A search click and a tracked session measure different things
Search Console describes activity in Google Search. WhoVisited records activity that reaches your website and is accepted by the tracker. A click can happen without a tracked session, and a website session can start somewhere other than Google. The two totals should not be expected to match.
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Search impressions | How often a link to your site was shown under Google's counting rules. |
| Search clicks | Clicks from Google search results to your site. |
| CTR | Search clicks divided by search impressions. |
| Website sessions | Groups of activity recorded on your website, including sources beyond Google. |
| Goal sessions | Tracked sessions containing the selected goal event or success page. |
Google documents its click, impression, and position rules in the Search Console metric definitions.
Connect the property for the website you are measuring
- In WhoVisited Settings, expand the relevant website and find Google Search Console.
- Connect with a Google account that has access to that website's verified Search Console property. This permission is separate from Google sign-in.
- Select the matching property and click Save property. A domain property may look like
sc-domain:example.com. - Open Growth for the same website and review Search Console opportunities.
The connection is read-only. WhoVisited stores the selected property, cached aggregate page metrics, and an encrypted refresh token. It does not change your Search Console settings. Disconnect in Settings to remove the connection and its cached data.
Check these differences before calling it a tracking bug
- Coverage: Search Console shows search activity; all-source session totals also include newsletters, referrals, and other visits. Compare the relevant source where possible.
- Collection: consent choices, privacy signals, blockers, an incomplete installation, or a visitor leaving before the script runs can prevent a click from becoming recorded activity.
- Dates: WhoVisited's Search Console comparison uses two equal 28-day windows of final data, based on Search Console's Pacific Time dates. Check the displayed cutoff; recent search data may not yet be available.
- Page URLs: redirects, canonical URLs, www, and subdomains can make two page labels look different. WhoVisited aligns a Google page with a landing page only when hostname and path match.
- Completeness: the API may omit lower-ranked page rows. WhoVisited marks a response at its 25,000-row limit as partial.
Search Console data is aggregate. WhoVisited does not attach a person's search query to their visitor timeline. Read Google's Search Analytics API reference for the source data's boundaries.
Use both reports to choose a useful improvement
Impressions without many clicks: open that page in Search Console and inspect its queries, position, country, and device. Check whether the page and its title answer the searcher's actual question. A low CTR can also reflect position or the search results layout, so changing the title is not automatically the fix.
Visits without goal sessions: verify the goal, then inspect the landing page and the path to signup or enquiry. More search visibility will not repair a broken form.
Almost no impressions: first check the URL's indexing status in Search Console. Then consider whether the page offers a useful, specific answer that your target audience is looking for.
Record one change, allow comparable data to accumulate, and review counts alongside rates. An increase after an edit is evidence to investigate, not proof that the edit caused the increase. See the goal and traffic-source guide for the on-site part of that review.