GlossarySEO
What is the Performance report in Search Console?
Also called: Search results report, GSC performance, Search Console queries report
Definition
The Performance report in Search Console shows how your site does in Google Search: clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position, broken down by query, page, country, device, search appearance and date.
Performance report, explained
Google's help page says the default view shows click and impression data for the past three months, and you can choose longer ranges; Search Console keeps 16 months of data. You pick which of the four metrics to chart, then slice by dimension: Queries, Pages, Countries, Devices, Search appearance or Dates. A search type filter switches between web, image, video and news results, and date comparison lets you put two periods side by side.
Definitions matter. An impression counts when a link to your site was shown in results; items in carousels or expandable sections only count once scrolled or expanded into view. A click is a click through to your site. CTR is clicks divided by impressions. Position is the average of your topmost position across impressions. Data can be aggregated by property or by page, which is why totals don't always match when you switch tabs.
The report's best use is finding pages that are almost working. Filter to pages with many impressions, sort by CTR, and look for low CTR at positions 1–10: the title or snippet isn't earning the click. Look at positions 8–20 for queries where a better answer could move you onto page one. And compare queries against what each page targets to spot mismatches.
This is the loop we ran on our own product: rewriting titles and snippets on pages already ranking on page one or two. It produced the biggest gains, and it's what Autopilot's Search Console optimizer automates.
Why it matters for founders
It's the only place you see real Google queries for your site. Most early SEO wins come from acting on pages that already get impressions.
Example
A comparison page has 8,000 impressions at position 6 with a 0.5% CTR. You rewrite its title to match the query people use, and CTR roughly triples over the next month.
Common mistakes
- Only looking at the total clicks chart.
- Comparing periods of different lengths or across seasonal peaks.
- Expecting query rows to add up to totals.
- Ignoring the page and query dimensions together.
Sources
- Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results)
- Search Console Help: What are impressions, position and clicks?
- Google Search Central Blog: Introducing the new Search Console (16 months of data)
Checked
Related terms
- ImpressionsIn Google Search Console, an impression is counted each time a link to your site appears in a search result someone is shown. It measures visibility, not visits.
- Click-through rate (CTR)Click-through rate (CTR) is the share of impressions that turned into clicks: clicks divided by impressions. In Search Console it shows how often people who saw your result in Google chose it.
- Average positionAverage position in Search Console is the mean of your topmost ranking across the searches where your site appeared. 1 is the top result. It's an average, so it can hide very different positions.
- Search queryA search query is the exact text someone types or speaks into a search engine. A keyword is the topic you target; queries are the many real phrasings people use for it.