Search Keywords Performance

See the actual search terms driving traffic to your website.

Overview

Search Keywords Performance imports keyword data directly from the search engines themselves — Google (via Search Console), Bing and Yahoo! (via Bing Webmaster Tools), and Yandex. Unlike standard analytics where most organic keywords appear as “keyword not defined” (search engines strip them from referrer data for privacy reasons), this feature shows you the real queries, along with how your site ranked for them.

What You’ll See

For every keyword, imported daily:

• Keywords — The actual search terms people used
• Clicks — How often searchers clicked through to your site
• Impressions — How often your site appeared in search results
• Click-through rate (CTR) — Percentage of impressions that resulted in clicks
• Average position — Your typical ranking for each keyword

Google keywords are broken out by search type: web, image, and video searches each get their own report. You can open a keyword’s Row Evolution to chart its average position over time — ideal for tracking SEO progress on target terms.

For Bing/Yahoo and Yandex, the integration also provides crawling reports: pages crawled, pages in the index, inbound link counts, pages blocked by robots.txt, and crawl errors with the reason each page couldn’t be crawled.

Why This Matters for Healthcare

• Identify patient intent — See what conditions, treatments, or services people search for
• Optimize content — Create pages that match what patients are looking for
• Track provider visibility — Monitor how well individual providers rank for relevant searches
• Measure SEO efforts — See if your optimization work is paying off

Requirements

1. A verified property in Google Search Console (and/or a verified site in Bing Webmaster Tools or Yandex Webmaster)
2. Connection setup completed with Ghost Metrics support — the search-engine connection screen is a system-level area our team manages for you

Setting Up the Google Search Console Import

Step 1: Verify Your Property in Search Console

1. Sign in to Google Search Console  (it’s free)
2. Click the property dropdown in the top left and select Add property
3. Choose your property type:

4. Follow Google’s verification instructions (typically adding a DNS record or uploading an HTML file)
5. Wait for verification to complete

Keyword data accumulates in Search Console from the day the property is verified, so verify early even if you set up the import later.

Step 2: Contact Ghost Metrics Support

Email support@ghostmetrics.io (or use the contact page) with:

1. Your Ghost Metrics site name/URL
2. The Search Console property to connect

Our team will set up the connection with you. Because the authorization uses a Google account that can access your Search Console property, we’ll either schedule a quick session where you approve the connection, or you can add our integration account as a user on your property (in Search Console: Settings → Users and permissions → Add user) and we’ll handle the rest.

Step 3: We Link Your Sites

Once authorized, our team links each Ghost Metrics site to its matching Search Console property and confirms everything is importing. Setup is typically completed within 1 business day.

Bing/Yahoo and Yandex Imports

• Bing and Yahoo! — Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools , then generate an API key (Settings (gear) → API access → API Key) and send it to support. Bing and Yahoo! keywords arrive as one combined report, along with crawl stats and crawl errors.
• Yandex — Verify your site in Yandex Webmaster and contact support; we’ll coordinate the authorization with you.

Viewing Search Keywords Data

Keyword reports appear under Acquisition → Search Engines & Keywords, alongside your referrer-based reports:

• A combined imported-keywords report across all connected engines
• Google keywords split by web, image, and video search
• Bing & Yahoo keywords, and Yandex keywords, when connected
• Imported keywords also appear in Acquisition → All Channels as a drill-down under the Search Engines channel

Data is imported once a day. Expect your first keywords about 2–3 days after setup — Google publishes search data with a delay of roughly two days (early figures are provisional and are refreshed automatically until final). Bing/Yahoo data can take up to a week to first appear, and Yandex up to four days.

Once imported, your keyword history is kept in Ghost Metrics indefinitely — and the initial import backfills roughly the past 16 months from Google, as far back as your Search Console property has data.

Troubleshooting

No data appearing

• Verify your Search Console property is receiving data (check directly in Search Console)
• Confirm support has completed the connection and linked your site
• Allow 2–3 days after setup for the first Google import (up to a week for Bing/Yahoo)

Very few keywords, or numbers look too low

• Check for a protocol mismatch: an http:// URL-prefix property on an https:// site imports little or nothing — add an https:// prefix property or switch to a Domain property, then contact support to relink
• Confirm the property covers the right hostname (with/without www)

Data discrepancies

• Ghost Metrics imports data from the search engines’ own reporting, so numbers should match Search Console
• Small differences can occur because recent days are provisional and refreshed until final
• Keyword data is aggregate — it won’t appear in the visits log or visitor profiles, and per-keyword conversion attribution isn’t possible

Need Help?

If you run into issues with search keywords import, contact our support team. We’re happy to configure this for you.