How to see all your Search Console sites in one view

Search Console is the most honest source of data about how a site performs in Google. It is also built around one site at a time. If you look after several, checking each property in turn is slow enough that it does not happen, and a traffic drop goes unnoticed.

This guide covers how to get access to your clients' properties, four ways to view them together and a short weekly routine.

Can Search Console show several sites at once?

Not in its main reports. You choose a property from the dropdown and look at that property's performance. Domain-level and URL-prefix properties are separate entries, and nothing in the interface adds them together or compares them.

That is by design, because each property has different owners and permissions. For your own purposes you need a layer on top.

How do I get access to a client's Search Console?

You should never need a client's Google login. Ask for access to the property instead:

1. The client, or the person who verified the property, opens Search Console and selects the property.
2. They go to Settings, then Users and permissions.
3. They add your Google account as a user. Restricted access is enough to read performance data.

Do this for every client when you start work and keep the confirmation. If the property does not exist yet, create and verify it yourself, ideally as a Domain property verified through DNS, and then add the client as an owner so they can always recover it.

What are the ways to view several Search Console sites together?

There are four, from simple to heavy.

1. Open each property in turn

It costs nothing and works for two or three sites. It stops working when you have ten, because the check takes long enough to skip.

2. A spreadsheet or Looker Studio report

Looker Studio has a Search Console connector. You can build a report with one page per site, or one table that blends several properties. This is free and flexible. You maintain it yourself, and the connector works per property, so every new client means editing the report.

3. Export to BigQuery

Search Console can send a daily export of performance data to BigQuery. It keeps history beyond the 16 months the interface shows and allows any query you can write in SQL. It is the right answer for large sites and agencies with an analyst. For a freelancer with a handful of small sites it is more setup than the question needs.

4. A dashboard that reads the Search Console API

Tools built on the API list every property your Google account can reach and show clicks, impressions, CTR and position side by side with a comparison to the previous period. This is the lightest way to keep an eye on many sites. Check which properties the tool can see, because it can only read what the connected Google account is allowed to read.

What should I check each week?

Keep the routine short enough to survive a busy week.

• Clicks and impressions against the previous period. A fall in impressions points at visibility, a fall in clicks with steady impressions points at titles and descriptions.
• Average position and CTR. Position is an average and moves for harmless reasons. A sudden move of several places on the pages that matter is worth a look.
• Pages and queries that moved. Sort by the change, not the total.
• Queries close to page one. Pages ranking in positions 11 to 20 for a relevant query are the cheapest wins, because a small improvement moves them onto the first page.
• Anything after a deploy. If traffic changed right after a release, compare that release with the one before. The timing is a lead, not proof of cause.

What limits should I know about?

• About 16 months of history. Older data is gone. Export it if you need it.
• Sampling and anonymised queries. Some queries are not shown, so totals by query will not add up to the property total.
• A delay of a day or two. The newest days are incomplete.
• Average position is an average. It blends many queries and locations.

Where Datumboard fits

Datumboard lists the Search Console properties your Google account can read, lets you map each one to a client project and shows clicks, impressions, CTR and position for 7 or 28 days, 3, 6 or 12 months or a custom range, with a plain list of what to improve first. It is in early access, and you can join the list below.