Search Console Traffic: Show Buyers Your Measured Clicks

The Traffic Figure on Your Listing Doesn't Have to Be an Estimate

Every listing shows a traffic estimate: a third-party model of how many visits your site gets from Google each month. If your own Search Console tells a different story, you can put Google's number in front of buyers. Connect it once and your listing shows your Search Console traffic, the clicks Google itself counted, with the estimate kept beside it.

This guide covers what the figure is, what buyers see, exactly what you grant when you connect, and how to turn it off again.

What Search Console Traffic Is

Search Console traffic is the total number of clicks Google Search sent to your site over the last 28 days, read from your own Google Search Console and shown on your Serpverse listing. Google counts those clicks. The estimate every listing carries is modelled from keyword rankings instead.

The click total counts Google's web search results only. Clicks from Google Images, Discover and News aren't in it, and neither are other search engines or visitors who reach you some other way. So the two figures rarely match, which is why your listing keeps both.

What Buyers See

On your marketplace card, the traffic figure changes from "estimated traffic" to Google traffic, under a Search Console mark. The figure's tooltip shows both numbers: your Google traffic first, with a More accurate badge and the date it was read, then the estimate. Your share link page shows it the same way.

The marketplace follows the figure buyers see:

• Min traffic filters on your Google traffic.
• The Traffic sort places your listing by it.
• The default Relevant sort weighs it in place of the estimate.

Our guide to reading publisher metrics explains the two figures from the buyer's side.

What You Grant When You Connect

Connecting asks Google for one permission: read-only access to Search Console. It's the same permission used to verify domain ownership, but the two connections work differently, and the difference is worth knowing before you choose.

The traffic connection never asks for your search queries, your pages or a breakdown by country. Serpverse asks Google for totals only, one set per listing, and of those it uses and keeps the clicks alone. It checks which properties the account owns to match them to your listings, and keeps none of that list.

The access can't change anything in Search Console or on your site, and Serpverse stores it encrypted. The account security guide covers both connections alongside what signing in does and doesn't share.

How to Connect Search Console

1. Open the listing from My Websites and go to its Manage tab.
2. In the Search Console traffic card, select Connect Search Console.
3. Read the summary of what you're granting, then select Connect Google Search Console.
4. Choose the Google account that owns the site in Search Console. It doesn't have to be the one you sign in to Serpverse with. On Google's screen, leave the Search Console permission ticked.
5. Google returns you to your listing, which now shows its Google traffic.

The Details tab's SEO metrics card offers the same button on a listing that's showing only an estimate.

If the listing wasn't verified yet, connecting verifies it as well, so you don't need to do both.

Which Google Account and Property You Need

The account has to be an owner of the property in Search Console. A user someone added, with full or restricted access, isn't enough. Google's guide to owners, users and permissions(opens in new tab) shows how to check which you are.

The property also has to cover the exact site you listed:

• A Domain property covers the domain and all its subdomains. Serpverse counts only the clicks to the site you listed, with or without www, so traffic to your other subdomains isn't added in.
• URL-prefix properties each cover one version of a site: http or https, with or without www. Serpverse reads every version the account owns for your address and adds them up, so owning only a version your site doesn't use makes the figure read low. A property for a single folder, such as example.com/blog/, doesn't count.

Google describes both in its guide to property types(opens in new tab). If you have the choice, a Domain property gives the complete figure. If you add one after connecting, your listing keeps reading the property it already uses until the new one has about four weeks of data, then moves to it.

One Connection Covers All Your Listings

A connection belongs to your Serpverse account and one Google account, not to a single listing. Once it's made:

• The listing you connected from shows its figure straight away. Your other listings that the Google account owns follow within a few hours, usually within minutes.
• A property you added to Search Console only recently isn't read at first. Google counts clicks from the day a property is added, so Serpverse waits until it has about four weeks of data. If the account owns an older property for the same site, your listing shows that one's figure in the meantime. Otherwise it keeps its estimate until then.
• A site you list later has its figure picked up automatically, within a few hours. Its ownership still has to be verified in the usual way.
• If your sites sit in different Google accounts, select Connect another Google account and add each one, up to ten.

Every listing's Manage tab lists your Connected Google accounts, each with the number of listings it supplies. If you see "Connected, but not for this site" after connecting, the account you picked doesn't own a property for that listing. The listing keeps its estimate, and you can connect the account that does own it.

How Often the Figure Updates

Serpverse reads your click total again about once a week. Each read covers 28 full days and stops three days short of the day it's made, so it only counts days Google has finished tallying.

The Search Console traffic card shows the exact click total, the date of the last read, the property it came from and the Google account. If a listing's reads keep failing for 35 days, buyers see your estimate until the next one succeeds, and the card says so. If Serpverse can't reach the Google account at all for that long, the connection is treated as lost, as described below.

Disconnecting

Open the Manage tab of any listing, find the account under Connected Google accounts, and select Disconnect. Serpverse tells you how many listings will go back to the estimate before anything changes. Once you confirm:

• those listings show the traffic estimate again straight away;
• Serpverse deletes the access it kept for that account and asks Google to remove it too. If the same Google account is also connected from another Serpverse account, Google keeps the access in place for that one;
• your ownership verification stays in place, because the proof is already on record.

You can also remove Serpverse on your Google account's third-party access page(opens in new tab). That works too, but Serpverse only finds out at its next weekly read, so the figure can stay on your listings for up to a week. Disconnecting on Serpverse takes effect immediately, and you can reconnect whenever you like.

If the Connection Stops Working

If Serpverse can no longer read Search Console for a connected account, you get a notification and an email with the subject "Your Search Console connection stopped working". That happens when the access is removed in the Google account, when it expires, or when Serpverse hasn't been able to read the account for 35 days.

The only thing you lose is the figure. The listings that account was supplying show their estimate again, the account appears as Connection lost on the Manage tab, and nothing else about those listings changes. Select Reconnect Search Console, choose the same Google account, and the figure comes back. It takes about a minute.

A single listing can also lose its figure while the connection stays healthy. If the account stops being an owner of that site's property, the figure comes off that listing at the next read.

Frequently Asked Questions

My Google traffic is lower than the estimate. Is something wrong? Usually not. The estimate is modelled and the click total is counted, and they cover different things: a month against 28 days, one country against all of them, and only clicks from Google's web results. If you'd rather show the estimate alone, disconnect.

The figure doesn't match what I see in Search Console. Why? Check the dates first. Each read covers 28 days ending three days before the "Last read" date on the card, counted in Pacific time, and the presets in Search Console's Performance report(opens in new tab) end later than that. Set a custom range to match and compare total clicks for web search. Then check the property: on a Domain property, Serpverse counts only the site you listed, not your other subdomains.

I connected, but my listing shows no figure. What happened? If Google's screen was completed without the Search Console permission, connect again and leave it ticked. If the account doesn't own a property for that listing, connect the one that does. If the property is new to Search Console, the figure appears once Google has about four weeks of data for it. A rejected or suspended listing isn't read until it's back under review or live. Otherwise the first read is still on its way and is tried again within a few hours. After that, listings are re-read about once a week, and reconnecting the account reads the listing you're on straight away.

Can support change the number? No. Nobody at Serpverse can enter or adjust a Google traffic figure. It's whatever Google reports, which is what makes it worth showing. The estimate is different: if that looks materially off, contact support.