515 | Where Has Google’s Data Gone? w/ Patrick Stox

There was a huge bit of news that is stirring up a good deal of conversation in the SEO circles on social media. Patrick Stox and Ahrefs released a study representing almost 150,000 websites and nearly 9 billion total clicks for one month of data. He studied Google Search Console, and the clicks reported from the console were incredibly different from the click data available from the API call.  The conclusion?  Google Search Console hides the keyword term for 46.08% of clicks!

Some huge variations in these figures: two sites with traffic from 60 million to 100 million clicks showing 2.27% and 90.3% hidden terms, respectively.

How is this possible, and what are we in for now, seeing that we can’t even see the terms that are clicked on almost 50% of the time?  Listen as we unpack a shocking study today on the EDGE!

[00:01:21] EDGE Show Notes

[00:06:57] The GSC Hidden Terms Study

[00:07:47] Google Search Console is Missing 46% of Query Clicks

[00:12:22] It’s Not Privacy, So What Is It?

[00:13:14] EDGE of the Web Title Sponsor: Site Strategics

[00:14:08] Another Reason from Google: They're Just Not Storing the Data

[00:18:15] From Google Every Year: 15% of Searches are New 

[00:21:41] No Consistency in the Loss of Data.  Couldn't Even Model It.

[00:23:03] EDGE of the Web Sponsor: edgeofthewebradio.com/Wix

[00:25:31] Google's Help Documents Changed After This Report

[00:26:30] They Aren't Storing the Data?

[00:28:43] How Do We Reconcile This To Report to our Clients?

[00:31:13] Operating in a Data-Missing Marketing World

[00:36:23] Are We Going Back to Hit Counters Per Page?

Study: https://ahrefs.com/blog/gsc-hidden-terms-study/

Check for YOUR Missing Data

Patrick Stox’s Data Studio Tool: edgeofthewebradio.com/missinggsc