Webmaster Tools

• View Search Queries
• Available data
• Filtering Search Queries data
• Query details
• How to use Search Queries data
• About Search Queries data

The Search Queries page provides information about Google Web Search queries that have returned pages from your site. In addition, you can also see information about the pages on your site that were seen most often in search results (top pages). To specify the period for which you want to see data, use the calendar dropdowns above the graph. (By default, we'll show the last 30 days of data, and compare the daily average for the selected period with the daily average for the previous period.)

Available data

Search queries data includes the following:

• Queries: The total number of search queries that returned pages from your site over the given period. 


• Query list: Specific user queries for which your site appeared in search results. Webmaster Tools shows data for the top 2,000 queries that returned your site at least once or twice in search results in the selected period. This list reflects any filters you’ve set (for example, a search query for [flowers] on google.ca is counted separately from a query for [flowers] on google.com).


• Impressions: The number of times pages from your site appeared in search results, and the percentage increase/decrease in the daily average impressions compared to the previous period. The number of days per period defaults to 30, but you can change it at any time. (These numbers can be rounded, and may not be exact.)


• Clicks: The number of times a user clicked your site's listing in search results for a particular query, and the percentage increase/decrease in the average daily clicks compared to the previous period. (These numbers can be rounded, and may not be exact.)


• CTR (clickthrough rate): The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click to your site, and the number of percentage points increase or decrease in the daily average CTR compared to the previous period. For example, if your CTR went from 40% to 30%, this column would show a change of -10.


• Average position: The average top position of your site on the search results page for that query, and the change compared to the previous period. Green indicates that your site's average top position is improving.

  To calculate average position, we take into account the top ranking URL from your site your site for a particular query. For example, if Jane’s query returns your site as the #1 and #2 result, and David’s query returns your site in positions #2 and #7, your average top position would be 1.5.

You can view up to 90 days of historical data. However, you can only see change data for time periods of 30 days or less.

Filtering query data

By default, the Search Queries page shows combined query stats for all search types. To filter the data, click Filters. For example, you can:

• See stats for specific Google search types. In the Search section, click All and then click Image, Mobile (which includes smartphones and feature-phones), Video, or Web. The same query can appear in several different views, so the combined number of queries for each search type may not match the number of queries shown for All.
• See stats for queries containing (or excluding) a certain word or phrase. Select Containing (or Not containing) in the Queries list and then type the search terms to include or exclude.
• See stats for starred queries only.
• Filter by location.
• Exclude search queries that generate very little traffic (fewer than 10 impressions or clicks).

Query details data

To see additional information about a query, such as the position of your page on the Google search results page, and the URL of the page returned by the search query, click the query.

The Query Details page provides a list of pages on your site that appeared in search results for that query, along with impressions, clicks, and CTR. In addition, the Position column shows how often your site appeared in a specific position in search results. For example, if Position 1 has 36 impressions, it means that there were 36 searches for the query in which your site was the very first site listed in search results.

The data on the Query Detail page reflects any filters you set on the main Search Queries page.

How to use Search Queries data

This data can provide valuable information about your site. We recommend the following steps:

• Review the Query list for expected keywords. If keywords you expect to see don't appear, your site may not have enough useful content relevant to those keywords. If unexpected words (like "Viagra" or "casino") appear, it's likely that your site has been hacked.


• Compare Impressions and CTR to identify how you can improve your content. (Tip: Sort by Change to see queries with significant new activity.) There are several steps you can take to make your content appear more compelling so that users click your site in search results pages. Your page title appears in the results, so make sure it's relevant and accurate. Google can display the text in your pages' meta descriptions in search results, so review your meta descriptions.


• If you have an AdWords account, review the Query list for keyword ideas. (Looking for more ideas? Check out the Publisher's Guide to Toolbar.)

About Search Queries data

Webmaster Tools aggregates query information. Once the count of each query reaches a certain threshold, it will appear on the Search Queries page. To protect user privacy, Google doesn't aggregate all data. For example, we may not track some queries that are made a very small number of times.

Webmaster Tools data may differ slightly from the data displayed in other tools, such as Google Analytics. Possible reasons for this include:

• Some processing of our source data—for example, to eliminate duplicates and visits from robots—may cause your stats to differ from stats listed in other sources. However, these changes should not be significant.


• Some tools, such as Google Analytics, track traffic only from users who have enabled JavaScript in their browser.


• Some tools define "keywords" differently. For example, the Keywords tool in Google AdWords displays the total number of Google searches for that keyword across the web. The of user queries for that keyword across the web. The Webmaster Tools Search Queries page, however, shows how many of those keyword searches returned your pages in Google search results, and this is a smaller number.


• There may be a lag between when the numbers are calculated and when they are visible to webmasters—although data gets published in intervals, we are continually collecting it. Normally, however, data should be available in 2-3 days.


• Time zones matter. Search Queries tracks daily data according to Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). If your other systems use different time zones, your daily views may not match exactly.


• To protect user privacy, Google doesn't aggregate all data. For example, we may not track some queries that are made a very small number of times or that contain personal or sensitive information.

If you can no longer see a search query you saw recently, make sure you haven't filtered the results by country or type of search.