Search Console is connected, and the Performance report shows a chart with coloured lines and a long table of searches. You can see that something is happening. What you cannot yet see is what it means for your business, or how to turn the table into a list of things worth doing.
This guide explains the Search Console Performance report for a small business owner: what clicks, impressions, CTR and position actually measure, how to use the queries and pages tabs together, how to filter and compare dates, and how to find the pages sitting just below the first page, which are usually your quickest wins.
Where the report lives and what it covers
In Search Console, open the Performance section and choose the search results report. It shows how your site appears in Google’s normal web search. Separate views can exist for Discover and News if your site appears there, but most small businesses only need search results.
At the top are filters for search type and date range. By default you see web search over a recent period. Below that is a chart and, beneath it, a table with tabs for queries, pages, countries, devices, search appearance and dates.
A site that is not verified yet needs that step first, and our guide to linking WordPress with Search Console covers verification. The report needs some time to collect data before it becomes useful.
Clicks, impressions, CTR and position explained
Four boxes above the chart switch each metric on or off. Turn all four on to see them together.
- Total clicks: how many times someone clicked a result leading to your site.
- Total impressions: how many times a link to your site appeared in a results page a person viewed. Being on a later page that nobody reached does not count.
- Average CTR: clicks divided by impressions.
- Average position: the average ranking of your highest result, where one is the top. Lower is better.
Two cautions. First, averages across the whole site hide almost everything; the numbers become meaningful when you look at a specific query or page. Second, the totals at the top can be higher than the sum of rows in the queries table, because Google leaves out some rare queries to protect searchers’ privacy. That is normal.
Reading the queries tab
The queries tab lists the searches that showed your site. Click a column heading to sort. Start by sorting by impressions, highest first, and read down the list with three questions in mind:
- Is this a search I want to be found for? Some will be your business name, some will be services you offer, and some will be unrelated.
- Am I getting clicks, or just appearing? A query with many impressions and few clicks may have a weak position, or a title that does not invite a click.
- Is there a pattern? Several queries about the same topic may mean you need a dedicated page or a better one.
It helps to separate brand searches from everything else. Use a query filter that excludes your business name, so you can see how you do with people who have not heard of you yet. That is the number that reflects SEO work.
Reading the pages tab
The pages tab shows the same data grouped by URL. It answers a different question: which of your pages earn visibility, and which earn nothing.
Sort by clicks to see your strongest pages. Then look for important pages, such as your main service pages, that are missing or near the bottom. A key page with almost no impressions may have an indexing problem, may not match the searches you hoped, or may need more links from the rest of your site.
The most useful move in the whole report is combining the two tabs. Click a page in the pages tab to filter the report to that page, then switch to the queries tab. You now see exactly which searches that one page appears for. This tells you whether the page is understood the way you intended.
Filters that make the report useful
Use the new filter option at the top to narrow the data. The ones small businesses use most:
- Query contains: for example, every search containing “repair” or the name of a service.
- Query does not contain: to remove your brand name and see the rest.
- Page: an exact URL, or every URL containing a folder such as /blog/.
- Country: useful if you serve one country and get stray impressions from others.
- Device: to compare mobile with desktop. Large differences can point to a mobile problem.
Filters stack, so you can view, say, mobile searches in your own country for one service page, excluding your brand name.
Comparing date ranges
In the date filter, choose the compare option to set two periods side by side. The table then shows both and the difference.
Good comparisons for a small business:
- The latest few weeks versus the previous few weeks: to see the effect of a recent change.
- The latest few months versus the same months last year: to remove seasonal swings.
- Before and after a specific change: such as rewriting a service page. Leave a reasonable gap after the change for Google to recrawl it.
Sort the comparison by the difference in clicks to find which queries or pages gained and lost most. That is often where the explanation for a change in traffic sits.
Finding pages close to page one
Pages that already rank just below the first page usually need the least effort to improve, and moving onto the first page tends to bring a clear rise in clicks. Here is how to find them:
- Set a date range covering the last few months.
- Turn on impressions and average position.
- In the queries tab, add a filter or sort so you can see queries with an average position just outside the top results.
- Keep only queries that are relevant to what you sell and have a meaningful number of impressions.
- Click each query, then switch to the pages tab to see which page is ranking for it.
For each page that comes up, ask what would make it the best answer for that search. Often it is a clearer title, a section that answers the query directly, more detail, better internal links, or simply a more up-to-date page. Our guide to editing SEO titles in WordPress helps with the first of those.
Watch for two pages sharing one query
When you click a query and the pages tab shows two or more of your pages taking turns, they may be competing. Our article on keyword cannibalisation explains how to tell and what to do.
A monthly routine with the Search Console Performance report
Once a month, a short pass through the report keeps you informed without turning it into a job:
- Compare the last month with the one before and with the same month last year.
- Check non-brand clicks and impressions: rising, flat or falling?
- Look at your main service pages one by one in the pages tab.
- Note any big movers in queries, up or down, and find out why.
- Pick one or two pages close to page one to improve this month.
Older articles that have slipped are worth a look too. Our content group covers how to update old blog posts using this same report to choose which ones.
The Performance report tells you about visibility, not enquiries. For the full picture of how search fits with the rest of your site’s work, see the SEO guide for small firms, and for how it combines with analytics and ad data across channels, our digital marketing hub.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my average position look good but clicks are low?
The average may be driven by a few searches where you rank well, often your brand name, while most other searches show you lower. Filter out brand queries and look at individual pages. Also check whether ads, maps or answer boxes push results down on the searches that matter.
Why do I see impressions from countries I do not serve?
Google shows pages to anyone whose search matches, wherever they are. Stray impressions from other countries are harmless. If they make the data hard to read, add a country filter. If a lot of traffic is from the wrong country, make your location and service area clearer on the site.
Can I export the Performance report data?
Yes. There is an export option at the top of the report that saves the current view as a spreadsheet or to Google Sheets. Exporting with your filters applied is a handy way to keep monthly snapshots or share a specific view with whoever helps you with the site.
How often does the Performance report update?
It updates regularly but with a short delay, so the most recent days may look incomplete. Avoid judging a change by the last day or two. Compare full weeks or months instead, leaving out the newest days if they look unusually low.
If you would like help turning this report into a monthly plan for your pages, that is a regular part of our SEO services, and the data stays in your own Search Console account throughout.
Next in this series: Keyword Cannibalisation: When Your Own Pages Compete
