See the words people searched
Connect Google Search Console to see what people typed into Google before they came to your site.
Why you need Search Console for this
Search engines keep the words people searched for out of what the browser sends, so no analytics tool can see them on its own. Google shares them with the site’s owner through Google Search Console, its free tool for site owners. Connect it once and the words show up on the Search tab every day.
Crustat only reads from Search Console. It never changes anything there.
Before you start
- Your site needs to be in Google Search Console, verified as yours. If it isn’t, add it at search.google.com/search-console first.
- You sign in with the Google account that can see that site in Search Console.
- Only the workspace’s owners and admins can connect it. Everyone who can see the site can read the words.
Connect it
- Open your site and click the Search tab.
- Click Connect Search Console.
- Sign in to Google and allow Crustat to read Search Console.
- You come back to the Search tab: “Search Console is connected. Your search words are below.”
Crustat picks the matching Search Console property (Google’s name for a site in Search Console) for you. If none of them has your site’s exact address, you’re asked to pick one in Site settings → Integrations: choose it and click Use this one.
Read the table
You get the top 25 searches for the range at the top (Today, 7 days or 30 days):
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Search | What people typed into Google |
| Visits | Visits from Google for this search |
| Shown | How often your site showed up in the results |
| Click rate | Visits for each time it showed up |
| Position | Where your site was in the results, on average |
A few things come from Google itself:
- About two days late. Google shares searches with a delay, so Today is usually empty. Use 7 days or 30 days.
- Rare searches are left out by Google to protect people’s privacy.
- Google’s days. Search Console days follow Pacific time, not your site’s time zone.
- Google search only. Bing and other search engines aren’t part of it.
Crustat fetches fresh words at most once an hour.
Disconnect
Go to Site settings → Integrations, and in the Google Search Console card click Disconnect. The words stop showing, and Crustat gives up its access at Google. You can connect again any time.
If someone removes Crustat’s access on Google’s side, the tab shows “Search Console was disconnected at Google”. Click Connect again to bring the words back.
Related
- Where visitors come from: the Search channel shows how many visitors came from search engines.
Still stuck? Write to hello@crustat.com.