What you will learn #
Use this guide to understand search data collected by Hitsteps, explore Google Search Console data for a site you manage, and check URL indexing information. Hitsteps search referrals and Google Search Console performance answer different questions.
Before you begin #
- Sign in and select the website you want to review. Replace
{site-id}in the paths below with the site selected in your account; never share a private dashboard URL containing another account's site ID. - Search reports need collected visits for the selected date range. A newly installed tracker, an empty period, browser privacy controls or a search engine that withholds query details can leave reports empty or incomplete.
- The older SEO reports and Google SEO area are separate. Search Console is an optional Google connection. Its connection and property controls are available to an account owner or administrator in the current source; other users can view reports where their site access permits but cannot change the connection or property.
- The current source uses Google's Search Console read-only scope. It reads data and does not submit URLs for indexing. Google may still require that the connecting Google account can access the chosen Search Console property.
- Mentions is a separate paid-plan feature. It searches configured terms on the web and X; it is not the Search Console query report and does not include all social networks.
Step by step #
Read Hitsteps search reports
Search engine overview
Open SEO → Overview (route ending in /seo/engine/). Choose the date range in the dashboard date selector. The report ranks search engines and shows their recorded search hits for that site and period. Its chart and table are based on Hitsteps referral records; they are not Google Search Console impressions or clicks. If no recognized search-engine data exists in the selected period, the page shows its empty-state notice.
Use this view to answer “Which search engines sent visits that Hitsteps recognized?” It does not measure all searches or all impressions on a search results page.
Keywords from search visits
Open SEO → Keywords (route ending in /seo/keyword/). The table ranks terms associated with recorded search visits. The report excludes the [not provided] placeholder from the visible keyword ranking; search engines often do not reveal a term, so a missing keyword does not mean that no search visit occurred. Select the search icon beside a term to open recent visitors associated with that term.
The table is limited to the top 100 terms returned for the selected period. Counts are Hitsteps records, not a promise that every search query is identifiable. If the report is empty, check the date range and try Google Search Console for the site's aggregate Google data.
Recent search visits
Open SEO → Recent (route ending in /seo/recent/). Each row represents an individual recorded visit attributed to a search engine. Use the date range to narrow the period and Next / Previous to move through pages. The current source displays up to 30 visits per page. A visit row may include its landing page, search engine, available keyword and normal visitor details.
Use this report only for an authorized site and only share visitor-level details with people who should have access to them. Search engines may hide the keyword, and this report should not be used to identify a person from a search term.
Searches inside your website
Open SEO → Internal searches (route ending in /seo/internal/). This report groups the search terms people entered in your own site's search box. It includes the total searches shown, number of distinct terms shown and most searched term, then ranks up to 100 terms with their share and count. Select a term or Visitors to see matching visits in the chosen date range. The page's filter narrows the displayed list; Clear restores it.
Hitsteps recognizes common search URL patterns for Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento and Joomla in the current source. If your site uses a custom search URL or has no recognized search term parameter, results can remain empty. Confirm the site search URL carries a query term and that the tracker records the resulting page view. An empty report is not evidence that visitors never searched.
Connect Google Search Console
Connecting Google is an account change. Only an account owner or administrator should do it, and you should only connect an account you are authorized to use for the selected website.
- Open the selected site's Google SEO page at
/stats/{site-id}/gl/. - If no Google account is connected, select Sign in with Google. If an existing connection needs renewal, select Reconnect Google.
- Sign in to Google and review the permission request. The current source requests read-only Search Console access. If the connecting Google account has no eligible properties, first add or verify the website in Google Search Console and grant that account access there.
- Return to Hitsteps. Under Choose or change property, select the matching Search Console property and choose Select. Prefer the property that exactly matches your site. A domain property covers the domain; a URL-prefix property covers only its matching URL prefix.
- Open Search performance and set From and To, Search type, and the grouping dimension. Select Apply.
When the connection and property are accepted, Search Console reports appear for that property. Hitsteps obtains reports from Google; it does not create Search Console ownership or verify the property for you. The connection may not be configured in every environment. If Sign in with Google is disabled or the page reports that Search Console is not configured, contact Hitsteps support rather than repeatedly retrying.
To change the selected property, use Choose or change property, select another property the connected Google account can access, then select Select. This can change which site's Google data appears in the report.
To remove the connection, an owner or administrator can select Disconnect on the Google SEO page. This removes the saved Google connection and selected property for the Hitsteps site. It does not remove or change the property in Google Search Console. Disconnect only when you intend to stop this Hitsteps site from reading that connection; reconnect and select a property again if access is needed later.
Explore Search Console performance
The Search performance section shows summary metrics, a period comparison, a trend chart and a table of Google results. Use these controls:
- From / To: inclusive report dates. Google reports Search Console dates in Pacific Time. By default the source requests the last 30 completed calendar days; recent days can still be missing while Google prepares finalized data.
- Search type: Web, Images, Videos, News search, Discover or Google News. Query grouping is not available for Discover or Google News; the report switches to a supported dimension and explains that Google does not provide query data for those types.
- Group by: Queries, Pages, Countries, Devices, Dates or Search appearance. Choose one dimension to list results by that dimension.
- Filters: Query, Page URL, Country code, Device and Search appearance. Query and page filters can match exactly or contain the entered text. Country uses a three-letter country code. Device choices are Mobile, Desktop and Tablet. Search appearance accepts the value Google returns.
- Apply / Clear filters: run the chosen report or remove active filters. Active filters appear as removable chips above the results.
- Drill down: select a row to filter the next dimension. For example, open a query, then explore its pages; or open a page and inspect that URL's indexing result.
- Previous / Next: page through returned rows. The view requests up to 100 rows at a time and allows browsing up to 25,000 top rows; Google may return fewer rows.
- View daily metrics: group results by date. The trend chart also has a daily table so you can inspect exact values.
Search insights
Below the main performance chart, the page can show Search clicks by device and Top countries in Google Search. Each panel summarizes the five highest returned rows by clicks and links into that same report with the device or country applied as a filter. Its percentage is the share of clicks across the returned rows for that breakdown, not a share of all possible Google traffic. Select Explore breakdown to open the full breakdown table.
When the active grouping is Queries or Pages, the report can also show Search opportunities. This is a small review list, not an SEO score or Google recommendation: it selects up to five rows from the current results that have at least 100 impressions, average position from 4 through 20, and CTR below 2%, ordered by impressions. Follow Review results to inspect the query/page and its related rows. Check the page title, search snippet and content against the search intent before making changes; the list predicts neither rank changes nor traffic gains and does not cover rows Google did not return.
Metric definitions
| Metric | Meaning in this report | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks | Clicks from Google Search results represented by the selected property and filters. | These are Google Search Console clicks, not Hitsteps page views or unique visitors. |
| Impressions | Times a result from the property was shown in Google Search for the selected report. | An impression is not a click or a site visit. |
| CTR | Clicks divided by impressions. | Displayed as a percentage. A dash means the value is unavailable; it is not zero. |
| Average position | Google's average result position for the selected grouping and period. | A lower value is a better position. It is an average, not a fixed rank every visitor sees. |
| Change vs previous period | Current metric compared with the immediately preceding period of equal length. | CTR change is in percentage points. A lower average-position number can indicate improvement. |
Google totals are requested separately from the detail rows. Google may omit anonymized queries and lower-volume results from the table, so row values may not add up to the summary total. Search Console retains about 16 months of history. Missing values shown as a dash mean Google did not provide that value for the row.
Example: If a selected date range shows 120 clicks and 4,000 impressions, the click-through rate is 3%. If the table lists only 70 clicks across visible query rows, do not treat the remaining 50 as a reporting error: Google may have withheld anonymized or lower-volume query rows. The example is illustrative, not a product result.
Check indexing and sitemaps
Inspect one URL
- In Google SEO, open Indexing & issues.
- Enter a public HTTP or HTTPS page URL that belongs to the selected Search Console property. The page must be inside that property's URL scope.
- Select Inspect URL and wait for Google's inspection result.
- Read the indexing status, Retrieved from Google time, Last Google crawl, any reported problems, warnings and suggested next steps. Expand Crawl and indexing details for the fields Google supplied.
- If you started from a page row in Search performance, use Inspect URL there to open the matching indexing view.
The result describes Google's stored inspection data, not a test of the page as it currently loads. It does not request indexing, guarantee inclusion in search results or provide a full-site audit. Inspection results may be cached for 15 minutes. The Recent checked pages list contains only pages inspected in this browser session, keeps up to 25 recent checks for 24 hours, and is not a complete inventory of the site. “Pages with issues” counts reported problems and warnings; informational notes are excluded. Review an exclusion before changing a page because some exclusions are intentional.
Review submitted sitemaps
- Open Sitemaps in Google SEO.
- Review each sitemap's status, last submitted time, last downloaded time, submitted URL count, errors and warnings.
- If a sitemap index has child sitemaps, select View child sitemaps. Select All sitemaps to return to the list.
“Submitted URLs” is the number Google reports in the sitemap; it is not a count of indexed pages. A sitemap can be pending or processed while some pages remain unindexed. For site-wide indexing coverage and detailed diagnosis, open Google's full Page indexing report from More Google tools.
More Google tools
The More Google tools section links to Google services. They open outside Hitsteps and are not imported into this SEO dashboard:
- Rich Results Test: check a public page for supported structured data and reported rich-result issues. A test result is not a promise that Google will show a rich result.
- Search Console Links, Page indexing and Manual actions: open the corresponding reports in Search Console. You need access to the Google property.
- Google Trends: compare search interest over time or by region. Automatic Trends reports inside Hitsteps require Google's early-access approval; the link opens Trends itself.
- Google Business Profile, Merchant Center and Ads Keyword Planner: optional services with their own accounts, setup and permissions. The source describes them as external links, not imported Hitsteps reports. Importing those reports would need separate Google access approval; do not assume that import is available.
Mentions: a separate paid feature
If your plan and site access allow it, open Mentions at /stats/mentions.php?sid={site-id}. This feature requires an eligible paid plan and can also block access for expired/inactive licenses or a site count above the plan limit. The screen offers Add new web search query and Search X. Add a term, then switch between View all mentions and View and Edit keywords. In the keyword view you can rename or remove a term; the all-mentions view shows matching web or X results when the provider returns them.
This is a beta feature in the current source. Results depend on external search providers and may be empty, delayed or unavailable. It is not a complete archive of the web or social media. Do not enter sensitive personal information as a search term, and do not assume a match proves affiliation, intent or identity.
Worked example #
Illustrative example: If a selected range has 120 clicks and 4,000 impressions, click-through rate is 3%. Visible query rows can total fewer clicks because Google withholds some queries. These figures are fictional, not a product result.
Controls and metrics #
| Measure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Clicks | Google Search clicks in the selected Search Console property and range. |
| Impressions | Times a result was shown, as reported by Google. |
| CTR | Clicks divided by impressions, expressed as a percentage. |
| Position | Google’s reported average search position; compare the same filters. |
| Search referral | A tracked visit arriving from a recognized search engine. |
| Internal keyword | A recognized search performed inside your website, separate from Google queries. |
Problems and fixes #
| What you see | What to check |
|---|---|
| No SEO keywords | Widen the Hitsteps date range. Search engines often withhold query terms; use Google Search Console for aggregate Google queries if the connection is available. |
| No internal search terms | Run a search on your own site, confirm the resulting page URL contains the search term, and check that Hitsteps recognizes that platform's search pattern. Custom search implementations may need separate verification. |
| Recent report has no rows | Check the selected date range and page number. The report lists individual visits, not Search Console impressions. |
| Google connection button is disabled or setup fails | The current server may not have the integration configured, Google authentication may have failed, or the account may not have owner/administrator permission. Contact support with the visible error; never send an access token or screenshot containing private property details. |
| No Search Console property appears | Confirm the connected Google account can access a verified Search Console property, then reconnect or ask that property's owner to grant access. |
| Reconnect Google message | Google access may have expired or been revoked. An owner or administrator can use Reconnect Google, approve the read-only request and reselect the property if prompted. |
| Google reports a permission error | Confirm the property is available to the connected Google account and that the Search Console API is enabled for that Google project. The Hitsteps source maps this to an access/configuration problem. |
| Recent dates are empty | Google data is requested in finalized state and recent days may not yet be ready. Try an earlier completed date range. |
| Query filter unavailable | Discover and Google News reports do not provide query data in this view. Select another supported dimension or search type. |
| A URL cannot be inspected | Check that it is a public HTTP/HTTPS URL inside the selected property's scope. A URL-prefix property must match its scheme, host and prefix. |
| Search Console and Hitsteps counts differ | They measure different things and use separate date rules. Hitsteps records visits; Search Console reports Google's search-result activity. They are not expected to match row for row. |
| Mentions is locked | Check the account plan, license expiry, account status and website limit. Mentions requires an eligible paid plan. |
Access, privacy and limits #
- Search Console reports come from Google for the selected property. The current source requests read-only access. No page submission or indexing request is made by the inspection form.
- Search Console's date labels use Pacific Time. Search performance asks for finalized data; Google can omit anonymous or low-volume query details and may return fewer detail rows than exist.
- The indexing summary is based on pages checked in the current browser session, not all URLs in a site. It expires after 24 hours and inspection responses can be cached for 15 minutes.
- Older SEO, keyword and recent-visit views use Hitsteps' collected analytics and can include individual visit details. Restrict access and sharing to people permitted to see that site's analytics.
- Mentions uses external web/X providers and is restricted by plan/license and website limits. Search terms and returned public results may be stored or cached according to provider and Hitsteps behavior; verify current retention details before making a retention promise.
- Google Business Profile, Merchant Center, Ads Keyword Planner, Trends and full Search Console links leave Hitsteps. Their account rules and data are governed by Google and the service you open.
Last checked #
Checked 8 November 2026 using product documentation and source, with public pages and safe sample screens where available. Account-specific access, provider controls and effective limits can differ; use the current message shown for your website. Examples are illustrative.