How to See Search Console Data in Google Analytics 4

Connecting Google Search Console to Google Analytics 4 gives you a powerful, unified view of how your organic search efforts translate into on-site user behavior. This article will walk you through exactly how to link the two platforms, where to find the new reports, and how to use this combined data to make smarter SEO and content decisions.

Why Connect Search Console to GA4?

Google Search Console (GSC) tells you what happens before someone clicks to your site — which search queries you appear for, your average ranking position, and your click-through rate (CTR). Google Analytics 4 tells you what happens after they click — which pages they visit, how long they stay, and whether they complete important actions like signing up or making a purchase.

By themselves, they're both useful. But together, they answer critical questions that neither can answer alone:

• Which specific search queries are driving the most engaged users?
• Which landing pages have a high CTR from Google but a low engagement rate on-site?
• Which of my top-ranking keywords are actually leading to conversions and revenue?
• Are there keywords bringing traffic that doesn't align with my content?

Linking them eliminates the need to constantly switch between two tabs. Instead of analyzing data in silos, you can see the full user journey from search impression to conversion, all within the Google Analytics interface.

Before You Start: Link Requirements

To ensure a smooth connection process, you’ll need a few things in place first. Missing any of these will prevent you from being able to complete the link.

• A Google Analytics 4 Property: You must have an active GA4 property set up for your website. This process does not work for the old Universal Analytics.
• A Verified Search Console Property: Your website needs to be verified in Google Search Console. Critically, the URL of your GA4 property's web stream must match the URL of your Search Console property exactly.
• The Right Permissions: This is the most common roadblock. You need to have Editor level access (or higher) in the Google Analytics 4 property and be a Verified Owner of the Search Console property. If you only have "User" permissions in GSC, you won’t be able to create the link.

How to Check Your Permissions

In Google Analytics 4: Click the Admin gear icon >, Property Access Management. Your name should be listed with the "Editor" or "Administrator" role.

In Google Search Console: Go to Settings >, Users and permissions in the left-hand menu. Your name should be listed with "Owner" permission.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Linking Search Console and GA4

Once you’ve confirmed you have the prerequisites, linking the two services only takes a few clicks. Follow these simple steps.

1. Go to the Admin Section in GA4

Log in to your Google Analytics 4 account. In the bottom-left corner of the screen, click on the gear icon labeled Admin.

2. Find the Product Links Section

You will now see three columns: Account, Property, and Data display. In the middle Property column, scroll down until you see the "Product Links" sub-section. Click on Search Console Links.

3. Start a New Link

On the next screen, you'll see a table of any existing links. To create a new one, click the blue Link button in the upper-right corner.

4. Choose Your Search Console Account

A new panel will slide out called "Create Search Console link." First, click on Choose accounts. You will be shown a list of all Search Console properties for which you are a verified owner. Select the one that corresponds to your GA4 property and click Confirm.

5. Select Your Web Data Stream

Click Next. Now you need to associate the Search Console data with the correct web data stream in GA4. If you only have one website in your property, this will be easy. Click Select and choose your website’s stream from the list.

6. Review and Submit

Click Next again to go to the final review step. Double-check that you’ve selected the correct Search Console property and the correct web stream. If it all looks good, click Submit.

That's it! You'll see a "Link created" confirmation message. Keep in mind that it can take up to 48 hours for data to start flowing into your new GA4 reports.

How to Find Your Search Console Reports in GA4

Connecting the accounts is only half the battle. One of GA4's quirks is that even after you create the link, the new Search Console reports don't automatically appear in your main navigation menu. You need to "publish" them from the Library first.

1. Navigate to the Reports section (the icon that looks like a document with a chart).
2. At the bottom of the left-hand navigation menu, click on Library.
3. You'll see a card under the "Collections" heading named Search Console, most likely marked as 'Unpublished'.
4. Click the three vertical dots on this card and select Publish.

Once you publish the collection, a new "Search Console" menu item will instantly appear in your left-hand navigation, containing your new organic search reports.

Understanding the Two GA4 Search Console Reports

Publishing the collection adds two new reports to your GA4 property. Let's look at what each one shows.

1. The Queries Report

This report lists all the search terms (queries) that users searched for on Google before clicking through to your site. It’s a direct view into the language your audience uses to find you.

The key metrics here are purely from Search Console:

• Google organic search clicks: The number of clicks from a specific search query.
• Google organic search impressions: The number of times your site appeared in search results for that query.
• Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click (Clicks / Impressions).
• Average search position: Your average ranking in Google's search results for that query.

How to use it: Use this report to uncover "low-hanging fruit." Sort your queries by impressions to find terms you're ranking for but have a low CTR. Improving the page title or meta description for those landing pages can turn impressions into valuable clicks.

2. The Google Organic Search Traffic Report

This is where the magic happens. This report combines Search Console metrics with GA4's on-site behavior data at the landing page level.

It details specific engagement data for your organic landing pages, showing you metrics like:

• Google organic search clicks
• Users
• Engaged sessions
• Engagement rate
• Average engagement time
• Event count (including conversions)
• Conversions

How to use it: This report helps you answer the crucial question: "What happens after the click?" You can identify landing pages that get a lot of organic clicks but have a poor engagement rate, suggesting a mismatch between what the user was searching for and what your content delivers. Even better, you can sort by Conversions to immediately see which of your organic landing pages are most effective at driving business goals.

Practical Tips for Analyzing Search Console Data in GA4

Connect Landing Pages to the Queries Driving Their Traffic

In the Google Organic Search Traffic report (the one showing landing pages), click the small blue plus sign (+) next to the primary dimension ("Landing page + query string"). Add "Session Google organic search query" as a secondary dimension. Now you can see a breakdown of exactly which search queries drove traffic to each specific landing page. This is priceless for understanding if your SEO targeting is hitting the mark.

Find Your "Striking Distance" Content Opportunities

In the Queries report, use the filter bar to isolate keywords with an "Average search position" greater than 10 (i.e., you're on the second page or lower). Now, sort that filtered list by impressions. You've just created a prioritized list of topics that Google already considers you relevant for. Focusing on improving the on-page SEO and content for these pages can provide the quickest ranking wins.

Prove SEO ROI by Connecting Clicks to Conversions

The ultimate goal is to show that your SEO work contributes to the bottom line. Sort the Google Organic Search Traffic report by your most important conversion event (e.g., generate_lead or purchase). This immediately highlights your most valuable SEO landing pages. Are these the pages you expected? If not, dig in to understand why certain pages convert so well from organic search and apply those learnings to other pages.

Final Thoughts

Linking Google Search Console and GA4 is a quick, free, and essential step for anyone serious about SEO. It transforms your analytics from separate pools of data into a single, cohesive story that connects search behavior directly to on-site actions and business goals.

Moving between reports and adding secondary dimensions to connect SEO performance with user behavior is a great start, but it can still feel like a manual process. At Graphed, we help you skip the report-building entirely. You can connect your marketing and sales data sources (like Google Analytics, Search Console, and your CRM) and ask questions in plain English, like "Which search queries drove the most B2B leads last month?" Our AI Analyst instantly builds a dashboard with the answers, so you can spend less time wrangling data in GA4 and more time acting on insights. You can start building real-time dashboards for free with Graphed.