5 Ways to Use Google Search Console for Keyword Research

Google Search Console (GSC) shows you the keywords your site ranks for, but the challenge isn't accessing the data—it's knowing how to use it to find optimization opportunities and content gaps worth filling.

Here are five methods for using Google Search Console to find keywords to optimize and new content opportunities to pursue.

Method 1: Find High-Value Keywords to Keep in Your Strategy

High-value keywords are keywords that already drive substantial traffic to your site, making them your most important search terms to monitor and protect.

These keywords need monitoring because even small ranking drops can cause significant traffic loss.

Monthly monitoring lets you catch ranking declines early, understand what's working, and double down on successful content topics before problems compound.

How to Find Your High-Value Keywords

Find your high-value keywords by opening Google Search Console's "Search results" report and sorting queries by clicks.

To get there, open Google Search Console and click “Search results” in the left sidebar.

Scroll down to the “Queries” tab at the bottom of the report. These are the keywords driving organic traffic to your site. Then, select the “Clicks” column header to sort by highest traffic first.

Your top keywords by clicks represent your most valuable search visibility—you'll feel the traffic impact immediately if these keywords’ positions decline.

Review your top 20-50 keywords—these are your high-value terms. Then, click the “Export” button to download this data to a spreadsheet. Save it monthly to track changes over time.

How to Optimize High-Value Keywords if They Decline

You can optimize high-value keywords if they decline by updating your content with new and fresh information.

Consider:

• Adding new information and recent examples to keep content relevant
• Incorporating related keywords naturally into subheadings and body text
• Improving internal links from other relevant pages on your site
• Updating outdated statistics, screenshots, or references
• Expanding sections where competitors provide more depth

Method 2: Find Related Keywords from Your High-Value Keywords

You can find related keywords by entering your high-value keywords into a keyword research tool to discover variations you can rank for more easily.

For example, if you rank well for "what to visit in rome," you likely can rank for "what to visit in rome in three days" or "best catacombs to visit in rome."

You can discover related keywords with a tool like the Keyword Magic Tool. 

Start by entering one of your high-value keywords as your seed keyword. Enter your domain for personalized data and click “Search.”

The report displays dozens of related terms that you can sort by search volume, difficulty, and search intent (the searcher’s goal). Look for keywords with a high search volume and low personal keyword difficulty (how hard it will be for your site to rank for the keyword). 

Then, select new keywords. For each keyword, decide whether to create new content or optimize existing pages:

• Create new contentwhen the keyword has distinct intent from existing content. For example, say you have a post for the keyword "best restaurants in Milan" and find a related keyword "new restaurants opening in Milan." The new keyword serves a different need from the first—one offers recommendations, the other reports news—meaning these should be two distinct articles. 
• Optimize existing content when the related keyword fits naturally into a page you already have. Add it to subheadings, incorporate it two to three times in body paragraphs, and ensure your content answers that specific query variation.

Just be mindful of keyword cannibalization when writing about similar topics. Keyword cannibalization is an issue where different pages on one site compete with each other for the same keyword and it can harm your search performance and conversions. So avoid using the same keywords on multiple pages. 

Method 3: Find Striking Distance Keywords

Striking distance keywords rank in positions 11-30 (pages two and three of Google) and represent content you can optimize and have a strong chance at ranking on the first page.

Keywords on the second page and beyond receive minimal traffic. Research from Backlinko found that only 0.63% of searchers click on something from the second page.

So, moving a keyword from page two to page one can help you get more clicks and traffic.

Striking distance keywords are important because Google already considers you relevant for these keywords—you just need better optimization to push into page one—making them easier to improve than keywords where you don't rank at all.

How to Find Striking Distance Keywords

Find striking distance keywords by opening Google Search Console's "Search results" report and filtering queries that rank in positions 11-30.

Keep the timeframe set to three months, as three months works well to see recent data. Then click “Average position” to turn on position data.

Scroll down and click the “Queries” tab. Sort by “Impressions” (descending) to see keywords with visibility,and manually scan the “Position” column for keywords ranking between 11-30.

Export the data to Excel or Google Sheets for faster filtering.

How to Optimize Striking Distance Keywords

You can optimize striking distance keywords by improving your content’s on-page SEO, like improving title tags, adding internal links, and incorporating your keyword naturally.

Here’s a checklist of activities:

• Search your target keyword and examine the top three results: Examine content already ranking high and look for the format it uses like listicles, how-to guides, or comparison posts. Match that format to align with what Google rewards.
• Incorporate the keyword naturally: Add your target keyword to your title tag near the beginning, use it in a few H2 or H3 subheadings, and include it naturally throughout your body content.
• Improve content depth: Compare your page to the top three results and identify subtopics they cover that you don't. Add missing sections to make your content more comprehensive than competitors.
• Optimize your meta description: Include your target keyword and write a compelling reason to click. Keep it between 150-160 characters so it doesn't get cut off in search results.
• Strengthen internal linking: Link to your target page from a few related pages on your site using descriptive anchor text (the clickable text) that includes your target keyword or related phrases.

Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker gives you a list of what each page needs so you don’t need to guess. Head into your site and scroll to “Top pages to optimize.” Click “# ideas” for a list of personalized suggestions for each page.

You’ll get a list of optimization tips.

Implement each suggestion for every page listed.

Method 4: Find Keywords with Low Click-Through Rates (CTR)

Keywords with low CTRs are pages that many people see in the search results but don’t click.

Reasons they might not click your site in the search results can include unappealing or inaccurate title tags and meta descriptions (text that describes your page and is sometimes visible in the search results).

So, you can try to improve low CTRs by rewriting your title tags and meta descriptions. Just keep in mind that Google doesn’t always use the titles and descriptions you set. 

How to Find Keywords With Low CTRs

Find keywords with low CTRs by turning on the “Average CTR” filter in GSC.

Then, click into the “Pages” report. 

Sort the “Positions” column in ascending order. Look for pages with low CTRs relative to their position. Here are the average CTRs based on position from a First Page Sage study:

• Position 1: 39.8% average CTR
• Position 2: 18.7% average CTR
• Position 3: 10.2% average CTR
• Position 4: 7.2% average CTR
• Position 5: 5.1% average CTR

You can use the above averages as a reference to help you find keywords with low CTRs.

For example, you’d want to optimize a keyword where you rank in position two that has a CTR of only 5.5%, as it’s much lower than the average.

How to Improve Keywords with Low CTRs

Improve keywords with low CTRs by rewriting title tags with numbers or power words and adding clear benefits to meta descriptions.

Here are some more tips:

• Optimize your title tag: Add power words ("Essential," "Ultimate," "Proven"), or the current year ("...in 2026") to your title. Include your target keyword near the beginning and keep the title under 60 characters so it doesn't get truncated (shortened) in search results.
• Rewrite your meta description: Include your target keyword (Google bolds matching terms), address the user's pain point or question, explain the clear benefit or outcome they'll get, and add a call-to-action like "Learn how" or "Discover." Keep your meta descriptions under 105 characters.

Method 5: Find Mobile-Specific Opportunities

Mobile searchers often use different keywords than desktop users, and filtering by device in Google Search Console reveals untapped mobile SEO opportunities.

These differences show up as shorter queries, voice-search-friendly phrasing ("how do I..." questions), local intent ("near me" searches), and navigational queries.

How to Find Mobile Keywords in GSC

You can find mobile keywords in GSC by filtering for mobile-specific data in the “Search results” report.

Start by opening the “Search results” report. Then, scroll down to the “Devices” tab.

Click “Mobile” to filter to mobile-only searches.

Now in the “Queries” tab you can see your mobile keyword performance.

Sort by“Impressions” to identify your top mobile keywords and compare this list to your overall keyword list. Look for:

• Keywords that appear in mobile results but not desktop
• Keywords with significantly higher mobile impressions
• Question-based queries (more common on mobile)
• Local or location keywords ("near me," city names)

How to Optimize Mobile Keywords

Optimize mobile keyword content by improving readability with shorter paragraphs, adding scannable bullet lists, and ensuring images load fast. 

Here are some extra tips:

• Target local intent: Mobile users frequently search with local intent. If you have a physical location, add local business schema markup (code that gives search engines additional context about your business) and include your city or region in relevant content to capture "near me" searches.
• Prioritize page speed: Mobile users abandon slow-loading pages quickly. Compress images (make them smaller without hurting their quality), minimize JavaScript, and use browser caching (instructing browsers to temporarily store your website) to ensure your pages load in under three seconds or less on mobile connections.
• Simplify navigation: Mobile users have limited screen space. Use clear menu structures, prominent search bars, and easy-to-tap buttons to improve mobile user experience.
• Add click-to-call functionality: For service-based businesses, add clickable phone numbers using the tel: link format (a clickable link that initiates a phone call). Mobile users often want to call immediately rather than fill out forms.

How to Turn Google Search Console Insights into Action

Finding keywords is only the first step—this workflow shows you how to prioritize opportunities, make optimizations, and track results so your keyword research translates into measurable traffic growth.

Step 1: Prioritize Your Opportunities

Prioritize your opportunities by starting with the method that will bring the best results with the timeline and budget you have available.

For example, ecommerce sites should prioritize striking distance keywords with high commercial intent, as those keywords can deliver sales.

Whereas content publishers might want to focus on low-CTR opportunities to maximize ad revenue. 

Take a look at your goals and resources and pick the methods that will move the needle fastest.

Step 2: Create Your Optimization Plan

Create your optimization plan by building a spreadsheet that lists each keyword you want to target, its current position and impressions (if any), the action needed, a time estimate, and your priority level.

Here’s an example:

This level of tracking helps you prioritize and track tasks.

Step 3: Track Results in GSC

Track your results in GSC so you know which activities are working, which ones need tweaking, and where to double down on your efforts.

Use the “Search results” report and check clicks, impressions, CTR, and positions weekly for each keyword. And click the “Compare” tab to see before-and-after impact. Select your date range, choose "Previous period," and view percentage changes in clicks, impressions, and position.

You can also use Semrush’s Position Tracking tool to get daily updates as GSC’s data may be delayed by a couple of days. Position Tracking also gives you access to competitor tracking, SERP feature tracking, historical data beyond the 16 months GSC provides, and more.

You can also set up alerts with Position Tracking. This lets you instantly know when positions change drastically.

Boost Your Keyword Research with Semrush

Google Search Console is great for free, easy, and basic keyword research. But Semrush offers more comprehensive keyword analysis and search performance tracking.

To get the best of both tools, connect GSC to Semrush.

For example, connect GSC to Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker to import the keywords your site ranks for automatically. You can also integrate GSC with the SEO Dashboard to combine all of your performance and keyword insights into one place.

Then track all relevant keywords (including competitors’) with Semrush’s Keyword Tracking tool.

Ready to give it a try?