Search Console Adds Platform Properties

Google Search Console has long been a useful tool for understanding how websites appear and perform in Google Search. Now, Google is expanding that visibility beyond websites.

The company recently rolled out Platform Properties in Google Search Console, a new feature that allows eligible social media and video accounts to be tracked within Search Console. The update currently includes Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube and is now available globally. This might sound like a fairly technical Google update. But there is a much bigger takeaway:

Search visibility is no longer just about your website.

Google Search Console has traditionally been used to measure how a website performs in Google Search. It can show things like how often pages appear in search results, what people are searching for, which pages receive clicks and where those pages tend to rank.

Platform Properties extends some of that visibility to content published on third-party platforms. For example, if a YouTube video appears in a Google search result, Search Console may record the impression. If someone clicks that result, the click may also be reported. 

Depending on the platform and content, users may be able to see metrics such as:

• Impressions
• Clicks
• Click-through rate
• Average search position
• Individual posts or videos generating traffic 

This gives businesses and marketers another way to understand how content performs when people discover it through Google, rather than only through the social platform where it was originally published.

Because your posts may be doing more work than you realize.

We naturally tend to judge social media content by what happens on the social platform itself: views, likes, comments, shares and engagement. Those metrics matter, but they may not tell the entire story.

A helpful video, informative post or piece of content could also appear when someone searches Google for a question related to your business. That means content originally created for social media could potentially continue helping customers discover your brand outside of their social feeds.

Over time, that added visibility may help answer some useful questions that can help shape a smarter content strategy:

• Are certain topics consistently generating search visibility?
• Are educational videos outperforming more promotional content?
• Is a frequently asked customer question attracting attention on both social media and Google?
• Could a strong-performing social topic be expanded into a blog, website page, email campaign or additional video?

This update also reinforces something we talk about often at Firefly Marketing: your digital marketing channels should not operate in isolation.

SEO supports content.
Content supports social media.
Social media can support brand awareness.

That does not necessarily change how every business should approach its marketing today. But it does make the relationship between search, social media and content worth watching. As Google continues to expand the types of content that appear in search results, this tool may provide a clearer picture of how people discover information across the web.

For now, the update provides a better way to see how certain social and video content performs when it moves beyond the platform where it was originally posted.