How to use Semrush with Google Search Console

Using Semrush with Google Search Console (GSC) gives you two views of your site, side by side, for a more complete view into your search visibility.

GSC reports what Google actually recorded: your clicks, impressions, and indexing issues. Semrush adds what GSC can't show, like daily rankings, competitor data, and deeper backlink analysis. But connecting the two isn't a single step. Each Semrush tool links to GSC on its own.

Below, we cover which Semrush tools connect to GSC, how to set each one up, six ways to use the combined data, and how to fix common connection errors.

If you're new to either tool, start with our Google Search Console guide, the Getting Started with Semrush guide, or our explainer on how Semrush data differs from GSC.

How Semrush and Google Search Console work together

Semrush and Google Search Console work together through separate integrations in each Semrush tool (not one account-wide Semrush Search Console connection). You connect your Google account to a Semrush project, then turn on GSC inside each tool you want to use.

Here's the data each tool pulls from GSC and where you connect it:

Semrush tool

The data it pulls from GSC

Where to connect

SEO Dashboard

Clicks and impressions for your property, shown as a trend over time

The ⋮ menu > "Setup Google account," or the "Google Search Console" tab > "Connect"

Position Tracking

The queries GSC shows for your site, imported as tracked keywords

The Keywords window > "Import from..." > "Google Search Console"

Backlink Audit

Backlinks Google has found for your site, plus your disavow file

"Integrations" > "Google Search Console" > "Connect"

My Reports

Clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and average position, broken down by query, page, country, device, or search appearance

The report builder's Integrations sidebar > "Google Search Console"

Site Audit is the one notable gap within the Semrush Google Search Console integration set. It integrates with Google Analytics only, so comparing Site Audit results with GSC's indexing reports is a manual check (covered below).

Semrush also doesn't store the data it pulls from connected Google accounts.

How to connect Google Search Console to Semrush

To connect Google Search Console to Semrush, link your Google account to a Semrush project, then connect GSC inside each tool you plan to use.

Step 1: Check that your GSC property matches your project domain

Your GSC property must match the domain in your Semrush project, including www vs. non-www versions. If they don't match, Semrush can't find the property and will show a "No properties match your campaign scope" error.

If you plan to use Backlink Audit, also check that the property covers your root domain. A property limited to a subfolder, like example.com/blog/, won't connect.

Step 2: Connect your Google account to your project

To connect your Google account, open your project's SEO Dashboard, then click “Connect Google” in the top-right. You can also scroll to the chart, open the "Google Search Console" tab, and click "Connect."

Sign in with the Google account that has access to your property, then select the property in the wizard. You don't need to connect Google Analytics for GSC to work.

Once connected, the dashboard's "Google Search Console" tab shows your property's clicks and impressions over time.

Step 3: Import GSC keywords into Position Tracking

To import keywords from Google Search Console into Semrush Position Tracking, use the "Import from..." menu in the Keywords window:

• For new campaigns: Find it at the top-right of the Keywords step or window during setup
• For existing campaigns: Click the gear icon in the top right and select "Tracked keywords" to open the Keywords window

Then, select “Google Search Console” from the drop-down.

This adds the queries your site already gets impressions for, so you can track them daily. Review the imported list before you click "Add keywords to campaign" and "Save changes." Imported keywords count toward your plan's keyword limit, which the window shows below the list.

For the rest of the campaign setup, see Semrush's Position Tracking guide.

Step 4: Connect GSC to Backlink Audit

To connect GSC to Backlink Audit, you give a unique Semrush email address full access to your GSC property. This step applies even if you've already connected GSC elsewhere in Semrush.

Before you start, you need Owner or Full permission in GSC (restricted users can't complete this step) and a root domain property, as covered in Step 1.

Then, follow these steps:

• Open your Backlink Audit campaign, click "Integrations" in the top-right, and click "Connect" under Google Search Console.
• Click "Share access" next to your Google account. If no account appears, click "Add Google Account" and sign in first.
• Copy the Backlink Audit email address shown in the window. Each project gets its own address in the following format: backlink.audit.{code}@gmail.com.
• In GSC, go to Settings > "Users and permissions" > "Add user." Only verified property owners can add users.
• Paste the email address and select "Full" permission. Backlink Audit needs full permission to upload your disavow file to Google.
• Back in Backlink Audit, click "Check connection and Upload backlinks."

After you connect, Backlink Audit recrawls your profile with the new GSC links. A "Crawling links" progress bar replaces the header buttons until the crawl finishes.

Step 5: Add GSC widgets to My Reports

To add GSC widgets to My Reports, open the report builder and drag them in from the Integrations sidebar. Find "Google Search Console" under SEO, then choose from two tabs:

• Widgets: Single metrics and tables, like clicks, impressions, average CTR, average position, and breakdowns by query, page, country, device, or search appearance
• Groups: Prebuilt sets, including Search Performance Overview, Audience Insights, Desktop Search, and Mobile Search

If your Google account isn't connected yet, you can also connect it from the widget itself. For a faster start, pick the Google Search Console template from the My Reports sidebar.

To use Semrush with Google Search Console data, start from what GSC shows about your own site (e.g., your actual clicks, impressions, average positions, indexing issues). Next, use Semrush to fill in what GSC can't show: daily rankings, competitors, keyword difficulty, and your backlink profile.

SEO and AI search consultant Bill Widmer shares why he needs both tools:

"I don't start an audit without read-only Search Console access. Semrush shows me where a site stands against competitors, but only GSC shows what Google actually did with each page. On one client site, a checklist page was cited in AI answers for 50 prompts and still earned zero clicks from Google, and GSC's impressions and average position are what tell you whether that's an indexing problem, a ranking problem, or a click problem. Semrush can't see your real clicks, and GSC can't see anyone else's site, so I never plan an SEO strategy without both."

"I don't start an audit without read-only Search Console access. Semrush shows me where a site stands against competitors, but only GSC shows what Google actually did with each page. On one client site, a checklist page was cited in AI answers for 50 prompts and still earned zero clicks from Google, and GSC's impressions and average position are what tell you whether that's an indexing problem, a ranking problem, or a click problem. Semrush can't see your real clicks, and GSC can't see anyone else's site, so I never plan an SEO strategy without both."

See ranking changes before they show up in GSC

To see ranking changes before they show up in GSC, import your GSC keywords into Position Tracking, which checks your rankings every day. GSC reports positions a few days late, and only for days your page gets impressions, so a drop can go unnoticed there for days.

That time delay matters when rankings drop. When Bill tested this on his own site, Position Tracking flagged a 19-position drop for "b2b saas ai search consultant," one of his most important keywords, on October 27. A day later, GSC's newest data was still from October 26, so the drop wasn't visible there yet. Only Semrush showed this drop the day it happened.

While you’re in Position Tracking, add competitors to the same campaign to see whether a drop only impacted you or if it also affected every competitor on the search engine results page (SERP).

Vet striking-distance keywords

Vet striking-distance keywords (GSC queries that rank roughly in positions 4 through 15) and check their difficulty and intent in Keyword Overview. Low-difficulty terms whose intent matches the page that already ranks for them are your quickest wins.

For queries with high impressions but few clicks, run the main term through the Keyword Magic Tool. If the related terms share the page's intent, expand the existing page to include those topics. If they point to a different need, create a new page. Both checks are manual, since Keyword Overview and the Keyword Magic Tool don't pull GSC data directly.

For the full filtering method in GSC, see our guide to finding keywords in Google Search Console.

Clean up your backlink profile

Clean up your backlink profile by letting Backlink Audit combine GSC’s link data with Semrush’s own crawl, so you review the links Google reports alongside the ones Semrush found. With both sources in one list, you’re less likely to miss a toxic link that belongs in your disavow file or a lost link worth recovering.

Google only recommends disavowing when spammy links have caused (or are likely to cause) a manual action, according to Google’s Search Console Help. For most sites, the bigger payoff is recovering broken and lost links.

When Bill connected GSC on his own site, referring domains rose from 984 to 1,090, and nearly all of the new ones were flagged toxic (222 to 324). Part of that came from nine days of regular crawling, but it’s a reason to review new domains before you disavow anything.

If you do need to disavow, build one list in Semrush, import your existing disavow files from GSC, and upload the combined list to Google’s Disavow Tool. Our guide to links in Google Search Console covers what GSC’s own links report shows.

Check whether ranking gains turned into clicks

Check whether ranking gains turned into clicks by comparing Position Tracking with the GSC chart on your SEO Dashboard. Both sit on the same page, so you can see rankings and real clicks without switching tools.

If rankings rise but clicks stay flat, review the SERP for those keywords. A featured snippet, AI Overview, or weak title tag can keep searchers from clicking even when you rank well.

GSC's generative AI performance reports show how often your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode, which can help explain the gap. For more on reading these signals together, see our guide to measuring SEO results.

Build client reports with GSC data

Build client reports with GSC data by placing GSC widgets next to Semrush widgets in the same My Reports PDF. That way, clients see Google's own clicks and impressions alongside rankings, competitors, and backlink data.

Try pairing a GSC Query table next to Position Tracking rankings for the same keywords. Together, they show clients how they rank and how much traffic those rankings actually bring.

Diagnose indexing issues with Site Audit

Diagnose indexing issues by checking GSC's page indexing report first, then running Site Audit to find the URLs and causes behind them. GSC tells you what Google has actually flagged, so fix those issues first.

Site Audit crawls your site the way a search engine would. It shows which pages trigger each problem and catches issues Google hasn't reported yet, like broken internal links or redirect chains.

How to fix common GSC connection errors

To fix common GSC connection errors, check three things:

• Whether your property matches your project
• Whether Backlink Audit's email address has Full permission
• Whether Semrush has already synced every link it can

"No properties match your campaign scope"

This error means the Google account you connected doesn't have a property that matches your Semrush project domain. It usually happens when you're signed in to the wrong Google account, or when the property and project differ on www vs. non-www.

To fix it, sign out of Google, sign back in with the account that owns the matching property, and connect again.

"Make sure you have added account … to your GSC properties"

This Backlink Audit error means GSC doesn't recognize the Backlink Audit email address. The address may be missing, added with "Restricted" instead of "Full" permission, or copied from a different project.

To fix it, copy the address again from "Integrations" in the current campaign, then re-add it in GSC with "Full" permission. Each project has its own specific address, so one from another project won't work.

"All links were uploaded from shared properties"

This Backlink Audit message isn't a failure. It means Semrush has already pulled every backlink available from the properties you shared and will keep syncing them periodically.

To get more backlinks into the audit, connect another Google account that has a property matching your campaign scope.

FAQ

Google Search Console vs. Semrush: what's the difference?

Google Search Console reports Google's own data, but only for sites you own or manage. Semrush covers any domain, so it adds competitor research, rank tracking, keyword research, and backlink analysis on top. In a Semrush vs. Google Search Console comparison, neither replaces the other: one shows what happened on your site, and the other shows the market around it.

Why don't Semrush and GSC show the same traffic numbers?

GSC counts the actual clicks your site got from Google. Semrush estimates traffic from the positions a site ranks in, the monthly search volume of those keywords, and average click-through rates per position, according to Semrush's glossary. Different numbers are normal and don't mean your connection is broken.

What access do I need to connect Google Search Console to Semrush?

The Google account you connect to Semrush must have access to your GSC property. Backlink Audit requires Owner or Full permission, and a verified owner must add its unique email address as a user.