Search Console's search term data provides information that GA4 or keyword research tools cannot. Since it is an expression that the user actually entered into the search box, it includes everything from product/service categories, brand name typos, and long question-type search terms. While keyword research tools show predictions, Search Console shows what has already happened.
To protect personal information, Google does not display search terms that have very little exposure or are personally identifiable ('other' processing). Additionally, since the search term report only displays a maximum of 1,000 keywords, it is a good idea to export all long-tail keywords as CSV and save it regularly.
Search Console navigation: → Performance → Search results tab → Select the ‘Search terms’ tab in the bottom table. After filtering a specific page, if you look at the search terms tab, you can see only the actual queries that are driving traffic to that page.
Key takeaways
- It is Google's only official source that shows the text that users actually entered into the search box.
- It serves to supplement search query data hidden by GA4's '(not provided)'.
- For personal information protection purposes, search terms with low exposure frequency are not displayed.
- Since up to 1,000 items are displayed, data must be accumulated through regular CSV downloads.
- With search term data, you can determine what search intent your site is actually exposed to and discover content gaps.