Google Search Console Just got Social: Here’s What it Means for Your Social Media

Summary

• Google Search Console can provide valuable insights into how people discover your business and the topics they're interested in.

• These insights can help businesses make smarter decisions about what they post across their social media channels.

• Search behaviour can highlight questions, problems and topics that can be turned into Reels, TikToks, carousels and educational content.

• Combining Google Search Console insights with your social media analytics gives you a better understanding of what your audience actually wants.

• Instead of guessing what to post, businesses can use real audience data to help shape their social media strategy

Google Search Console Just got Social: Here’s What it Means for Your Social Media

Google Search Console has been an important part of SEO for years, helping businesses understand how their websites are being discovered and performing in Google Search. Google has recently expanded what businesses can track, and for anyone wanting to grow their social media presence, it's an update worth knowing about.

Google Search Console now allows supported social media accounts to be added as Platform Properties. This means businesses can gain more insight into how their social content is being discovered through Google Search, creating another valuable source of data for understanding what their audience is looking for online.

What Social Media Data Can You See in Google Search Console?

Once a supported social account is added to Google Search Console, you can access performance information about how that content is appearing across Google. Depending on the report and platform, this can include:

• Impressions: How often your social content appears on Google.

• Clicks: How many people click from Google through to your social content.

• Search queries: What people are searching on Google when your social content appears.

• Content performance: Which pieces of social content are performing through Google.

• Trending content: Content that is gaining or losing clicks.

• Audience location: Where people clicking on your content through Google are located.

For us as a social media agency, the search query data is particularly valuable. Social media analytics already tell us how content performs within each platform, while Google Search Console can give us another layer of insight into the searches and keywords helping people discover that content through Google.

Why Does This Matter for Your Social Media?

People now have more ways to discover information online. A Google search might lead someone to a website or blog article, but it can also surface a YouTube video, Instagram post or TikTok that answers their question. For businesses, that's another opportunity for your content to be found by the right people.

Let's say you're a builder who has created a Reel explaining whether it's better to renovate or rebuild. Google Search Console may show that the Reel is appearing for searches around renovation costs or whether someone should renovate or rebuild. You now know there is genuine search interest around that topic, giving you a strong reason to create more content around it.

Use Search Insights to Create Smarter Social Content

This is where we see the biggest opportunity for businesses. Instead of using the data simply to see what's performing, you can use it to decide what to create next.

If a Reel is appearing for a valuable search term, you could create another Reel answering a related question, turn the topic into a carousel or build a series around it. Search queries can also help inform the language used in your hooks, video topics, captions and educational content.

It gives us another source of real audience insight when building a social media strategy. We can use what they're actually searching for alongside your existing social media analytics to make more informed content decisions. If a topic is being searched, your content around it is being discovered through Google and it's also performing well on social media, that's a strong indication it's worth creating more of.

How Do You Connect Your Social Media to Google Search Console?

Google is gradually rolling out the ability to add supported social accounts as Platform Properties in Search Console, so the feature may not be available to everyone yet.

Once it's available in your account, read our step-by-step guide on How to Connect Your Instagram & Other Social Media Platforms to Google Search Console.

Turn Search Insights Into Better Social Media Content

For businesses, this update creates another opportunity to understand what your audience is looking for and use those insights to make more informed content decisions.

At O'Sullivans, we use audience insights to create social media strategies with purpose. From Content Creation and Social Media Management to Meta Advertising, we help businesses create content that reaches the right people and supports their wider marketing goals.

Talk to our team about your social media strategy Today!