Google Search Console

The Google Search Console live data source reads Google Search performance for one Search Console site. Each query is one request to the Search Console API. It’s a level 3 integration: its API runs reports from a fixed menu of dimensions and metrics.

Before you start

Live data sources enabled for your organization. See Live data sources.
Admin role in the Lightdash project.
A Google account with access to the site in Search Console, as an owner or user.

Connect Google Search Console

On the nav bar, click Browse → Semantic Layer.
In the sidebar, select Live data sources, then click Add.
Select Google Search Console.
Enter a Name, such as Search Console.
Click Continue to Google.
Sign in with your Google account and allow read-only access to Search Console.
Back in Lightdash, pick the site the source reads.

Lightdash adds a Search performance table to Explore. Queries run with the Google account that signed in. To change it, choose Sign in again from the source’s menu.

Dimensions

Dimension	Notes
Date	In Pacific Time
Query	What people searched for. Google hides rare queries, so totals split by query are lower than site totals
Page	Splitting or filtering by page counts impressions per page, so a result showing two of your pages counts twice
Country	Three-letter country code
Device	`DESKTOP`, `MOBILE` or `TABLET`
Search appearance	Rich result type

Metrics

Metric	Notes
Clicks	Clicks from Google Search
Impressions	Times a link to the site appeared in results
Click-through rate	Clicks divided by impressions
Average position	Average top position in results, weighted by impressions

See Dimensions and metrics to rename dimensions and metrics, add AI hints or hide them.

Data freshness

Search Console dates are in Pacific Time, and the last two or three days are incomplete in Search Console itself. Leave them out of comparisons, or expect them to change.

Supported features

Feature	Available
Table calculations	No
Custom metrics and custom dimensions	No
Period-over-period comparisons	No
OR filters and nested filter groups	No
Filters on metrics	No
Date filter operators	in the last, is between and is only
Pivots and date zoom	No

Limits

Limit	Value
Default date range	Last 28 days, when the query has no filter on Date
Most rows per query	24,999
Timeout	30 seconds
Queries at once	5 per source
Calls per minute	600 per source
Calls per hour	20,000 per source

Example questions

“Top 20 search queries by clicks last month, with click-through rate.”
“Daily clicks and impressions over the last 4 weeks.”
“Average position and clicks by device for the blog pages this month.”

​Before you start

​Connect Google Search Console

​Dimensions

​Metrics

​Data freshness

​Supported features

​Limits

​Example questions