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Analytics & Metrics

What Is Queries (Search Console)?

Queries are the search terms your site appeared for, as reported in Google Search Console's Performance report with clicks, impressions, CTR and position for each. They are Google's own record of what people typed before seeing you, with one caveat: rare queries are anonymized and never shown as rows.

Why Queries (Search Console) matters for SEO

The query list is the most honest keyword research that exists, because it is not an estimate: every row is a search that actually happened and actually showed your site. It reveals the topics Google is testing you for, the questions your audience already asks, and the almost-ranking terms one push away from real traffic.

Pro tip on Queries (Search Console)

Work the query list with filters: brand excluded for acquisition analysis, position bands for striking distance work, question patterns for content ideas. Expect the rows to sum short of the totals; the difference is the anonymized share, and it is measurable but not recoverable.

Related terms

ImpressionsEach query row carries the impressions it earnedKeyword RankingsQueries are what you actually appeared for; a rank tracker checks terms you chose to watchBranded QuerySplitting queries by brand is the first analysis worth doing

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What Are Anonymous Queries?

CrawlRaven reads your query data daily and turns it into a ranked plan: which queries to push, which pages should own them, and what is holding each one back.

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