search-console

Google Search Console

Pull search performance data, index coverage, and Core Web Vitals from Google Search Console API.

Prerequisites

Requires Google OAuth credentials:

• GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID
• GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET
• A valid OAuth access token with https://www.googleapis.com/auth/webmasters.readonly scope

Set credentials in .env, .env.local, or ~/.claude/.env.global.

Getting an Access Token

# Step 1: Authorization URL (user visits in browser)
echo "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth?client_id=${GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID}&redirect_uri=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob&scope=https://www.googleapis.com/auth/webmasters.readonly&response_type=code&access_type=offline"

# Step 2: Exchange code for tokens
curl -s -X POST "https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token" \
  -d "code={AUTH_CODE}" \
  -d "client_id=${GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID}" \
  -d "client_secret=${GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET}" \
  -d "redirect_uri=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob" \
  -d "grant_type=authorization_code"

# Step 3: Refresh expired token
curl -s -X POST "https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token" \
  -d "refresh_token={REFRESH_TOKEN}" \
  -d "client_id=${GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID}" \
  -d "client_secret=${GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET}" \
  -d "grant_type=refresh_token"

Listing Available Sites

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites" \
  | python3 -c "
import json, sys
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
for site in data.get('siteEntry', []):
    print(f\"{site['siteUrl']}  |  Permission: {site['permissionLevel']}\")
"

The site URL format is either https://example.com/ (URL prefix) or sc-domain:example.com (domain property).

---

1. Search Performance Report

The core report: queries, pages, clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position.

API Endpoint

POST https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/{siteUrl}/searchAnalytics/query

Note: The {siteUrl} must be URL-encoded (e.g., https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2F or sc-domain%3Aexample.com).

Top Queries

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "startDate": "2024-01-01",
    "endDate": "2024-03-31",
    "dimensions": ["query"],
    "rowLimit": 50,
    "startRow": 0
  }'

Top Pages

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "startDate": "2024-01-01",
    "endDate": "2024-03-31",
    "dimensions": ["page"],
    "rowLimit": 50
  }'

Query + Page Combination

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "startDate": "2024-01-01",
    "endDate": "2024-03-31",
    "dimensions": ["query", "page"],
    "rowLimit": 100,
    "dimensionFilterGroups": [{
      "filters": [{
        "dimension": "page",
        "operator": "contains",
        "expression": "/blog/"
      }]
    }]
  }'

Available Dimensions

Dimension	Description
query	Search query
page	URL
country	Country code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3)
device	DESKTOP, MOBILE, TABLET
date	Individual date
searchAppearance	Rich result type

Response Parsing

curl -s -X POST "..." | python3 -c "
import json, sys
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
print(f\"{'Query':<50} {'Clicks':>8} {'Impr':>8} {'CTR':>8} {'Pos':>6}\")
print('-' * 82)
for row in data.get('rows', []):
    keys = ' + '.join(row.get('keys', []))
    print(f\"{keys:<50} {row['clicks']:>8} {row['impressions']:>8} {row['ctr']*100:>7.1f}% {row['position']:>6.1f}\")
"

---

2. Search Performance by Date

Track daily trends for queries and pages.

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "startDate": "2024-01-01",
    "endDate": "2024-03-31",
    "dimensions": ["date"],
    "rowLimit": 1000
  }'

To track a specific query over time:

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "startDate": "2024-01-01",
    "endDate": "2024-03-31",
    "dimensions": ["date"],
    "dimensionFilterGroups": [{
      "filters": [{
        "dimension": "query",
        "operator": "equals",
        "expression": "your target keyword"
      }]
    }]
  }'

---

3. Index Coverage (URL Inspection API)

Check if a specific URL is indexed.

Endpoint

POST https://searchconsole.googleapis.com/v1/urlInspection/index:inspect

Example curl

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://searchconsole.googleapis.com/v1/urlInspection/index:inspect" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "inspectionUrl": "https://example.com/page-to-check",
    "siteUrl": "sc-domain:example.com"
  }'

Response Fields

Field	Description
inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.coverageState	Submitted and indexed, Crawled - currently not indexed, etc.
inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.robotsTxtState	ALLOWED or DISALLOWED
inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.indexingState	INDEXING_ALLOWED or INDEXING_NOT_ALLOWED
inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.lastCrawlTime	When Googlebot last crawled
inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.crawledAs	DESKTOP or MOBILE
inspectionResult.mobileUsabilityResult.verdict	PASS, FAIL, or VERDICT_UNSPECIFIED

---

4. Sitemaps

List and check sitemap status.

List Sitemaps

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/sitemaps" \
  | python3 -c "
import json, sys
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
for sm in data.get('sitemap', []):
    print(f\"URL: {sm['path']}\")
    print(f\"  Type: {sm.get('type','')}  |  Submitted: {sm.get('lastSubmitted','')}\")
    print(f\"  URLs discovered: {sm.get('contents',[{}])[0].get('submitted','?')}  |  Indexed: {sm.get('contents',[{}])[0].get('indexed','?')}\")
    print()
"

Submit a Sitemap

curl -s -X PUT -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/sitemaps/https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fsitemap.xml"

---

5. Opportunity Identification

Use Search Console data to find SEO opportunities.

Low-Hanging Fruit: High Impressions, Low CTR

Queries with many impressions but low CTR suggest the title/description needs optimization.

# Pull queries, then filter for: impressions > 100 AND ctr < 0.03 AND position < 20
curl -s -X POST \
  "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "startDate": "2024-01-01",
    "endDate": "2024-03-31",
    "dimensions": ["query", "page"],
    "rowLimit": 1000
  }' | python3 -c "
import json, sys
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
print('== Low CTR Opportunities (High impressions, low CTR, good position) ==')
print(f\"{'Query':<40} {'Page':<40} {'Impr':>6} {'CTR':>7} {'Pos':>5}\")
for row in data.get('rows', []):
    if row['impressions'] > 100 and row['ctr'] < 0.03 and row['position'] < 20:
        print(f\"{row['keys'][0]:<40} {row['keys'][1][-40:]:<40} {row['impressions']:>6} {row['ctr']*100:>6.1f}% {row['position']:>5.1f}\")
"

Striking Distance: Position 5-20

Queries ranking on page 1-2 that could be pushed to top 5 with content optimization.

# Filter for position between 5 and 20 with decent impressions
curl -s -X POST "..." | python3 -c "
import json, sys
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
print('== Striking Distance Keywords (Position 5-20) ==')
opps = [r for r in data.get('rows',[]) if 5 <= r['position'] <= 20 and r['impressions'] > 50]
opps.sort(key=lambda x: x['impressions'], reverse=True)
for row in opps[:30]:
    print(f\"{row['keys'][0]:<50} Pos: {row['position']:>5.1f}  Impr: {row['impressions']:>6}  Clicks: {row['clicks']:>4}\")
"

Cannibalization Detection

Find queries where multiple pages compete for the same keyword.

# Pull query+page data, then group by query to find duplicates
curl -s -X POST "..." | python3 -c "
import json, sys
from collections import defaultdict
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
query_pages = defaultdict(list)
for row in data.get('rows', []):
    query_pages[row['keys'][0]].append({
        'page': row['keys'][1],
        'clicks': row['clicks'],
        'impressions': row['impressions'],
        'position': row['position']
    })
print('== Keyword Cannibalization (multiple pages for same query) ==')
for query, pages in sorted(query_pages.items(), key=lambda x: -sum(p['impressions'] for p in x[1])):
    if len(pages) > 1:
        total_impr = sum(p['impressions'] for p in pages)
        if total_impr > 100:
            print(f\"\nQuery: {query} ({total_impr} total impressions)\")
            for p in sorted(pages, key=lambda x: -x['impressions']):
                print(f\"  {p['page'][-60:]}  Pos: {p['position']:.1f}  Impr: {p['impressions']}  Clicks: {p['clicks']}\")
"

---

Workflow: Full Search Performance Audit

When asked for a complete GSC audit:

1. Overall Metrics: Total clicks, impressions, avg CTR, avg position for last 90 days vs previous 90 days
2. Top 30 Queries: By clicks, with CTR and position
3. Top 20 Pages: By clicks, with CTR and position
4. Device Breakdown: Desktop vs mobile performance
5. Low-Hanging Fruit: High impressions + low CTR opportunities
6. Striking Distance: Position 5-20 keywords with optimization potential
7. Cannibalization: Queries with multiple competing pages
8. Index Coverage: Spot-check important URLs
9. Sitemap Health: Verify sitemaps are submitted and indexed

Report Format

## Search Console Audit: {domain}
### Period: {date range}

### Summary
| Metric | Current | Previous | Change |
|--------|---------|----------|--------|
| Clicks | X | Y | +Z% |
| Impressions | X | Y | +Z% |
| Avg CTR | X% | Y% | +Z pp |
| Avg Position | X | Y | +Z |

### Top Queries
| Query | Clicks | Impressions | CTR | Position |
|-------|--------|-------------|-----|----------|
| ...   | ...    | ...         | ... | ...      |

### Optimization Opportunities

#### Title/Description Optimization (High Impressions, Low CTR)
1. "{query}" - {impressions} impressions, {ctr}% CTR, position {pos}
   - Page: {url}
   - Recommendation: ...

#### Content Optimization (Striking Distance)
1. "{query}" - position {pos}, {impressions} impressions
   - Action: Add {query} to H2, expand section on {topic}

#### Cannibalization Fixes
1. "{query}" appears on {n} pages
   - Consolidate to: {best_url}
   - Redirect/noindex: {other_urls}

---

Rate Limits

• Search Analytics API: 1,200 queries per minute
• URL Inspection API: 2,000 inspections per day per property
• Data freshness: Search data is typically 2-3 days behind

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Fix
403	No access to this property	Verify ownership in GSC
400	Invalid date range	Dates must be within last 16 months
Empty rows	No data matching filters	Broaden date range or remove filters