Look beyond vanity metrics with GSC traffic

Search Console provides first-party information about how a website appears in Google Search. Its metrics can make placement decisions more concrete, but they still require interpretation.

What the numbers mean

Clicks count visits from Google Search results. Impressions reflect appearances in results, click-through rate compares clicks with impressions, and average position summarizes ranking positions across recorded impressions.

Website-level clicks describe the broader property. Page-level clicks help you understand the specific article you are considering.

Compare comparable time windows

A last-28-days total is different from a calendar month. Check the reporting period, data freshness, and whether the connected property covers the entire domain or only a URL prefix.

Traffic is one input

Strong traffic cannot make an unrelated article relevant. Review content quality, audience fit, destination quality, and the publisher's willingness to maintain the reference.

Use permission carefully

A marketplace only needs read-only Search Console access for traffic imports. Ownership verification should rely on the account's existing property permissions. Publishers should be able to revoke access from their Google account.