In Mid June 2021, Google launched a new Beta functionality on search console named “Search Console Insights“. This immediately created a lot of buzz within the SEO industry. Now the immediate question is what exactly is Search Console Insights and what you can expect from it? Today, in this post we will cover everything related to this topic. We will also share a detailed thesis on how you can use the data for improving your SEO. Without further ado let’s dive in!
What is Search Console Insights?
This is the all-new functionality introduced within the existing Google Webmaster Tool A.K.A Google Search Console. It provides a detailed analysis of user metrics and content statistics. The data are correlated from both Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
Why ‘Search Console Insights’ Data Can Be Helpful For Your SEO?
The data that one can obtain from ‘Search Console Insights’ can be useful from various perspective. It can provide detailed insights into several angles within your website. The pointers are mentioned in the below image.
Chapter 1: Understanding Page Views & Average Duration
The first module helps in showcasing the number of “Page Views” & “Average Duration” of your website within the last 28 days.
For instance, we have taken our own website Thatware.co as an example. Here’s what we got:
Interpretation from the above image: By visualizing the above data, we can interpret the following outcome:
- The number of people who viewed the website is 5447 (the data is collected based on the last 28 days record and traffic source is Organic).
- There has been a 12% increase in the page view compared to its previous period. In this image, it’s May vs June 2021.
- The average duration of the current state is 2m 46s and it has increased by 41% compared to its previous period.
Conclusion of Chapter 1:
- Looking at the data, we can say that user engagement has improved by 41% compared to the previous month since the average time spent has increased by the said amount.
- The organic pages per session have also improved 12% since the overall pageviews have improved by the said amount.
- The above data’s can be benchmarked for the upcoming month which can help us to make sure we are on a right track!
Chapter 2: New Contents
The second module will showcase the new contents within your website. In our example, we have attached our real-time example as shown in the image below. The following metrics are kept in mind when the functionality looks for the new contents:
- The number of views
- The average time spent on the article
- Content Freshness
- Correlation of traffic sources
Interpretation from the above image: Basically the above image showcases the new contents based on the metrics as described above. If you further click on any one of the content, it will provide additional insights. Click on any one of your content as shown below.
Once you click, as shown above, you will get additional insights. The first insight which you will receive is the information of the pageview which that particular content received along with the information of the average time spent duration. The image is shown as under:
The above image shows us that there were 7 page views on this content and the average time spent is 1m 54s. Now as you scroll down, the next thing which you will find is the sources by which people found your content. The image is shown as under:
The above image will show you the different sources which will help you in understanding by which means the traffic came on that landing page. As per our example above, 57% of the traffic came from Direct Channel and 29% from Organic Search and 14% from Referral Sources. As you scroll down, you will find the next section which showcases the backlinks which contributed to the traffic and referring domain along with that you will also be able to check whether any traffic came from any social media platform or not. The image is shown as under:
By looking at the above image, we can say that a backlink from YourStory has contributed to bringing some traffic to the content and also there is no Social Media attention on this content.
NOW REPEAT THE ABOVE PROCESS FOR ALL THE CONTENT’s as shown below:
Conclusion of Chapter 2:
- With the help of this module, we can create a list of all the top-performing contents on excel.
- After that, we call pull of all the valuable data such as the backlinks which contributed to the growth and the social platforms which help with the boost. We can put all the data side by side.
- Once we have all the data, then we can use the data to improve the SEO of the overall website. In other words, we can use the top-performing contents as an internal link asset to other YMYL pages. Also, we can use the backlinks on other important pages as well.
Chapter 3: Popular Contents
This is the section that will showcase the most top-performing and popular contents within the website. Some of the metrics take into consideration are as under:
- Highest Page-views
- A good number of backlink sources
- Oldest pages
- Good Bounce rates
- Content Trend with time
The image is provided as under:
Interpretation from the above image: Basically the above image will showcase the list of all the contents which are popular. Also, when further clicked on individual posts, we can get additional insights as under:
The first two sections which would come up is “Pageview Stats” & “How people find you“. The image has been shown as under. Basically, this will showcase the traffic statistics and the sources from which the traffic has been acquired namely Organic, Direct, Referral, etc.
Then the next section which would come is “Google Search“. This is one of the most vital parameters in this entire report. It will showcase the Top Queries which has contributed to the growth of visibility of the particular content. The image is shown as under:
The next section will showcase, the top backlink sources which have contributed to the growth of traffic and visibility for the campaign. The image is shown as under:
The last section is the Social Media section, which showcases the various social media platforms from where the content got visibility. The image is shown as under:
Conclusion of Chapter 3:
- This module is one of the most vital parameters of all. You can make an excel record of all the popular contents.
- With the help of the above list, one can perform in-link activity from the popular contents as they are rich in link juice.
- Then one can also keep the record of top-performing backlinks and search queries. These queries and backlinks can be reverse engineered to be used on YMYL pages for adding a boost to the SERP visibility and rankings. Moreover, the queries can also be used as a primary source of keywords for further boosting up organic traffic.
Chapter 4: Google Search
This section will provide highlights of the top search queries which are prevailing with the campaign. The screenshot is as under:
Interpretation from the above image: From the above image, we can filter all the top queries for which the campaign is performing. We can then use those keywords as a part of our ongoing SEO activities to further boost our SEO performances.
Conclusion of Chapter 4:
- Make a list of all the top-performing queries in excel.
- Then use the keywords as a part of ongoing SEO activity which will further boost the SEO performances.
Bonus Tip:
You will also get two additional sections that will show the list of top-performing backlinks and Social Platforms. While you can really have any direct action on this item. But yes, you can definitely monitor the sources of the backlink and use them to target other pages of your website which are important but underperforming. Vice versa goes for social media as well.
Key Takeaways
- Google Search Console Insights can really provide a 360-degree view of all overall content and user-driven information’s and statistics.
- The most intriguing factor of the functionality is that it can help you to find top-performing queries, backlinks and sources of traffic. They can be reverse-engineered and used on YMYL pages to further add value to the SEO effort.
- This feature can also help in keeping proper track of the content and help in the prevention of zombie pages. In other words, by keeping an eye on the top-performing content vs fresh contents, one can constantly monitor the contents which are underperforming. Lastly, by reverse-engineering the underperforming contents can also be improved by building links and optimizing for search queries from the top sources.
