To help all companies and content creators better understand which output they produce most resonates with audiences, Google has introduced a new experience called Search Console Insights. This experience joins data from both Search Console and Google Analytics—with the goal of making it easy for users to understand their content’s performance.
As Google explains, “Whether you are a web content creator, blogger, or a website owner, and independent of your technical expertise, it can provide you with an overview and helpful insights on how your content is performing.” Let’s take a closer look.
Search Console Insights can answer several vital questions
What are your best-performing pieces of content, and which ones are trending?
Combining the power of Google Search Console and Analytics, Search Console Insights will show you how your newest content from the past 28 days is resonating—including details like average duration on page and number of views. In addition, it will show you which content pages have performed the best over the past four weeks. This means that you can see if older pages are still performing well—an insight that you can get through Google Analytics but takes more time to find.
How do people discover your content across the web?
Search Console Insights also gives you an understanding of how people find you online. This includes telling you where the traffic is coming from (paid search, direct or organic) and how long visitors to your site stay on the page.
What do people search for on Google before they visit your content?
Another valuable insight it provides is the most searched queries. Thanks to this data, you can see the primary keywords that users have searched to find you. With access to this information, you might encounter keywords that you didn’t think were relevant to your business— but that users are searching for. You are therefore empowered to create more content targeted to those keywords.
How you can apply Search Console Insights to your business
If you already have Search Console set up for your site, you can start using the Insights feature right away. As it is just rolling out—your location may dictate whether or not you currently have access, but it should be widely available soon.
There are several different ways to approach this new tool. I think it’s a great addition to your overall marketing arsenal and allows you to see, at a glance, how various pieces of content are performing. Crucially, though, I don’t think it is an adequate replacement for the kind of actionable insight that can be gleaned from in-depth analysis. It should be used as a starting point, from which areas that warrant a deep dive can be identified.
Overall, it is undoubtedly a valuable way to support the effort required to create great content that demonstrates you’re attentive to what your audiences appreciate. If you’re interested in further discussing how Search Console Insights can complement your comprehensive marketing strategy, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to set up a meeting.
