Google clicks went up or down? Find which searches changed
Use Search Console's compare mode to find the pages and searches behind a change in Google clicks, and tell a ranking change from a change in search demand.
When your clicks from Google change, Search Console's compare mode shows which pages and searches are behind it. For each, look at position and impressions: a fall in position means your ranking changed; a fall in impressions with the same position means fewer people searched.
Compare two periods
Search Console → Performance → Search results → the date filter → Compare, for example the last 28 days against the 28 days before.
Open the Pages tab and sort by Clicks difference. The pages that lost or gained the most are at the top.
Click one page, then the Queries tab, to see which searches changed for it.
Read each change
| What you see | What changed |
|---|---|
| Position fell, impressions fell | Your ranking dropped |
| Position the same, impressions fell | Fewer people searched (seasonal, or interest moved) |
| Position the same, impressions the same, clicks fell | Fewer people clicked: a new Google feature above you, or a better result |
| Clicks fell only on a few days | Something temporary: an outage, a holiday |
Keep to the facts
These numbers tell you what changed. Before acting on a guess about why, check what you changed on the page, look at the results page yourself, and give it time: rankings move around for weeks after Google's updates.
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