Search Console
Follow your site's presence in Google search results inside Fullmetrix, with clicks, impressions, CTR and average position.
The Search Console section shows what happens in Google before a visitor even reaches your site. How many times your pages appeared in results, how many people clicked, what words they searched for, and where you were ranked.
These figures come from Google Search Console, Google's free tool for site owners. We read them straight from Google every time you open a report. They only cover Google's free results, not your Google Ads ads, which have their own Google Ads section.
What you need to connect first
The section only appears in the sidebar once a Search Console site is connected. Open Settings, then the Integrations tab, and click Connect on the Search Console card. Google asks you to pick an account, then you choose the site to link. Your Google account must have access to that site in Search Console. The full guide is in Connect Google Search Console.
If your site has never been added to Search Console, do that first on Google's site. Figures only start from that point.
Finding the section in the app
In the sidebar, under the Data group, click Search Console. The section holds three reports.
Overview
Clicks, impressions, CTR and average position, day by day. Described further down this page.
Queries
The words people typed into Google before seeing your site.
Pages
The pages of your site that appear in Google and the ones that attract clicks.
The four metrics to know
Every report in the section uses the same four metrics, defined by Google.
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Clicks | How many times someone clicked a link to your site in Google results. |
| Impressions | How many times a link to your site was shown in results. The searcher didn't necessarily scroll down to it. A page in position 30 counts an impression as soon as the results page holding it is opened. |
| CTR | Click-through rate, meaning Clicks divided by Impressions, as a percentage. 3% means 3 clicks per 100 displays. A clearer title and description in Google raise this rate. |
| Average position | The average rank of your link in results. 1 is the top result. Positions 1 to 10 are usually on the first page. Smaller is better. |
The Overview report
Click Search Console, then Overview.
The four cards at the top
The Clicks, Impressions, CTR and Average position cards give the period's total or average, a small curve of the last 14 days, and the change against the comparison period. By default, the comparison uses the same dates last year.
The Average position card averages each day's position across the period. When several sites are added up, the site with the most impressions weighs the most. For this card, a lower number shows in green, because it means you are climbing in the results.
The four charts
| Chart | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Clicks | Clicks from search results, day by day. |
| Impressions | Appearances in search results, day by day. |
| CTR | Each day's click-through rate. |
| Average position | Each day's average position. |
On each chart, a second curve labeled (previous) in the tooltip shows the comparison period day for day.
Controls shared by the three reports
All sources appears when several Search Console sites are connected. It lists them by address. Untick the ones you don't want and Fullmetrix adds up the rest. See Source selector.
All devices limits figures to searches made on Desktop, Mobile or Tablet.
All countries limits figures to searches made from one country.
The date picker sets the dates and the comparison (Period or Year). By default it shows the last 30 days up to yesterday. See Date range and comparison.
Filters stay active when you move from one Search Console report to another. The header tools (TV mode, Show trends, Show annotations) work as everywhere else, see Charts and TV mode.
Why these figures differ from other tools
Search Console Clicks don't match Organic Search sessions in Google Analytics. A click counts even if the page didn't finish loading or the visitor refused analytics. Search Console only covers Google, while Organic Search also includes Bing and other engines.
Google publishes Search Console figures a few days late, usually two to three days. The last days of the period are therefore often incomplete or empty, which makes the curves drop at the end of the chart. Compare periods that end a few days before today instead.
Fullmetrix also keeps each Google response for up to one hour before asking again.