How to Link Google Search Console to Google Analytics

Are you a blogger who wants to see the keywords you're ranking for in Analytics? All you have to do is link Google Search Console to Google Analytics. This post will give you step-by-step instructions on how to do it!

Want to see your Google Search Console results in Google Analytics? All you have to do is link Google Search Console to Google Analytics, and you're in business. By linking them, you'll be able to see your search results when you look at your analytics account. 

Having keyword data such as organic search queries, average position, and number of clicks available within Google Analytics data is good news for site owners, business owners, and the SEO specialist who works in digital marketing.

What is the benefit of connection the two accounts?

The biggest benefit of having your Google Search Console data in Google Analytics is that you can see user behavior data such as bounce rate and pages per session for your landing pages all in one place.

It also allows you to see you organic ranking data whenever you are checking your total traffic without opening another site.

How to Link Google Search Console to Google Analytics

Make Sure Your Site is Verified

The first thing that we need to do is ensure that your site is verified in your Google Search Console account. Because Search Console gives us information about a site's search data, Google wants to ensure that you actually own the site before you can have access to the data.

We can check our verification by clicking the Google Search Console Settings button at the bottom left side of your screen.

If you see a green checkmark, you know you're a verified owner.

How to Verify Your Search Console Property

There are several different ways to verify your ownership depending on your property type.

1. HTML File Upload – Upload and publish a file to a specific URL.
2. HTML Tag – Add a small piece of HTML code to your home page.
3. Google Analytics Tracking Code – Use this code to verify your site.
4. Google Tag Manager – Use your Tag Manager snippet for verification.
5. Domain Name Provider – Add a file to your DNS records. This is the only way to verify a domain property.

After you've confirmed your verification, the next step is to open your Google Analytics account. Click the Admin icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Next, click Property Settings in the property column which is the middle column.

Now scroll down to the Search Console section and click Adjust Search Console.

Click the Add button.

Then click the down arrow and select your property.

Google Search Console will open, and you'll be asked to associate your property. Any existing associations you had will be removed.

Click Continue. Next you'll see a screen asking you to confirm your associations. Click Associate. Now your accounts are associated.

Go back to your Google Analytics tab and refresh the screen. You should see your Search Console account. Click save.

Is Historical Data Available in Analytics?

Your data won't be available until about 48 hours after you've verified your Search Console account.

Google Search Console only has data for the last 16 months, so you won't be able to see any data that is older than that in the Search Console section of Google Analytics.

The availability of historical data is affected by two things–when you created your Analytics view and when you verified your site in Search Console.

Here's an example from Google:

• Jan 1: Create View A in Analytics.
• Feb 1: Verify your site in Search Console.
• Mar 1: Create View B in Analytics.
• Apr 1: Enable Search Console data sharing

Given this series of events:

• View A includes Search Console data beginning Feb 1.
• View B includes Search Console data beginning Mar 1.

Where to Find Search Console Reports in Analytics

Your data is available in the Acquisition section. The first step is to click on Acquisition, then Search Console. From there we can see landing pages, countries, devices, and queries.

We often think of a landing page as a sales page for our products or an optin page for our email list, but it has a different meaning in this context. It literally is where the user landed when they clicked the link on the Google search results page.

Country is the country where the search originated.

Devices tells us what type of device the person was on when they clicked to your site–desktop, tablet, or mobile.

Queries are the keyword phrases that a person searched for in Google.

And that's all we have to do. Your Google Search Console account is now linked to your Google Analytics account, and in about 48 hours, you'll see your results.