Data Discrepancies Between Google Search Console and the Destination

Issue

There are discrepancies between the data available in Google Search Console and the data in the destination.

Environment

Connector: Google Search Console

Answer

Discrepancies often appear because of how reports are configured in Google Search Console when compared with the pre-defined reports we sync to your destination. Differences between Google Search Console report dimensions (custom filters) and the connector report dimensions may cause discrepancies.

Adding a filter in Google Search Console is the same as adding a dimension to the report. The aggregation of the report changes depending on the dimensions configured. This results in different metrics values and totals. According to Google's documentation:

When you add a Page or Search Appearance filter, you can sometimes see an increase (sometimes a very large increase) in the click and impression data shown in and above the chart. This is because these filters cause your data to be aggregated (grouped) by page rather than by property. (Note that in rare cases the totals can drop rather than rise for technical reasons.) Conversely, removing all Page and Search Appearance filters from the report can show a decrease in click and impression totals, as all data is then aggregated (grouped by) property rather than URL.

For clicks, if a property appears twice in search results when grouped by property, and the user clicks on one link, backs up, then clicks the other link, it counts as a single click, since the final destination is the same site.

For more information on the potential consequences of these discrepancies, see our Google Search Console - Aggregation modes documentation.

How to ensure the data between Google Search Console and the destination matches

To compare the metrics values between Google Search Console and the destination, do the following, taking a similar action for your report:

1. When querying the destination, use a select statement that sets each dimension in the report to a specific value. See the following example:

       select sum(clicks) as clicks, sum(impressions) as impressions from `<schema>.keyword_site_report_by_page`
       where
       country = 'usa'
       and date = '2022-02-27'
       and device = 'DESKTOP'
       and search_type = 'web'
       and site = 'fivetran.com'
   

2. View the report at the page level in Google Search Console.

3. Create filters for each dimension, setting them equal to the values as the destination query.

This will show matching click and impression counts in the source and destination.

NOTE: The data in Google Search Console and the data we get through Google's API are aggregated and filtered in different ways. Privacy filtering and daily data row limits may cause discrepancies. For more information, see Google Search Central's Data filtering and limits documentation.