The New Search Impact Report in Google Webmaster Tools – First Look & Review
I was recently selected to alpha test the new Search Queries report, Search Impact, in Google Webmaster Tools. This morning I received the following email from a member of the Google Webmaster Tools team:
I signed up to be a tester on January 27th after seeing the following message posted on the Google Webmasters Google + profile. In the post, Google said “If you regularly use search query information from Webmaster Tools, we’re working on something new for you! We’re looking for testers of an early update to the search query feature. If you’d like to try it out, and give us feedback along the way, feel free to sign up here.”
As the Search Impact report is still in alpha testing phase, it will be changing drastically over the testing period as Webmasters provide feedback. This new report should ultimately replace the current Search Queries report in Google Webmaster Tools. It definitely has more features than the current tool and helps you to better analyze your site’s performance in organic search.
The Search Impact tool shows your site’s clicks, impressions, CTR and average position and allows you to compare these metrics using different dimensions such as dates, queries, pages, countries, devices and search property. Each dimension can be filtered as well.
Here are some full screen shots of the tool and the different dimension reports:
Dates Dimension
Queries Dimension
Pages Dimension
Countries Dimension
Devices Dimension
Search Dimension
Overall, this tool is a move in the right direction to provide Webmasters with more information about how their site(s) is/ are performing on Google organic search. I really love the simplicity, dimensions, and filters which make it easy to analyze the data. The only flaw I see right now is that you’re not able select more than two options when trying to view Clicks, Impressions, CTR, and Average Position together.
It’s a great sign that Google is making the effort to do this as they took away a lot over the past years with keyword not provided. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the development of this new report!
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