched, and choose the kinds of change that VitalSentinel records but never flags.
Trends & Anomalies
The Google Search Console Trends & Anomalies page shows the direction of your clicks, unusual days, lasting shifts and branded searches.
