Google Search Console Insights will integrate social channels
Google is making Search Console Insights better by adding data from social channels linked to your website. Here’s what’s changed.
What has changed?
On December 8, Google introduced a new section in Search Console Insights that shows data from social channels connected to a website. It now goes beyond web pages. It analyzes clicks, impressions, and search queries that bring users to a brand’s social media profiles. All in one place with traditional search analytics.
Before this update, Search Console Insights only showed how users interacted with your website, like popular pages, search queries, traffic sources, and interest trends. Now, the report is more detailed. It includes social channel reach, content performance, audience demographics, and other traffic sources like Discover and Image Search. This data appears automatically when Search Console links a website to its social profiles.
What metrics are now available?
Search Console Insights has expanded its dataset and now displays several key metrics for your brand’s social channels. Here they are.
Total Reach. Find out the total number of clicks and impressions that lead users from Google to your social channel. It helps you see how often your social profiles appear in search results and how much engagement they attract compared to your website.
Content Performance. This displays the most viewed and fastest-growing pages on your social channel. It helps you identify which content is generating interest and which posts are losing visibility.
Search Queries. This includes the actual queries users enter to find your social profiles. The report highlights both top and rising queries, giving insight into the topics or search terms that improve your profile’s visibility.
Audience Location. This shows the countries where users most frequently click on your social channel in search results. You can use this information to adapt your content strategy to fit regional interests.
Additional Traffic Sources. It adds up and shows you the sum of clicks from services like Google Images, Google Videos, Google News, and Discover. These insights give you a better understanding of how various parts of the Google ecosystem drive traffic to your brand.
How to add social channels to Search Console Insights
Here’s the good part. You don’t need to do anything, at all! Currently, the addition of social channels is fully automatic. Search Console identifies related profiles based on your website’s data, links, structured data, and other signals. If it finds a matching channel, a notification will pop up in the Insights report, inviting you to add it to your analytics.
You just need to confirm the detected social profiles. Once confirmed, they will appear in the report, making data on reach, search queries, audience locations, and content performance available. Right now, there is no option to manually add social channels. The system only uses profiles that it can successfully link to your website.
What use cases are available?
Integrating social channels into Search Console Insights opens up several practical use cases that help you plan content more accurately and improve your overall search strategy.
1. Analyzing topics that perform well in both search and social media
Integrating social channels into Search Console Insights opens up several practical uses that can help you plan content better and enhance your overall search strategy.
2. Optimizing social media content for search interest
Query metrics show which keywords users use to find your profiles. You can use this data to improve titles, descriptions, and hashtags, making your social content match actual search behavior.
3. Identifying posts that bring users to your brand across multiple channels
Reports on top social media pages reveal which videos or posts often show up in Google search results. This helps you identify successful content formats to strengthen and replicate.
4. Adjusting content strategy by region
Data on the countries clicking on your social profiles lets you tailor topics, formats, and posting schedules to suit specific markets.
5. Evaluating the impact of additional Google Services
If services like Discover, Image Search, or Video Search bring significant traffic to a social channel, brands can better understand which visual or multimedia formats boost their visibility on Google.
The integration of social channels into Search Console Insights takes Google’s analytics to the next level. Search data and signals from your brand’s social profiles now live in one powerful report. Businesses can evaluate their digital presence more clearly, while creators and marketers gain a game-changing tool that links SEO, social media marketing (SMM), and content strategy. As the report evolves and support for social channels expands, GSI’s role as a central hub for understanding user interest will only continue to grow.
But remember, social media alone won’t cut it. You can’t even use Search Console Insights without a website. And social platforms can be unpredictable. Accounts can get banned, and finding specific information can become a hassle for some of your customers. A dedicated website gives you control, credibility, and a reliable space to showcase your brand.
Well, won’t you know it, SpaceLama offers top-notch domain registration and web hosting, complete with competitive pricing and impressive uptime. Plus, our support team is known for being one of the best in the market, ready to help you with any challenges.
Don’t rely solely on social media! Build your online presence today with SpaceLama and watch your insights and engagement soar!