Connect Search Console

Search Console is the most valuable free SEO data source on the planet. Connecting it gives us your actual search queries, click-through rates, average positions and index coverage – the ground-truth data we layer onto every other report.

Before you start

• You need at least Restricted access to the Search Console property.
• The property can be a domain property (e.g. semoptimiser.com covering all subdomains) or a URL-prefix property (e.g. https://www.semoptimiser.com/).
• You can't connect a property that's not yet verified in Search Console.

Connect

1. Go to Settings → Integrations.
2. Find Google Search Console and click Connect.
3. A Google OAuth window opens. Pick the Google account with Search Console access.
4. Grant the webmasters.readonly scope.
5. A modal lists every property your account can see. Tick the ones you want connected.
6. Click Save. We backfill the last 16 months of data – this can take up to an hour for large properties.

What you get

• Console module: GSC performance, index coverage, bulk URL inspection, sitemap status. Faster than the GSC UI for everything except live debug.
• Query data on every rank-tracked keyword: actual clicks and impressions next to your tracked position.
• Page-level performance on every audited URL: real clicks, impressions and average position from Google.
• Bulk URL inspection: queue thousands of URLs to check index status against Google's daily 2,000 quota.

Quota and rate limits

The Search Console API has a daily quota of 2,000 URL inspections per property and 1,200 queries per minute for performance data. We respect both automatically and queue requests during quota-busy times. The bulk inspection queue shows how many slots you have left for the day.

Multiple properties

You can connect as many properties as your Google account has access to. Each one is mapped to a site in your workspace. If a single domain has both a domain property and a URL-prefix property, pick the domain property – it gives us the most complete picture.

Common issues

"Property not found" after authorization

Your Google account has fewer property roles than expected, often because someone removed your access. Re-add yourself to the property in Search Console (Settings → Users and permissions) and reconnect.

Data only covers 16 months

That's Google's API limit, not ours. We can't fetch older data even if it exists in your GSC UI.

Numbers don't match GSC UI exactly

The API uses different sampling than the UI for the most recent two days. Once data ages past 48 hours it matches exactly. Anchoring comparisons to dates 3+ days ago avoids this.