If you’re big into content marketing, you’ll love this new tool from Google called Search Console Insights.
However, it’s not available to everybody at this time. It’s in beta.
In this article, I’ll cover what Google is saying about its new product.
It Builds on Top of Search Console
As the name implies, Search Console Insights builds on top of Search Console. That is, it provides data beyond what you’ll see in GSC.
The idea behind Search Console Insights is to give you analytics that shows how well your content is resonating with folks who visit your website. Then, you can use that info to layout a content calendar for the future.
According to Google, the new data is delivered from both Search Console and Google Analytics.
A Screenshot Is Worth a Thousand Words
Although I don’t have access to the new tool, Google did provide a screenshot that highlights the kind of info it provides.
At the top of the screenshot is a line graph. It looks like that graph displays how many clicks your content received on any given day.
In short, the line graph might be the same thing you already see on Search Console.
Below the graph sits a “Your New Content” section. It lists all your latest content in card format.
Each article takes up one card. At the top of the card, you’ll see the title of your article. Just below that, you’ll see when it was published.
Below that, Google shares the top queries in search that brought people to that article. It looks like there’s only room for about two or three short-tail queries, though.
At the bottom of the card, on the left, you’ll see an eye icon next to a number. That tells you how many people viewed your article.
Just to the right of that, you’ll see a stopwatch with a number of minutes and seconds next to it. That tells you the average time people spent reading that article.
In other words, that’s your dwell time. Higher dwell time is better because that means people don’t bounce away from your content after just reading a paragraph or two.
Next to the stopwatch metrics, Google offers a little bit of analysis. If the dwell time is high, you can expect to see something like “High avg. duration” highlighted in green.
As is the case everywhere else in analytics, green is good.
Google will also show the featured image associated with the article on the card.
By the way, the screenshot from Google displays the article cards in the vertical layout on a smartphone user interface. So the tool is responsive.
How It Helps
According to Google, the Search Console Insights tool answers several questions that can help you improve your content marketing skills. Among them:
- What are your best-performing pieces of content?
- How are your newest articles performing?
- How do people find your content from search?
- What are your website’s top trending keywords?
- What other sites link to your content?
- Did you land any new backlinks recently?
Armed with that info, you can deliver content that reels in visitors and transforms them into customers.
Who Can Use the Tool?
Probably not you.
Unfortunately, Google is running a closed beta with its new toy at the moment. That means if you haven’t already been chosen as one of the lucky few, you’ll have to request access.
And, who knows? You might get it.
Wrapping It Up
It looks like Google is competing with some of the more attractive keyword research services with the release of Search Console Insights.
That’s good news if you’re tired of forking over your hard-earned cash to a company like SEMRush or Ahrefs every month. Soon, Google might offer a comparable service free of charge.
