How to see what people search to find your website

Before you begin

You need access to a verified Search Console property for your website. If you have not connected it, follow our guide to getting your new website discovered by Google.

A new property or website may have little data. Search Console is also not a record of every individual visitor's searches. Some queries are omitted for privacy, and report limits affect the rows available. Google's query reporting guidance explains these limits.

Step 1 Open the correct property

Sign into Google Search Console and select your website from the property selector. Check the domain carefully if you manage multiple businesses or versions of a site.

Open Performance or Search results, depending on your navigation. Use the report for Google Search results rather than a separate Discover or News report.

Step 2 Choose a useful date range

Start with the last three months if that period contains data. For a new site, use the period available. Keep the search type set to Web for this first review.

Turn on Total clicks and Total impressions. A click records someone selecting a result that leads to your website; an impression records its appearance according to Google's counting rules. Google's Performance report overview explains the controls and metrics.

Step 3 Read the Queries table

Below the chart, choose Queries. Review the searches shown, first by clicks and then by impressions.

Separate business-name searches from searches for the work you offer. A fictional fencing company might see its own name alongside phrases such as “fence repair Strathmore.” The second phrase reveals a service question worth comparing with its actual website content.

Copy five relevant queries into a note. Do not treat a query's impressions as the total number of people searching that phrase across Google; these figures describe your property's recorded visibility.

Step 4 Find the page behind a query

Select one query in the table, then open Pages. The filter lets you inspect which of your pages appeared for that query.

Open the relevant page on your own website. Does it answer the question suggested by the search? Does it describe the actual service, area and next step?

For example, if a general homepage appears for a specific repair service, check whether you have a useful page explaining that service. A new page should answer a real customer need, not simply repeat the query in several headings.

Step 5 Choose one improvement

Use the query as evidence of a question to investigate. You might clarify what a service includes, add project evidence, answer a recurring question or make the contact action easier to find.

If a page has impressions but few clicks, inspect its title and description for accuracy and usefulness. Low click-through rate alone does not identify the cause; query intent, result layout, competition and position can all affect clicks.

Write down the page, the problem you found, the change and its date. This gives you a useful record for the next review.

Step 6 Review a comparable period later

Use the date comparison controls to review a later period with the same filters. Google's performance walkthrough explains filtering and comparisons.

Look for useful visibility and relevant enquiries, not just a larger total. Seasonality and other changes can affect the figures, so a before-and-after comparison does not prove that your edit caused every movement.

If the table looks empty

Check the selected property, date range and active filters. Remove a restrictive query or page filter and look again. If the website is new or has little visibility, use Search Console's indexing tools to investigate discovery rather than assuming the report is broken.

Next step

Check the page's path to contact with our website enquiry checklist. If you need help interpreting search visibility, explore our SEO services.