Google Search Advocate Daniel Waisberg recently discussed the Google Search Console API and its ability to pull search performance data programmatically. The API is available as an HTTP REST service and can be used to build applications that can make Search Console data available via dashboards. Four different Search Console API methods were covered: the Search Analytics API, URL Inspection API, Sitemaps API, and Sites API.
The Search Analytics API provides data related to website performance on Google Search, including clicks, impressions, and average position broken down by queries, pages, countries, and more. The URL Inspection API allows for debugging and optimizing specific pages of a website by providing analysis results such as index status, AMP, rich results, and mobile usability on a URL basis. The Sitemaps API is used to retrieve information about the sitemap submitted to Google Search, including the processing status, last download time, and existing warnings. The Sites API can be used to add or remove a site from a user’s set of sites in Search Console, retrieve information for a specific site, or list all the user’s Search Console sites and permission level in each. While technical skills are required to use the API, it can be useful for large websites, SEO tools, and content management systems to help optimize and monitor their websites.
Our Recommendation: If you are a developer or work with a technical team, consider using the Google Search Console API to programmatically pull Search performance data and make it available via dashboards for your company or external products.
Action Items:
- Familiarize yourself with the Google Search Console API documentation and resources, such as the Google API Console and client libraries.
- Create a project and register your application using the Google API Console to activate access to the API.
- Use one of Google’s client libraries to make calls to the API and include an authorization token in each request.
- Determine which of the four API methods – the Search Analytics API, URL Inspection API, Sitemaps API, and Sites API – would be most useful for your needs.
- Consider how the API can be used to combine Google data with other sources of data, optimize specific pages of your website, submit and monitor sitemaps, and manage access to Search Console sites.
- Build applications and dashboards using the API to make Search performance data available for analysis and optimization.
- Monitor usage limits and adjust accordingly.
- Stay up-to-date with the latest API updates and features.