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Search Console integration

One of the most common questions website owners have is “what are people searching for to find my site?” Google Search Console has traditionally been the place to find that answer, but it meant switching between tools. Our Search Console integration brings that data directly into your Fathom dashboard, so you can see your search performance alongside your analytics, including the specific pages each search term is driving traffic to, your average ranking, clicks, impressions, and CTR for each keyword.

What is Google Search Console? {#what-is-gsc .anchor}

Google Search Console is a search performance tool that helps you monitor and troubleshoot your site’s visibility in search results. It shows you which queries bring visitors to your site, how often your pages appear in results, and your average ranking position.

By connecting it to Fathom, you can view all of this data without leaving your dashboard.

Connecting Google Search Console {#connecting .anchor}

To get started, you’ll need an account with access to a Search Console property for your website. If you haven’t added your site yet, you’ll need to do that first before connecting it to Fathom.

Setting up the integration

  1. Go to Settings and click the site you want to connect.
  2. Click Integrations in the site menu.
  3. In the Search Console section, click the Connect button.
  4. You’ll be redirected to authorise Fathom. Sign in with the account that has access to your Search Console property and grant the requested permissions. We only request read-only access to your search data — we can never modify anything in your account.
  5. After authorising, you’ll be redirected back to Fathom to select a property.

Choosing a property

After authorising, you’ll see a list of all available Search Console properties on your account. Select the property that matches the site you’re connecting.

Fathom will suggest the best matching property based on your site’s domain, but you can choose any property from the list. If you have multiple properties (for example, both a domain property and a URL-prefix property), we recommend selecting the domain property as it covers all subdomains and protocols.

If no properties appear, make sure your account has access to at least one Search Console property and that your site has been verified.

Once you’ve selected a property, click Save & Connect and you’re all set.

Viewing search data on your dashboard {#viewing-data .anchor}

Once connected, here’s how to view your Search Console data:

Click on the cog icon next to “Google” in your Referrers box. You’ll then be asked to choose a data source:

  • Fathom Analytics — Shows all visitors referred from search engines, with the full range of Fathom data.
  • Search Console — Switches the entire dashboard to show search performance data: clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position.

You can change your preference at any time by clicking the cog icon next to Search in the referrers box.

Search Console mode

When you choose Search Console as your data source (or filter by a search term), your dashboard switches to Search Console mode. In this mode:

  • The totals bar shows Clicks, Impressions, Avg CTR, and Avg Position instead of the usual Visitors, Views, Avg Time on Site, and Bounce Rate.
  • The chart displays search metrics over time. You can toggle which metrics appear on the chart by clicking the metric names in the totals bar, just like you do with regular analytics metrics.
  • The data boxes (Countries, Device Types, Pages) show search breakdowns with clicks and impressions, rather than visitor counts.
  • The Search Terms box shows the queries driving traffic.

You’ll see a “Data Source is Search Console” filter pill at the top of your dashboard when you’re in this mode. Click the × on that pill to return to your regular Fathom analytics view.

Search terms box

A new Search Terms data box appears on your dashboard, showing the queries people use to find your site. Each search term displays:

  • Clicks — how many times someone clicked through to your site.
  • Impressions — how many times your site appeared in results for that query.

You can click on any search term to filter your dashboard by that term. If you hold Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) while clicking, you’ll open a search for that term in a new tab instead.

You can search within your search terms by clicking the search icon in the bottom-left of the Search Terms box.

Expanded view

Click the expand icon on any data box to see the full detail view. In detail view, alongside clicks and impressions, you’ll see additional columns for:

  • CTR (click-through rate) - the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click. Calculated as clicks ÷ impressions.
  • Position (average ranking position) - the average ranking position of your site in search results for a given query or dimension. Position 1 means you were the first result.

Comparison mode

Date comparisons work with Search Console data too. When you enable a comparison period (for example, comparing this month to last month), you’ll see the change in clicks, impressions, CTR, and position for each search term, country, device type, and page.

Filtering {#filtering .anchor}

Your search term data can be filtered by:

  • Search term — The query a user typed into a search engine.
  • Country — The country the searcher was located in.
  • Device type — Desktop, Tablet, or Phone.
  • Page — The specific page on your site that appeared in search results.

Some dimensions aren’t filterable (such as Browser, Operating System, Referrer, Events, and UTM parameters) because they are not supported by the Search Console API.

Limitations {#limitations .anchor}

There are a few things to be aware of when using this integration:

Data delay

Search Console data is not real-time. It typically takes 2–3 days for search data to become available. If you select a date range that only includes today or yesterday, you’ll see a message explaining that data isn’t available yet. For the best experience, use date ranges that go back at least a few days.

No connection between Search Console data and Fathom events

Search Console data and Fathom analytics data come from fundamentally different sources. Search Console data reflects what happens in search results, while Fathom data is collected by our script running on your website. Because these are completely separate, there is no way to link a specific search query to a specific event completion or pageview session in Fathom.

API rate limits

The Search Console API has rate limits. If you’re making a lot of requests in a short period, you may occasionally see a rate limit message. Just wait a minute or two and try again.

Shared dashboards

Search Console data is not available on shared dashboards. Since this data requires an authenticated connection, it can only be viewed by logged-in account owners in the main dashboard.

Managing the integration {#managing .anchor}

Changing the connected property

If you need to switch to a different Search Console property:

  1. Go to Settings, click the site name, and then click Integrations.
  2. Click the Options dropdown next to Search Console and select Edit.
  3. Choose a different property from the list and click Save & Connect.

Disconnecting

To remove the integration:

  1. Go to Settings, click the site name, and then click Integrations.
  2. Click the Options dropdown next to Search Console and select Disconnect.
  3. Confirm the disconnection.

This removes the connection between Fathom and your Search Console property. Your data in the original tool is not affected. You can reconnect at any time by following the setup steps again.

Reconnecting after an error

If your authorization expires or is revoked, you’ll see an error status on the Integrations page and a message in the Search Terms box. To fix this, simply click Connect to go through the authorisation flow again.