Google Search Console Pull search performance data, index coverage, and Core Web Vitals from Google Search Console API. Prerequisites Requires Google OAuth credentials: GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET A valid OAuth access token with https://www.googleapis.com/auth/webmasters.readonly scope Set credentials in .env , .env.local , or ~/.claude/.env.global . Getting an Access Token

Step 1: Authorization URL (user visits in browser)

echo "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth?client_id= ${GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID} &redirect_uri=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob&scope=https://www.googleapis.com/auth/webmasters.readonly&response_type=code&access_type=offline"

Step 2: Exchange code for tokens

curl -s -X POST "https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token" \ -d "code={AUTH_CODE}" \ -d "client_id= ${GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID} " \ -d "client_secret= ${GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET} " \ -d "redirect_uri=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob" \ -d "grant_type=authorization_code"

Step 3: Refresh expired token

curl -s -X POST "https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token" \ -d "refresh_token={REFRESH_TOKEN}" \ -d "client_id= ${GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID} " \ -d "client_secret= ${GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET} " \ -d "grant_type=refresh_token" Listing Available Sites curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites" \ | python3 -c " import json, sys data = json.load(sys.stdin) for site in data.get('siteEntry', []): print(f \" {site['siteUrl']} | Permission: {site['permissionLevel']} \" ) " The site URL format is either https://example.com/ (URL prefix) or sc-domain:example.com (domain property). 1. Search Performance Report The core report: queries, pages, clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position. API Endpoint POST https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/{siteUrl}/searchAnalytics/query Note: The {siteUrl} must be URL-encoded (e.g., https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2F or sc-domain%3Aexample.com ). Top Queries curl -s -X POST \ "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "startDate": "2024-01-01", "endDate": "2024-03-31", "dimensions": ["query"], "rowLimit": 50, "startRow": 0 }' Top Pages curl -s -X POST \ "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "startDate": "2024-01-01", "endDate": "2024-03-31", "dimensions": ["page"], "rowLimit": 50 }' Query + Page Combination curl -s -X POST \ "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "startDate": "2024-01-01", "endDate": "2024-03-31", "dimensions": ["query", "page"], "rowLimit": 100, "dimensionFilterGroups": [{ "filters": [{ "dimension": "page", "operator": "contains", "expression": "/blog/" }] }] }' Available Dimensions Dimension Description query Search query page URL country Country code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3) device DESKTOP , MOBILE , TABLET date Individual date searchAppearance Rich result type Response Parsing curl -s -X POST "..." | python3 -c " import json, sys data = json.load(sys.stdin) print(f \" {'Query':<50} {'Clicks':>8} {'Impr':>8} {'CTR':>8} {'Pos':>6} \" ) print('-' * 82) for row in data.get('rows', []): keys = ' + '.join(row.get('keys', [])) print(f \" {keys:<50} {row['clicks']:>8} {row['impressions']:>8} {row['ctr']*100:>7.1f}% {row['position']:>6.1f} \" ) " 2. Search Performance by Date Track daily trends for queries and pages. curl -s -X POST \ "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "startDate": "2024-01-01", "endDate": "2024-03-31", "dimensions": ["date"], "rowLimit": 1000 }' To track a specific query over time: curl -s -X POST \ "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "startDate": "2024-01-01", "endDate": "2024-03-31", "dimensions": ["date"], "dimensionFilterGroups": [{ "filters": [{ "dimension": "query", "operator": "equals", "expression": "your target keyword" }] }] }' 3. Index Coverage (URL Inspection API) Check if a specific URL is indexed. Endpoint POST https://searchconsole.googleapis.com/v1/urlInspection/index:inspect Example curl curl -s -X POST \ "https://searchconsole.googleapis.com/v1/urlInspection/index:inspect" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "inspectionUrl": "https://example.com/page-to-check", "siteUrl": "sc-domain:example.com" }' Response Fields Field Description inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.coverageState Submitted and indexed , Crawled - currently not indexed , etc. inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.robotsTxtState ALLOWED or DISALLOWED inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.indexingState INDEXING_ALLOWED or INDEXING_NOT_ALLOWED inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.lastCrawlTime When Googlebot last crawled inspectionResult.indexStatusResult.crawledAs DESKTOP or MOBILE inspectionResult.mobileUsabilityResult.verdict PASS , FAIL , or VERDICT_UNSPECIFIED 4. Sitemaps List and check sitemap status. List Sitemaps curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/sitemaps" \ | python3 -c " import json, sys data = json.load(sys.stdin) for sm in data.get('sitemap', []): print(f \" URL: {sm['path']} \" ) print(f \" Type: {sm.get('type','')} | Submitted: {sm.get('lastSubmitted','')} \" ) print(f \" URLs discovered: {sm.get('contents',[{}])[0].get('submitted','?')} | Indexed: {sm.get('contents',[{}])[0].get('indexed','?')} \" ) print() " Submit a Sitemap curl -s -X PUT -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/sitemaps/https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fsitemap.xml" 5. Opportunity Identification Use Search Console data to find SEO opportunities. Low-Hanging Fruit: High Impressions, Low CTR Queries with many impressions but low CTR suggest the title/description needs optimization.

Pull queries, then filter for: impressions > 100 AND ctr < 0.03 AND position < 20

curl -s -X POST \ "https://www.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/sites/sc-domain%3Aexample.com/searchAnalytics/query" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GSC_ACCESS_TOKEN} " \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "startDate": "2024-01-01", "endDate": "2024-03-31", "dimensions": ["query", "page"], "rowLimit": 1000 }' | python3 -c " import json, sys data = json.load(sys.stdin) print('== Low CTR Opportunities (High impressions, low CTR, good position) ==') print(f \" {'Query':<40} {'Page':<40} {'Impr':>6} {'CTR':>7} {'Pos':>5} \" ) for row in data.get('rows', []): if row['impressions'] > 100 and row['ctr'] < 0.03 and row['position'] < 20: print(f \" {row['keys'][0]:<40} {row['keys'][1][-40:]:<40} {row['impressions']:>6} {row['ctr']*100:>6.1f}% {row['position']:>5.1f} \" ) " Striking Distance: Position 5-20 Queries ranking on page 1-2 that could be pushed to top 5 with content optimization.

Filter for position between 5 and 20 with decent impressions

curl -s -X POST "..." | python3 -c " import json, sys data = json.load(sys.stdin) print('== Striking Distance Keywords (Position 5-20) ==') opps = [r for r in data.get('rows',[]) if 5 <= r['position'] <= 20 and r['impressions'] > 50] opps.sort(key=lambda x: x['impressions'], reverse=True) for row in opps[:30]: print(f \" {row['keys'][0]:<50} Pos: {row['position']:>5.1f} Impr: {row['impressions']:>6} Clicks: {row['clicks']:>4} \" ) " Cannibalization Detection Find queries where multiple pages compete for the same keyword.

Pull query+page data, then group by query to find duplicates

curl

-s

-X

POST

"..."

|

python3

-c

"

import json, sys

from collections import defaultdict

data = json.load(sys.stdin)

query_pages = defaultdict(list)

for row in data.get('rows', []):

query_pages[row['keys'][0]].append({

'page': row['keys'][1],

'clicks': row['clicks'],

'impressions': row['impressions'],

'position': row['position']

})

print('== Keyword Cannibalization (multiple pages for same query) ==')

for query, pages in sorted(query_pages.items(), key=lambda x: -sum(p['impressions'] for p in x[1])):

if len(pages) > 1:

total_impr = sum(p['impressions'] for p in pages)

if total_impr > 100:

print(f

\"

\n

Query: {query} ({total_impr} total impressions)

\"

)

for p in sorted(pages, key=lambda x: -x['impressions']):

print(f

\"

{p['page'][-60:]} Pos: {p['position']:.1f} Impr: {p['impressions']} Clicks: {p['clicks']}

\"

)

"

Workflow: Full Search Performance Audit

When asked for a complete GSC audit:

Overall Metrics

Total clicks, impressions, avg CTR, avg position for last 90 days vs previous 90 days

Top 30 Queries

By clicks, with CTR and position

Top 20 Pages

By clicks, with CTR and position

Device Breakdown

Desktop vs mobile performance

Low-Hanging Fruit

High impressions + low CTR opportunities

Striking Distance

Position 5-20 keywords with optimization potential

Cannibalization

Queries with multiple competing pages

Index Coverage

Spot-check important URLs

Sitemap Health

Verify sitemaps are submitted and indexed Report Format

Search Console Audit:

Period:

Summary