Google Search Console

Google Search Console

Google Search Console monitors and troubleshoots your site's presence in Google Search. Query search performance analytics, manage sitemaps, inspect URL indexing status, find ranking opportunities, and detect keyword cannibalization.

Data Model

• Verified properties — two types: domain properties (sc-domain:example.com, covers all subdomains and protocols) and URL-prefix properties (https://www.example.com/, covers exact prefix only). Discover registered properties first so site_url strings match exactly.
• Search analytics — impressions, clicks, CTR, and average position. Group by dimensions (query, page, country, device, date, hour, searchAppearance) and filter by query/page/country/device. Optional data_state (final vs all) and aggregation_type (auto, byPage, byProperty, byNewsShowcasePanel) on the full analytics query.
• Sitemaps — submitted discovery feeds, their processing status, and contained URLs.
• URL inspection — read-only check of indexing status, last crawl time, canonical URL, robots.txt state, mobile usability, and rich results. Does NOT trigger a recrawl — that can only be done in the GSC web UI.

Capability map

Filtering with Search Analytics

Search analytics accepts a dimension_filter_groups parameter that filters results before grouping. This is the key to answering "which queries trigger this page" or "which pages rank for this query."

Format: [{"filters": [{"dimension": "<dim>", "operator": "<op>", "expression": "<value>"}]}]

Operators: equals, contains, notEquals, notContains, includingRegex, excludingRegex

Dimensions for filtering: query, page, country, device

Common patterns

All queries that trigger a specific page (diagnose low-CTR pages):

• dimensions: ["query"]
• dimension_filter_groups: [{"filters": [{"dimension": "page", "operator": "contains", "expression": "your-page-slug"}]}]

All pages ranking for a specific query:

• dimensions: ["page"]
• dimension_filter_groups: [{"filters": [{"dimension": "query", "operator": "contains", "expression": "search term"}]}]

Daily trend for a specific query:

• dimensions: ["date"]
• dimension_filter_groups: [{"filters": [{"dimension": "query", "operator": "equals", "expression": "exact query"}]}]

Mobile vs desktop for a page:

• dimensions: ["device"]
• dimension_filter_groups: [{"filters": [{"dimension": "page", "operator": "contains", "expression": "your-page-slug"}]}]

Property Types (site_url format)

• Domain property: sc-domain:example.com — covers all URLs under the domain across all subdomains and protocols. Preferred for most use cases.
• URL-prefix property: https://www.example.com/ — covers only URLs matching the exact prefix. Must include protocol and trailing slash.
• Using the wrong site_url shape yields empty reads or permission failures—copy the exact value from the property listing.

Inspect vs analytics vs sitemaps (no “issues feed”)

Google does not expose the Search Console UI “Indexing → Pages” issue list or “Why pages aren’t indexed” bulk report through the API or MCP. Do not promise a live issues dashboard.

Inspection returns rich per-URL index status (coverage state, robots, canonical). Analytics only shows URLs that earned search impressions in the chosen date range — a URL with zero impressions may still be indexed. Responses that query Search Analytics or URL Inspection include a data_provenance block (source, retrieval time, date range, pagination/truncation when relevant).

Quotas

• URL Inspection API: 2,000 inspections/day per property (shared quota for that property).
• Search Analytics API: 1,000 rows per request; the API returns no rows above that cap. Paginate with start_row or set paginate_all=true on the full analytics query.
• Re-indexing: There is NO API for requesting re-indexing. It can only be done through the GSC web UI (~10-20 submissions/day).

Gotchas

• search_type matters: Defaults to web. Set to image, video, news, discover, or googleNews for those verticals — results are completely different.
• data_state: Omit for settled (final) daily metrics. all = provisional daily rows. HOURLY_ALL = required when grouping by hour (the full analytics query sets this automatically if you pass hour without data_state).
• hour dimension: Sub-daily breakdown; use a short range (often one day). Not a substitute for daily date trends over months.
• aggregation_type: Use byPage when filters target pages but you need page-total metrics; default auto is fine for most queries.
• Analytics data delay: Data has a ~2-3 day lag for daily date reports. Avoid the last 2 days in date ranges unless you intentionally use data_state=all for near-real-time slices.
• Date ranges: Use start_date and end_date (YYYY-MM-DD). Maximum lookback is 16 months.
• Row limits: Search analytics returns empty rows when row_limit exceeds 1,000. Use start_row to paginate manually, or set paginate_all=true on the full search analytics query to fetch all batches automatically.
• URL inspection is read-only: Returns indexing status but does NOT request re-indexing. The response includes a link to the GSC web UI.
• Inspection scope: URLs passed to URL inspection must fall within the site_url property scope.
• Property CRUD vs verification: Adding a Search Console property does not verify it. Domain properties verify with DNS; URL-prefix properties use META, FILE, or connected Google tags. Site verification tools need the Site verification permission set at connect (includes the Site Verification API scope); standard connect covers analytics, inspection, sitemaps, and property add/remove only.
• Scope-gated tools: Verification tools are omitted from MCP tools/list until the bound credential includes the Site Verification API scope. The server may ship more tools in catalog than appear on a standard connection — that is expected.