Performance Report
The Search Console report showing how your site appears in Google results: clicks, impressions, CTR and average position by dimension.
Reviewed by Alexander Yarovenko · Updated: 2026-10-04
The Performance report is the Search Console report that shows how your site appears in Google results. It reports four metrics, clicks, impressions, CTR and average position, and lets you group them by query, page, country, device, search appearance or date. It covers visibility in Google, not what visitors do after they arrive.
What it is and where the boundary lies
The report counts what happens inside Google results: how often your pages appeared and how often people clicked through. It does not measure engagement on your site, conversions or traffic from other channels; for that you need a tool such as Analytics. Google also publishes separate performance reports for Search, News and Discover, so check which one you are in.
How it differs from similar terms
| Report | What it answers | Typical question |
|---|---|---|
| Performance report | how the site appears in results | which queries and pages bring clicks |
| Page indexing report | which URLs Google indexed | why is this page not indexed |
| URL Inspection tool | the state of one URL | what does Google know about it |
| Analytics | behavior on your site | what did visitors do |
The four metrics
- Clicks: times people left Google results for your site.
- Impressions: times a link to your site appeared in results.
- CTR: clicks divided by impressions.
- Average position: the topmost position of your link, averaged.
Dimensions, search types and dates
The tabs group the data by queries, pages, countries, devices, search appearance or dates. Search type switches between web, image, video and news. By default the report shows the past three months; you can pick a custom range and view hourly, daily, weekly or monthly data. The newest data can be preliminary and change within hours, which the chart marks with dotted lines. Daily data follows Pacific Time.
Why it matters
It is the main source for questions about organic visibility: what you rank for, which pages earn clicks, where CTR is low and when traffic changed. Google lists tasks it is made for, such as finding top content, separating branded from non-branded queries (available from 11 March 2025), assessing CTR, comparing periods and checking the effect of page changes.
How to use it step by step
- Choose the search type and a date range long enough to be stable.
- Read the chart for the shape of change before the table.
- Pick a dimension tab: queries for demand, pages for content.
- Add filters, for example one page or one country, then compare to a previous period of equal length.
- Use the branded and non-branded filter to separate audience growth from demand for your name.
- Export the table, or use bulk export for fuller data, when the interface truncates rows.
Practical example
| Question | Where to look | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| did clicks fall | chart, compare to the previous period | note the date the drop started |
| which pages lost clicks | Pages tab, compare columns | list the five largest drops |
| did queries or position change | Queries tab for one page | check impressions, position and CTR together |
| is it only the brand | branded and non-branded filter | read the non-branded part on its own |
Four questions, four views of the same report, each with one next action.
Common mistakes
- Comparing periods of different length or filters: the change may come from the setup.
- Reading preliminary days as final: the newest data can change within hours.
- Expecting it to match Analytics: the tools measure different things.
- Ignoring the search type: web, image, video and news report separately.
- Reading position alone: read it with impressions and CTR.
How to validate the result
Repeat the question with a second period and a second dimension. If a conclusion holds in the chart, the Pages tab and the Queries tab, it is more likely to be real. If it appears in one view only, check filters and the date range first.
More questions
How far back does the data go?
The report opens on the past three months and lets you choose custom ranges. The pages we checked do not state a maximum, so check the date picker in your property.
Why are the newest days dotted?
Because that data can be preliminary and may change within hours.
Is the report the same as Analytics?
No. It shows visibility in Google results; Analytics shows what happens on your site.
Next practical step
Open the report for the last 28 days against the previous 28, switch to the Pages tab and write down the three pages with the largest change. The lesson on what Search Console is explains the surrounding tools.
Related concepts
- Google Search Console — the product that contains the report.
- Search query — the Queries dimension.
- Content decay — a pattern you find with the Pages tab.
- Striking-distance keywords — a list built from the report.