What Is Google Search Console's Insights Feature And How to Use It For SEO

Glen Pfaucht
5 days ago
4 min read

In the world of business most people don’t wake up excited to check their SEO metrics and statistics. I am not one of those people. I love spreadsheets, graphs, impressions, and metrics. And with Google Search Console they make it super easy to access all of those things in one place. It’s like getting a cheat sheet that actually makes sense of your website’s performance and it doesn’t make you feel like you’re drowning in a data ocean.

Google just added a new insight feature to Google Search Console. So what is this magical new feature? Why are SEOs and content creators talking about it? And how can you use it to grow your rankings without needing a PhD in analytics? Let's talk about it.

What Is Google Search Console Insights?

Search Console Insights is Google’s attempt to make data digestible. Think of it like the TL;DR version of your website’s performance, built specifically for content creators, bloggers, marketers, and yes, even small business owners who just want to know what’s working without needing to decode a bunch of chart hieroglyphics. It’s not replacing regular Google Search Console or Google Analytics. It’s more like an easy to use middle ground between the two.

Picture this: You write a blog post. A few weeks later, you wonder, “Is anyone even reading this?” Instead of guessing, Search Console Insights tells you things like: Which articles are getting the most views, how people are finding your content (Google, social, referral, etc.), what search queries led them to your site, which pages are performing best, and how new content is performing compared to older posts.

Where Do You Find It?

Alright, now that you’re curious, here’s how to get to it:

Go to your Google Search Console dashboard.
If your property is set up (if not, do that first, it’s free), you’ll see a tab for “Search Console Insights” on the main menu.
Click insights.

Tip: If you have both Search Console and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properly linked, you’ll get even more juice out of Insights. If not, you’ll still get value but it’s there's always more value to be had. So consider linking them both.

The Metrics That Matter

These are the pieces inside Insights you should pay attention to and how to act on them.

1. “Your most popular content”

This tells you what people actually care about on your site. Are they flocking to your how-to guides? Do they keep landing on that one blog from 2022 you almost deleted?

What to do: Update it. Add internal links to newer content to make it even more valuable. Google already loves it so why not help it rank even higher?

2. “How people find your site”

Search queries, referral sites, and social platforms. This section will tell you all you need to know about visibility.

What to do: Spot the queries that are bringing traffic and double down on those topics. If you’re ranking for “best cold brew recipe,” maybe it’s time for a “cold brew gear guide” next.

3. “New content performance”

Did you just drop a fresh article? This section shows how it’s doing out of the gate. Is it getting traction? Or is it already starting to collect digital dust?

What to do: If it’s taking off, great! Promote it more. If not, check your title, meta description, or even tweak your intro. Sometimes a small change makes a big difference.

4. “Average engagement time”

This is pulled from GA4 (if connected) and it shows how long people are sticking around. Low engagement? That’s a red flag. High engagement? That’s your content MVP.

What to do: For high-engagement pages, consider adding CTAs, offers, or email signups. People are listening, don’t waste the moment.

What It’s Not: Don’t Get It Twisted

Google Search Console Insights isn’t an all-in-one SEO tool. It won’t give you backlink profiles, deep crawl diagnostics, or technical SEO breakdowns. That’s still the job of the main Search Console (or tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush). Think of Insights as the “quick gut check” before you go full data-nerd.

Why This Matters for Your SEO Strategy

Let’s zoom out for a second. Most people create content, then hope it ranks. But hope isn’t a strategy, data is. What Insights offers is a fast, intuitive way to see what’s working without having to become a data analyst or spend your entire afternoon poking around GA4 dashboards. This means:

You can optimize content faster
You can stop wasting time on content that flops
You can write more of what actually performs

And the best part is that you don’t need a plugin or don’t need to pay for anything. You just need to look.

There are some limitations such as:

You can’t segment traffic by device or location (yet)
It doesn’t show conversion data (you’ll still need GA4 or another tool for that)
The data refresh isn’t instant

But honestly? For what it is, a quick, clean performance snapshot, it does the job really well.

Final Thoughts: The Google Search Console Insights Feature

If you’re already producing content, you can’t afford to ignore performance. Google Search Console Insights won’t do all the heavy lifting, but it will point you in the right direction. Think of it like GPS for your SEO: It won’t write the blogs or fix your broken links, but it will tell you if you’re headed the right way, or straight into a dead end. So check your Insights this week. See what your audience is actually into, Then build on it.

SEO isn’t magic. But with the right signals, it kind of feels like it.