It’s 2026, and the ongoing performance increase expected both from your website as well as from your offline business, will be, for the most part influenced by measures you take in order to increase your presence in the local market and improve the visibility of your products for target customers.
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SEO, as you already know, is absolutely essential for the long-term profitability of your commercialized services, and it’s the number one resource available to digital marketers looking to profit from the latest core algorithm updates implemented by Google. That said, the performance of the implemented SEO framework will go hand in hand with how you decide to use Google Search Console.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is perhaps the most important tool available in the toolbox of our SEO agency, and we will use it to generate performance reports, which will tell us the total number of click and impressions on your pages, allow us to compare your current metrics with numbers registered months ago, and identify modifications in traffic and ranking, before they start seriously affecting your digital visibility.
Why Google Search Console Is Essential for Understanding SEO Performance
For starters, I think we need to define what Google Search Console is. Originally called Google Webmaster Tools, and later rebranded in 2015, GSC is a powerful but also free digital tool that allows website owners and SEO professionals to monitor the performance of websites in the search engine results.
With the help of GSC, our team can collect direct insights into the way Google decides to crawl your indexable content and collect data directly from Google’s search systems, which, in turn, makes GSC the most reliable tool available to webmasters. With the help of the Google Search Console and backed by a complete and powerful technical SEO audit, our team should be able to identify keywords that have lost rankings and look at your page’s indexing status while simultaneously checking for manual actions taken against your website.
Do you want to calculate the click-through rate (CTR) of a certain page? Then, Google Search Console is the application to use. Plus, with the date comparison function in the performance reports section, we should directly identify specific queries that lost clicks, while, by using the URL inspection menu, we will hopefully identify the last time Google’s indexing tools crawled your page.
Why Is It Different from Third-Party Tools?
As we’ve already mentioned, GSC provides first-party data, and therefore the metrics available with it are a reflection of the true interactions of clients and crawlers with your indexable content. Other third-party applications come close when it comes to SERP predications, but are not spot on. Google Search Console, on the other hand, doesn’t use sampling, and therefore, it’s the most accurate way to identify the average ranking for certain queries, or see how often a certain page appears in Google results.
Other SEO tools rely on modeled traffic predictions, ranking estimates, and must guess rankings based on AI algorithms and scraped SERP data. Most of them are accurate, that’s true. But Google Search Console is just better at identifying the organic search visibility of certain websites, it provides an accurate ranking of certain keywords, and it’s perhaps the best tool available to identify crawling issues. That said, there are also limitations.
GSC cannot discover new ranking opportunities for your website, as it only shows queries that have already generated impressions, nor can it provide data about competitors, or go in-depth about the hyperlinks that send users to your pages. Not least, and this one can actually be huge if you think about it, Google Search Console only retains performance data for a maximum of sixteen months.
Google Search Console vs Google Analytics: Understanding the Difference
In simple terms, Google Search Console focuses on how your website performs in the search results, while Google Analytics mainly showcases what your site visitors do once they start interacting with your pages.
Google Search Console vs Google Analytics
With Google Search Console, Our Team Should Manage To:
- Identify the specific queries that rank your pages in Google results
- Gather the impressions and CTR required for the deployment of successful local search engine optimization services
- Find crawling issues or manual actions taken against your website
- Check the indexing of specific pages
On The Other Hand, With Google Analytics, We Should Be Able To:
- Extrapolate your site’s total traffic
- Identify your primary traffic source
- Calculate your core audience’s bounce rate
- Gather data about specific demographics
- See how users interact with your pages and calculate the average session duration
| Feature | Google Search Console | Google Analytics |
|---|---|---|
|
Data Type
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Search performance
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User behavior
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Metrics
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Clicks, Impressions, CTR, Position
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Sessions, Bounce Rate, Duration
|
|
Source
|
Google Search results
|
Website interactions
|
|
Use Case
|
SEO optimization
|
UX & conversion analysis
|
|
Data Accuracy
|
First-party (exact)
|
First-party (behavioral)
|
Google Search Console vs Google Analytics
Do These Tools Interact?
Sort of. While Google Search Console is mainly used to assess performance in search results, and Analytics gathers metrics related to in-page user behavior, both apps intersect when it comes to organic traffic monitoring. Both applications are necessary for a successful SEO strategy, as they pretty much complement each other.
If we only use Google Search Console, we will gather data about your site’s digital visibility, but not about conversions, while only using Analytics will help us understand traffic behavior, but not why specific users found your site in the first place.
Key Google Search Console Metrics That Impact SEO Traffic
6 Helpful Google Search Console Metrics
Total Clicks:
Total clicks are represented by the number of times external users clicked on your website, directly from Google search results. Your website is listed on the first page in the SERPs, and on average, you receive around 500 new clicks per day? In that case, you can use this metric to calculate your total traffic position and investigate the efficiency of the implemented SEO strategies.
Total clicks go hand in hand with CTRs and search rankings, and they can be positively influenced by a comprehensive backend optimization strategy and through our website content writing services.
Total Impressions:
Total impressions show how often your website appears in Google search results, irrespective of whether users actually click on your pages or not. Total impressions are a metric that measures organic digital visibility, and a decline in them might signal indexing issues or manual actions taken against your website, which should be verified in the Google Search Console.
CTRs:
Click-through rate is a metric that measures the percentage of users who clicked on your pages, after they found them in the SERPs. In order to calculate them, we will need to divide the total number of impressions in search results by the clicks received on your page. So, for example, 1000 impressions divided by 50 clicks will give us a CTR of 5%.
Now, a positive etalon for CTR will vary by industry. In ads for the hospitality industry, the average CTR is 4.68%, while for e-commerce, the median CTR value is 2.69%. That said, for organic search, a CTR of 5% would be a good goal to have.
Average Position:
The average position metrics reflect your ranking in the SERPs for specific queries. The higher you are ranked in search results, the higher your total number of clicks and, consequently, your CTRs.
Less than 1% of searches occur on the second page of Google results, and on average, around two-thirds of all clicks go to the first three organic search results. On mobile, according to SEMrush, position one in the SERPs is followed by a CTR of no less than 22.4%. while positions two and three have a CTR of 13% and 10%, respectively.
| Metric | What It Measures | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
|
Clicks
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Number of visits from Google
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Shows actual traffic
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Impressions
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Visibility in search results
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Indicates SEO exposure
|
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CTR
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Click-through rate
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Measures SERP attractiveness
|
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Average Position
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Ranking in SERPs
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Impacts traffic volume
|
Google Search Console Metrics
How To Identify SEO Traffic Decline in GSC?
For one thing, you will likely need an agency specialized in providing SEO services to large conglomerates and SMEs. GSC is one of the most powerful online tools for identifying modifications in organic traffic trends and analyzing SERP performance over a certain period. But you must know what to look for.
Analyzing the traffic drop
Compare Performance Over a Certain Timeframe
In Google Search Console, our team will analyze your performance report and try to compare your site’s current digital performance with the metrics registered a couple of months ago. If a positive change in average search visibility position is noticed, then it means the implemented niche marketing strategy had an effect. However, if clicks decrease, while the impressions in Google results remain stable, there might be an issue with search results presentation that needs to be addressed.
Analyze Queries for Lost Traffic
In the queries tab, our team will try to identify which of the keywords utilized in the content creation strategy triggered the appearance of your pages in the SERPs. With the help of these tabs, we should be able to find keywords that lost rankings due to shifts in consumer preferences, analyze search intents that are no longer relevant for AI overviews, and see if competitors have outranked you for certain, previously-targeted keywords.
Check Which Pages Lost Traffic
In the performance subsection, under the page tab, our team will try to search for specific patterns that can indicate a single page losing more traffic than the average for the whole website, or a specific subsection of the page losing visibility, for unknown reasons. Your pages lost clicks but kept a similar number of impressions? If so, it might be possible that your site is not optimized for AI overviews, and for this reason, your CTRs are affected.
Investigating Indexing Issues
Many times, issues with CTRs and traffic visibility decline, are caused by indexation problems or by manual actions taken against your website. To try and verify your page’s status for Google crawlers, our team will go to the Indexing tab in Google Search Console and then, we’ll access the Pages subsection. We will then look for pages blocked by the robots.txt file, duplicated subdirectories with canonical conflicts, or sections of your site that are excluded from indexing.
SEO team analyzing indexing data
Understanding the Impact of AI Overviews on SEO Traffic
What Are AI Overviews?
In simple terms, AI overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear at the very top of search results for certain informational queries. So, for example, if you are searching for the answer to a specific question, instead of having to click on the first results visible in the SERPs to get your answer, Google will generate it for you based on data extracted from its indexed websites.
How Do AI Overviews Appear in Search Results?
Usually, they appear at the very top of search results, and they provide an AI-generated summary of the explanation desired by the user. The structure of AI-generated overview can vary from query to query, but typically, they have a structured text, they link to several sources for the provided answer and they present a direct response, even to complex questions.
SEO expert analyzing Google search results
How Do They Reduce Clicks for Informational Queries?
Unfortunately, one consequence of AI-generated overviews is the increase in what’s called zero-click searches. Since they answer questions directly in the search results, AI-based overviews decrease the CTRs of organic results. After all, why would you click on a website when the search engine itself provided you with the answer you were looking for?
AI-based overviews are fundamentally changing the SEO landscape, but this doesn’t mean that current search engine optimization strategies can’t target them. In order to increase your chances of appearing in AI overviews, our team will try to build and optimize topical clusters, target semantic keywords, prioritize the inclusion of FAQ sections in generated texts and also make use of structured data.
How Can We Recover Lost Rankings?
Improve Content Optimization
Most of the time, the main cause of declines in SERP visibility is related to content that no longer utilizes topical keywords for the covered article subject, or by the content itself that no longer matches the intent of core customers.
Marketing team brainstorming recovery strategies
To improve your site’s relevancy both for search engine crawlers and target clients, our team will try to conduct a complete audit of your pages, identify keywords that are missing from the implemented content creation strategy, revamp your evergreen articles, and update outdated information whenever possible.
Improve Internal Linking
Internal links might not be as flashy as revamping your site’s content framework, but they’re equally important, as for search engine crawlers, internal links act as small “highways” that can connect multiple sections of your website in a cohesive fashion. By linking your pages together, our team will hopefully improve the topical relationship of the content already existing on your website, and distribute your page authority, evenly.
Build Backlinks
Backlinks are no longer the core pillar of contemporary SEO strategies, as the field has moved on from the early days of the PageRank algorithm. That said, hyperlinks are still seen as a signal of trust and credibility, and therefore, their role in SEO strategies is still pivotal. Our team will, therefore, try to obtain publishing partnerships with industry veterans, find collaborations with websites relevant to the interests of core audiences, and also investigate the sites of competitors for any potential backlink partnership that we can target.
Improve User Experience
The most important action of them all. Do you want to recoup lost traffic and increase the visibility of your pages? Then, your website will simply need to be better than the competition, and be characterized by high-quality content, as well as a navigation experience that’s in line with industry benchmark setters.
Our team will concentrate on making your content follow the E-E-A-T guidelines, we will try to optimize your page’s back-end data, and thus ensure you follow the CWVs, while also prioritizing the optimization your site for mobile usability.
SEO Workflow for traffic drops
Conclusion: Turning Search Data into SEO Growth
Google Search Console has transformed into perhaps the most powerful digital tool available to digital marketers and webmasters. Since it provides a direct line of engagement with Google’s data, GSC allows for accurate insights into how users discover certain pages, and it can allow SEO agencies like us to identify which keywords trigger visibility in the SERPs, and how certain pages perform in relation to others.
About Author
Ion G. Tudorache
As a co-founder and managing director of GAMIT I am the first contact of our clients. My job includes setting project objectives and offering SEO consulting advice to customers. My professional background and experience working in the SEO industry are essential in developing efficient SEO strategies and designing innovative techniques.
