How to Use Google Search Console for Keyword Research

Google Search Console does keyword research one way no other tool can: it lists the queries your site already appears for, with real clicks, impressions and average position from Google’s own records, free, for a rolling 16 months, as of August 2026. It estimates nothing, so a keyword you rank nowhere for shows nothing. What it shows, once you know its filters, is where you already sit on page two, which pages rank for questions they never answer, and which queries grew last month. Below: the Performance report walkthrough, a recipe for each filter, and the five limits where a paid tool such as SE Ranking (Core £95 a month, or £76 billed annually, as of July 2026) earns its place.

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Where did Google Webmaster Tools go?

If you searched for webmaster tools keyword research and landed here, you are in the right place: Google renamed Webmaster Tools as Search Console, and it is the same verified-owner reporting tool. Two other products share the old name, Bing Webmaster Tools and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (now Ahrefs Free); this post covers Google’s only.

It also differs from our roundup of eight free keyword research tools tested on one niche, which gives Search Console one section as one option among eight; here we stay inside Search Console and work through the reports and filters that surface keyword opportunities, with a recipe for each. Every other tool guide we publish sits in our SEO tools hub.

Why is Search Console different from every other keyword tool?

Every other keyword tool models demand: Keyword Planner groups volume into broad ranges such as 1K to 10K for accounts without ad spend, and Semrush and SE Ranking estimate volume and difficulty from their own databases (useful, and we pay for both, but estimates).

Search Console counts. Each row is a query real people typed, an impression is your page appearing for it, and a click is one of them choosing you. Position is derived from those real impressions, not a live check of the results page, which is why Search Console wins every time it disagrees with Semrush about your own site; our Search Console vs Semrush comparison maps which tool sees what. A keyword you do not rank for shows nothing, and Google’s deep dive on performance data filtering confirms that queries issued by only a few dozen users are hidden for privacy. For an established site, this one report is still enough keyword research for a year, and we say that as an agency that sells SEO.

How do you set up the Performance report for keyword research?

1. Verify the property, by DNS record or HTML file.
2. Open Performance, then Search results.
3. Widen the date range. The default is three months, the working view for the recipes below; 16 months shows every query you have appeared for.
4. Tick average CTR and average position. Both are off by default.
5. Filter the country to the United Kingdom. Position averages every location and device; a country is the narrowest cut on offer.
6. Learn the one mechanic that matters. Clicking any row turns it into a filter: a query leads to the pages ranking for it, a page to the queries it ranks for.

How do you find striking-distance keywords in Search Console?

Striking-distance keywords are the queries where your average position sits between 8 and 20: Google already shows you for them, and page two collects almost no clicks. No other free tool can list them, because only Search Console knows what your site was shown for. Google defines position as the average position of your topmost result across all impressions, so a reported 8.5 may blend a 3 in one town with a 14 elsewhere.

1. Set the last three months and the United Kingdom, with position and CTR ticked.
2. Sort the Queries tab by impressions, highest first.
3. Read down the average position column and mark every row between 8 and 20.
4. Read the CTR column beside each row. A row at 9 with almost no clicks is losing them to its title and description, a rewrite rather than a new section; one at 9 already taking clicks is worth strengthening.
5. Set an impressions cut-off by eye and keep the top 30 to 50 rows: a national retailer will draw the line in the hundreds, a Cambridge solicitor at 20.
6. Click each query and switch to Pages to see which page is ranking.
7. Choose one action per query: strengthen the page if the intent matches (a title, an H2, a plain answer, an internal link), build a new page if it differs, or leave it.

How do you find pages that rank for queries they do not answer?

This is the page-by-query view, and it produces new H2s rather than new pages. In the Pages tab, click your most important page, then switch to Queries: every query it appears for is listed, and any it never addresses is an opportunity Google has already flagged. A boiler servicing page appearing for “boiler service cost” with no cost section wants an H2 that answers it in its first sentence.

Then reverse it: click a query and switch to Pages. Two pages appearing for one query is either one page per intent, which is fine, or two pages competing for one intent, which usually leaves both on page two. Merge them, or point one at the other with an internal link.

How do you pull question keywords with the regex filter?

The query filter accepts a custom regular expression, and one pattern turns the report into a question finder. Add a query filter, choose the regular expression option, and paste:

^(who|what|when|where|why|how|which|can|does|do|is|are|should)\b

Export that list of questions, keep the rows whose average position is 8 or worse, and you have a ranked list of questions people ask that you half answer: each is a candidate for an expanded FAQ answer on the ranking page, or a post of its own. A second pattern, \b(cost|price|prices|how much)\b, isolates the commercial questions. Because Google hides rarely searched queries, the list is the popular end of the long tail; our guide to finding long tail keywords with and without tools covers six methods, three of them free, that pick up the rest.

How do you catch rising queries with the compare view?

Open the date filter, use its compare option, and set the last 28 days against the previous period. The Queries table now shows both periods with a difference column; sort by the impressions difference, largest first, and you have the queries that grew last month. A rising query with no page of its own is a page to write while demand climbs. A rising query where you sit at 8 to 20 is this month’s striking-distance priority. This movement table is the spine of the monthly keyword ranking report we build for clients.

What should you do with the Sheets export?

The export button at the top of the report sends the current view, filters included, to Google Sheets. Search Console cannot filter on the position column, so anything past a rough sort belongs in the export. Export the striking-distance, question and comparison views as separate sheets and add four columns to each: ranking page, intent, action (strengthen, new H2, new page, leave) and priority (impressions within the position band). Then export the full 16 months of Queries and Pages once a quarter, because Search Console deletes anything older permanently.

Where does Search Console stop, and what fills each gap?

Search Console has five documented limits, checked against Google’s documentation as of August 2026; each maps to something a paid suite does, with vendor facts as of July 2026.

• Average position blends every impression across every location and device. A rank tracker records one position per keyword per location per day: SE Ranking checks the top 100 daily, desktop and mobile apart; Semrush Position Tracking updates daily on every paid plan.
• Location stops at country level. SE Ranking targets city level across 190 or more countries; Semrush goes to city or postcode. Our guide to how to track keyword rankings checks each limit against Google’s documentation.
• Rarely searched queries are hidden. A keyword database shows the long tail Google withholds: Semrush’s held more than 27 billion terms and SE Ranking’s UK database 766 million keywords.
• History is a rolling 16 months. SE Ranking keeps six months of ranking history on Core and all-time on Growth; Semrush adds historical data on Pro+ at $299 (about £220) a month.
• There is no competitor data. SE Ranking’s Competitor Comparison takes your domain plus two competitors and splits the keywords into common, missing and unique; Semrush’s Organic Research lists what any domain ranks for.

SE Ranking Core is £95 a month, or £76 a month billed annually, with 2,000 keywords tracked daily and a 14-day trial that needs no card; our SE Ranking review covers the rest. Semrush’s entry SEO plan is $139 (about £102) a month, or $117.33 (about £86) billed annually, with 500 tracked keywords; our Semrush review scores each module.

Which is better: Search Console, Keyword Planner or a paid suite?

Here is how the three compare for keyword research, all as of July 2026.

Criterion	Google Search Console	Google Keyword Planner	Paid suite (SE Ranking or Semrush)
Cost	Free	Free with a Google Ads account, nothing charged without a campaign	SE Ranking Core £95 a month or £76 annual; Semrush SEO $139 (about £102) a month or $117.33 (about £86) annual
Keywords you do not rank for yet	No	Yes, from a seed term	Yes
Search volume	None; impressions instead	Broad ranges without ad spend	Modelled monthly estimates
Difficulty and intent	No	No; competition measures advertiser bidding	Difficulty scores; intent labels in Semrush
Competitor keywords	No	No	Yes, any domain
History	Rolling 16 months	Not applicable	Six months on SE Ranking Core, all-time on Growth

Our verdict by situation:

• Established site, no budget: Search Console alone, worked monthly, plus Keyword Planner for ideas outside your rankings. Our round-up of the best free SEO tools covers the rest of the zero-cost stack.
• New site, no impressions yet: Search Console shows nothing until you rank, so start with Keyword Planner and read our Semrush vs Google Keyword Planner comparison before treating a volume range as a fact.
• Publishing monthly or watching competitors: SE Ranking Core at £76 a month billed annually is our default; the Semrush SEO plan at $139 (about £102) a month if you already report from Semrush.

Every Luckywebs client project starts in Search Console: property verified on day one, 16 months exported before anything changes, the paid suite added only when the free report runs dry.

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Frequently asked questions

Can you do keyword research with Google Search Console?

Yes, for a site that already ranks. The Performance report lists every query your site appeared for, with real clicks, impressions and average position, and its sorts and filters surface queries at position 8 to 20, questions you half answer and rising terms. It shows nothing for keywords you do not rank for yet, so a new site needs Keyword Planner or a paid tool.

Is Google Webmaster Tools the same as Search Console?

Yes, it is the same product under a newer name. Search Console is what Google Webmaster Tools became, so a guide to webmaster tools keyword research is describing today’s Performance report. Bing Webmaster Tools is a separate Microsoft product whose keyword tool reports real impression figures rather than ranges, and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is now Ahrefs Free, showing a verified owner up to 1,000 ranking keywords, both as of July 2026.

How do I find keywords I almost rank for in Search Console?

Open Performance, then Search results, set the last three months and the United Kingdom, and tick average position. In the Queries tab sort by impressions, read down the average position column and keep the rows between 8 and 20. Those rows are real demand where you sit on page two. Click each to see the ranking page, then strengthen it or build a new one.

Does Search Console show search volume?

No. Search Console reports impressions, the number of times your own pages appeared for a query, not how often it is searched. A keyword you rank nowhere for shows nothing. For volume you need Keyword Planner, which shows broad ranges without ad spend, or a paid suite with modelled estimates, such as SE Ranking Core at £95 a month as of July 2026.

How far back does Search Console data go?

Google’s wording is that “Search Console keeps data for the last 16 months”, and anything older is deleted permanently. Export the full Queries and Pages tables once a quarter to keep history beyond that. The free API returns the same 16 months, and paid trackers such as SE Ranking keep their own history from the day you add a project.