Blending Search Console and GA4

Google Search Console records what people searched before they clicked. GA4 records what they did on the site after the click. Blending joins the two sources at the landing page. MeasureScale uses it to show both sides for each landing page. It also uses it to estimate the GA4 value that each search query brings.

How to read the answer

• Each landing page shows its search traffic and what visitors did on the site.
• An empty site-side value means GA4 did not report the page. That is unknown, not zero.
• Query value is an estimate from an attribution model. It does not prove that a query caused the revenue.
• The GA4 figures cover visits from every channel, not only organic search.
• Ask your assistant what share of clicks landed on pages GA4 reports. A low share means many zeros are really unknown.

What it answers

• For each landing page, how much search traffic does it get?
• How do the visitors on each landing page engage and convert?
• Which search queries bring sessions, key events and revenue?

Inputs

Properties

• Blending needs one Search Console property and one GA4 property.
• By default, MeasureScale uses the GA4 property linked to the site. You can name a different one.
• With no linked property, the result says so. It links to the MeasureScale connections page.
• The result says whether the GA4 property is the one linked to the site.

One shared window

Both sources use one window, the overlap of the Search Console window and the GA4 window. Search Console days are Pacific-time days. GA4 days follow the property’s own time zone. With no dates, the window is the last 28 settled days. A settled day is a day whose data Google has finished processing.

• The result says when the overlap differs from either source’s window.
• When the two windows do not overlap, MeasureScale returns an error.

Data windows and freshness explains the windows in detail.

Data pulled

• For landing pages, MeasureScale reads the top 100 Search Console pages by clicks. It also reads the top 100 GA4 landing pages by sessions.
• For query value, it reads the top 1,000 query and page pairs by clicks. It also reads the top 100 pages by clicks for page totals.
• For query value, it reads the top 1,000 GA4 landing pages by sessions.

From GA4, MeasureScale reads sessions, engaged sessions, key events and total revenue for each landing page.

Currency

Revenue is in the GA4 property’s currency, such as USD. MeasureScale takes the currency from the GA4 report. Every revenue figure states its currency. If GA4 reports no currency, MeasureScale returns an error instead of guessing one.

How it works

• MeasureScale matches each Search Console page to the same GA4 landing page by its path.
• A page appears when either source reports it.
• For query value, MeasureScale divides each page’s GA4 value between the queries that led to the page.
• A page that GA4 does not report has unknown sessions, not 0 sessions.
• Search Console hides some rare queries for privacy. These are anonymized queries. Their share of a page’s value stays unassigned.

Limits

• An attribution model. Query value is an estimate from an attribution model. It is not measured causation.
• All channels in GA4. The GA4 figures cover every session that landed on the page, from any channel. They are not limited to visits from organic search.
• Row limits. A page outside a source’s pull is missing from that side. The result says when a pull reached its limit.
• Pages without a total. A page can appear in the query and page pull but fall outside the top 100 pages. Its total clicks are then unknown. Its visible queries then share all of its value. The result counts these pages.
• Paths, not hosts. The match uses the path only. Pages on different hosts of one property merge when their paths match.
• GA4 sampling. The result says whether GA4 sampled or thresholded its reports.