How to Use Google Search Console for Content Planning

These days most content calendars are built like mood boards. A sprinkle of SEO inspo here, a gut feeling there, and voilà… content. But if you’re not grounding your strategy in actual search data, you're gambling with your traffic. But the good thing for you is that you’ve already got the data you need sitting quietly inside your Google Search Console ready to tell you about good content ideas. And it’s time to start listening.

How To Use Google Search Console For Content Planning

Google Search Console is like that introvert at the party who’s low-key a genius. It doesn’t try to wow you with fancy graphs like GA4, but what it does give you is gold: a window into how people are actually finding your content with real queries and real outcomes. If you want to plan smarter, this is where you start.

The Importance of Queries

Most people look at queries and only check what’s driving the most clicks and that’s a mistake. The real magic lives in the weird corners, such as terms with high impressions and barely any clicks. The disconnect is opportunity. Maybe your title’s a flop or maybe your meta description’s misleading, or maybe you’re showing up for a keyword you didn’t even realize was relevant. Either way, those impressions are people searching and not choosing you.

So what do you do?

• Sort by impressions

• Filter by position (say, 8–20)

• Skim for intent-heavy queries

• Ask: “Could I build a better, more specific page around this?”

The answer’s often yes.

Pages Tab: Your Performance Cheat Sheet

Sometimes, you publish something and forget it exists. Until it starts quietly bringing in 2,000 clicks a month from a keyword you didn’t target. Other times, your “pillar post” gets crickets.

The pages tab reveals both. Look for:

• High impressions, low CTR = needs rewriting or repositioning

• Steady traffic over 6 months = maybe it’s time for a spin-off or update

• Declining CTR with steady ranking = is your snippet getting buried by rich results?

Also compare mobile vs. desktop. If bounce rates are trash on mobile, maybe your intro needs to get to the point faster. Or maybe your content’s just a scroll-fest on small screens.

Countries, Devices, and SERP Features (What You’re Ignoring)

These tabs are loaded.

• Countries: Are you getting tons of traffic from regions you didn’t expect? Time to think about localization.

• Devices: Is mobile dominating? (It probably is.) Is your formatting mobile-friendly? Does your headline make sense at a glance?

• Search Appearance: Are your pages showing up in rich results, video carousels, FAQ dropdowns? If not then why?

People are skimming, tapping, snapping decisions. You’ve gotta show up the way the SERP wants you to.

Let’s Talk CTR

Click-through rates are a pulse check. A CTR over 10% on page 3? That’s a cry for help: “I’m interesting, but invisible!”A CTR under 2% in position 3? You’re doing something wrong. Either the title’s bland, the description’s vague, or you’re promising something you don’t deliver.

The trick is not to rewrite headlines blindly. Look at the actual query and analyze, what do people want when they search that? The answer is there. Match it and then exceed it. That’s content chemistry.

Content Planning in the Real World: Putting GSC to Work

Here’s how you can use GSC to shape what you publish next:

Build Out Clusters

See recurring themes in your queries? That’s your topic cluster. Go deeper and own the space. For example: Let’s say GSC shows you're getting clicks for terms like “email marketing tips,” “email open rate strategies,” and “how to write subject lines.” That’s a clear sign you’re ranking for email marketing which is a perfect cluster opportunity. You could then build out articles like:

• "The Complete Guide to Email Segmentation"

• "Email A/B Testing: Subject Lines, Send Times, and CTAs"

• "Drip Campaign Examples That Convert in 2025"

These deepen your topical authority, signaling to Google that your site is the destination for email marketing.

Revive The Dying

Spot older posts that are slipping in position? Add fresh content, update stats, and improve UX. For example: Notice that your 2022 blog post on “Top Instagram Growth Hacks” dropped from position #3 to #11.Update it with:

• 2025 trends (like Threads integration)

• Fresh case studies or influencer tactics

• Improved internal linking and faster load speed

Search engines reward freshness, and user behavior signals like time on page improve when your content stays relevant and useful.

Follow The Breadcrumbs

One page ranking for 15 keywords? Create spin-offs that focus tightly on the subtopics.

Example:One blog post about “Small Business Marketing Strategies” is ranking for keywords like:

• “local SEO for small businesses”

• “affordable marketing ideas”

• “how to market a business without ads”

That’s a goldmine. Create tightly focused follow-up content like:

• "A Beginner’s Guide to Local SEO in 2025"

• "10 Low-Cost Marketing Ideas That Actually Work"

• "Marketing Without Ads: Organic Growth Strategies for Small Biz"

These spin-offs help you dominate SERPs by targeting long-tail queries that your original post only touched on.

Seasonal Trends

Pull 16-month data. What spikes every June? What dies in winter? Plan accordingly.

It’s less about chasing keywords and more about following curiosity. For example: Your GSC data shows searches spike every November for “Black Friday email templates” and every June for “summer social media campaigns.” Instead of scrambling, plan ahead:

• Schedule Black Friday content updates in early October

• Publish summer campaign guides by mid-May

• Add internal links from your evergreen content to these timely pieces

Hitting publish before the trend peaks positions your content to ride the wave early, boosting CTR and conversions when it counts most.

Don’t Just Stare at Numbers

Data without context is just noise, so ask questions. Is that keyword driving the right kind of traffic? Are you showing up for navigational terms you’ll never convert on? Are users bouncing because you’re ranking for something close, but not quite right?

Wrapping It All Up

Google Search Console is a performance tracker and a content compass. Every query, every click, every impression tells a story. Your job is to listen, interpret, and act. So here’s your homework for today: Go into your GSC and pull your top 10 queries with the most impressions and lowest CTR. Pick one and build a piece of content around it this week. Stop guessing and and learn how to use Google Search Console for content planning.