How to connect Google Search Console and see your keywords

Google Search Console is Google's free tool that shows which searches bring people to your site. In TeleportHQ, open Growth → SEO & Performance → Keywords, click Performance data, then Connect Google Search Console, and sign in with Google. TeleportHQ then shows your clicks, impressions, average position and the exact search terms, right in the editor.

Before you start#

• Plan and role. Keyword tracking is part of Growth, which comes with the Trial, Pro and Premium plans. You need the Owner, Admin or Designer role.
• A published site. See How to publish your site.
• A verified site in your own Search Console account, at search.google.com/search-console. TeleportHQ only reads data from Google; it can't add or verify a site for you.
• Time. Google needs a few days after you verify a site before it has search data to show.

1. Verify your site in Google Search Console#

Skip this part if your site is already verified.

1. In Google Search Console, click Add property.
2. Choose URL prefix and type your live address, for example https://sweet-crumbs.teleporthq.site. If you use your own domain, you can choose Domain instead and verify it with a DNS record at your domain provider.
3. For a URL prefix, choose the HTML tag method and copy the <meta …> tag Google shows.
4. In the TeleportHQ editor, click the Project settings cog at the bottom of the left sidebar. Under Data & code, click Custom code.
5. Make sure Head is selected, then paste the tag into the code box. It saves by itself.
6. Publish your site. TeleportHQ adds the tag to the head of every page. See How to add code to every page (head and body).
7. Back in Google Search Console, click Verify.

2. Connect Search Console to TeleportHQ#

1. In the left sidebar, click Growth.
2. Click SEO & Performance, then Keywords in the list on the left. The tab opens on Recommendations.
3. Click Performance data.
4. Click Connect Google Search Console. A Google sign-in window opens.
5. Sign in with the Google account that owns the verified site, and allow access. TeleportHQ asks only to read your Search Console data.
6. If exactly one of your verified sites matches your TeleportHQ site, TeleportHQ picks it by itself. Otherwise the Choose your Search Console property list opens: pick the site marked Matches this site, then click Use this property.

You connect each TeleportHQ project on its own.

Read your keyword data#

On the TeleportHQ Keywords tab, under Performance data, choose a period: 7 days, 28 days, 90 days or 16 months. You see:

• Clicks: how many times people clicked your site in Google.
• Impressions: how many times your site appeared in results.
• Click-through rate: the share of impressions that became clicks.
• Avg. position: your average place in Google results. Lower is better; 1 is the top.
• Search queries: how many different searches showed your site.
• Search performance: a chart of your clicks, impressions and average position over the period.
• Easy wins: searches where a small change can pay off, marked Almost on page 1 or Seen a lot, rarely clicked. Click Improve with AI to open the AI Assistant with a ready-to-send request; read it and press Enter.
• Search queries table: every search term with its Clicks, Impressions, CTR and Position. Click a row to see how that term performs, with its own Improve with AI button.
• Top pages: your pages with the most clicks from Google. Click the ↗ button at the end of a page's row (tooltip Go to page) to open it in the editor.

To get the latest numbers, click Refresh data. The line next to it says how many refreshes are left, for example "Live data from Google Search Console — 4 of 5 refreshes left today."

Check that it worked#

The Connect Google Search Console card is replaced by your keyword numbers. If Google has no data yet, you see No Search Console data yet, with AI keyword ideas below it. The Recommendations view now says Grounded in your Google Search Console data.

Troubleshooting#

"No verified sites found" The Google account you used has no verified site. Verify your site (part 1), then click Reconnect. Sign in with the same Google account you used in Search Console.

"No Search Console data yet" Your site is verified, but Google hasn't recorded searches yet. This is normal for a new site. Check back in a few days, and meanwhile use AI keyword ideas.

Nothing happens when I click Connect Google Search Console Your browser blocked the Google sign-in window. Allow pop-ups for TeleportHQ in your browser, then click the button again.

"Could not start the Google Search Console connection. Please try again." TeleportHQ couldn't start the sign-in. Try again in a moment.

"Search Console isn't set up on this workspace yet…" or "Google Search Console is not available in this environment yet." Connecting isn't available on your account right now. You can still click See AI keyword ideas. If you need Search Console data, contact TeleportHQ support. See How to get help.

"Daily keyword refresh limit reached — you can refresh up to 5 times per day per project. Resets at midnight UTC." Try again after midnight UTC.

"Google Search Console is busy right now — try again in a moment." or "We couldn't reach Google Search Console. Please try again shortly." Google didn't answer this time. Wait a moment, then click Refresh data.

Good to know#

• Reading Search Console data doesn't use AI tokens. Improve with AI, Recommendations and AI keyword ideas do.
• Disconnecting. TeleportHQ has no Disconnect button. To remove TeleportHQ's access, open your Google Account's security settings and remove TeleportHQ from the apps that can access your account.
• Submit your sitemap in Search Console to help Google find your pages. See How to set up your sitemap, robots.txt and llms.txt.
• Page-by-page advice. The Recommendations view suggests better titles, descriptions and content for each page, using your search data once Search Console is connected. See How to find keyword ideas with AI.