The Performance report is Google's first-party record of how your site appears in Search. This reference lists how Google defines each metric, the documented limits, and the main reasons its numbers differ from your analytics tool.
Google defines the four core metrics on its Search Console Help pages. An impression means a user has seen, or potentially seen, a link to your site in Search, Discover or News. Impressions are counted per link. An item generally counts as an impression when it appears in the current page of results, even if it is not scrolled into view. The exception is when the user must click to reveal it, such as see more.
Position is a relative ranking where 1 is the top spot. Google says it records the topmost position a link occupied for each query, then averages. In the report, average position is the average position of the topmost result from your site.
Clicks have counting rules too. A click is generally counted when it sends the user to a page outside Google Search, Discover or News. If a user returns and clicks the same link again, it counts as one click. Clicking different links counts separately. Google also says values shown as a tilde or a dash export as zeros.
| Metric | Google's definition |
|---|---|
| Clicks | How often someone clicked a link from Google to your site. Clicks that stay within Google's platforms, including query refinement links, are not counted. |
| Impressions | A user has seen, or potentially seen, a link to your site in Search, Discover or News. |
| CTR | Clicks divided by impressions. |
| Average position | The average position of the topmost result from your site, where 1 is the top spot. |
Google documents different limits for the report and the API. The report table can display a maximum of 1,000 rows. Rare or long-tail rows may be left out of the table but still be counted in the chart total. Google says Search Console stores and shows only the most important data rows, and that the most complete list of queries can be exported with bulk data export.
The Search Analytics API accepts a rowLimit from 1 to 25,000, with a default of 1,000. Google's API guide says it exposes a maximum of 50K rows per day per search type, sorted by clicks. Use startRow to page through results.
The newest data can be preliminary. Google says it might change in the next few hours, and a dotted line marks it on the graph. The report can be filtered by search type: Web (text-based), Web (multimodal), Image, Video and News. The 24-hour view shows hourly data, including preliminary data.
| Item | Documented value |
|---|---|
| Rows in a report table | 1,000 maximum |
| API rowLimit per request | 1 to 25,000, default 1,000 |
| API rows per day per search type | 50K maximum, sorted by clicks |
| Data availability | Collected data usually available in 2 to 3 days |
| Daily data time zone | Pacific Time, except in the 24-hour view |
| Date range Google recommends for year-over-year checks | Last 16 months |
Google's Search Console Help pages reviewed here do not state a retention period in plain terms. Google's traffic drop documentation does tell you to choose the Date filter and select Last 16 months when checking whether a drop recurs yearly.
Google hides some queries to protect user privacy. These anonymized queries are omitted from the query table but included in chart totals, unless a query filter is applied. That is why table rows often add up to less than the chart total. Bulk data export includes all performance data except anonymized queries.
Aggregation also differs by view. Charts are always aggregated by property. Table data for Pages and Search appearance is aggregated by page, and clicks on a duplicate URL count toward its canonical URL. Two results from one site for the same query count as a single impression at property level.
Google lists several reasons. Search Console reports only on the Google Search canonical URL, while Analytics counts any URL with the tracking code. Search Console counts every click, while Analytics uses an attribution model. Analytics depends on its tag being deployed, can lose users who decline tracking, and only tracks users with JavaScript enabled. Analytics filters known bots, and Search Console does not necessarily do so.
Time zones matter too. Search Console tracks days in Pacific Time, and Analytics uses the time zone you set. Search Console can also count files such as PDFs that Analytics may not measure.
Google's AI features documentation, last updated 2025-12-10, says sites appearing in AI Overviews and AI Mode are included in overall Search Console traffic and reported in the Performance report under the Web search type. It does not describe a separate AI filter, and it does not explain how clicks, impressions or position are counted for those features.
Sources were last checked on October 13, 2026. Documentation changes, so confirm any detail that matters to a decision against the source itself.
Indexive Research. (2026, September 9). Search Console performance data, its definitions and limits. Indexive AI. https://indexive.ai/research/search-console-data-explained
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Google says anonymized queries are omitted from the query table but included in chart totals, and the table can show only 1,000 rows.
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