Google Search Console

Connect a Google Search Console property to a NameIO project to see your site's clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position, find queries that rank at positions 5 to 20, and query the same data from an MCP client such as Claude or Codex. Reading Search Console data uses no credits.

Before you start

You need a Google account that has access to the property in Search Console. It doesn't have to be the Google account you sign in to NameIO with. An agency can connect a client's Google account, for example.
Complete the Google steps in a single browser tab, within 10 minutes, with cookies allowed for NameIO.

Connect a property

The main place to connect is the Integrations tab in Project settings.

In https://app.getnameio.com, open Project settings. Use the gear button next to the project switcher in the sidebar, or the "Project settings" button at the top right of the Dashboard.
Open the "Integrations" tab. The Google Search Console card is the first section. Until you connect, it shows "Not connected".
Click "Connect". Google opens and asks you to choose an account.
Google may show a "Google hasn't verified this app" screen before the permission screen. To continue, select Advanced, then the Go to … (unsafe) link.
On Google's permission screen, check every box, then continue.
Google sends you back to the page you started on, and the property picker opens.
Open "Select a property…", choose your property, and click "Save property".

The message "Search Console connected" confirms the connection, and the card shows "Connected" along with the property and the Google account's email.

If you've already connected a Google account but haven't picked a property for this project, the card opens the property picker. If you close it with "Cancel", the card says "Choose a Search Console property to finish connecting this project." Click "Choose property" to open it again.

Other places to connect

You can also connect from these places:

Sign-up. The "Connect Google Search Console" step comes between Website and Agent setup. Click "Connect with Google", choose a property, then click "Save and continue". This connects your first project. You can click "Skip for now" and connect later.
One-time prompt. If your agent set up your account over MCP and you haven't connected a Google account for Search Console, NameIO shows a "Connect Google Search Console" prompt once. "Connect with Google" takes you through Google and then to the project's Integrations tab, where you pick a property.
Dashboard. Until you connect, the Overview tab and the Keywords tab both show the card.
GSC Insights. The page shows the card when nothing is connected or the connection has stopped working.

What NameIO can access

The Search Console connection asks Google for these permissions only:

openid, email and profile, to identify the Google account you connected
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/webmasters.readonly, to read your Search Console data

This connection is separate from signing in to NameIO with Google. With these permissions, NameIO makes four kinds of request to Google:

It lists your Search Console properties and your permission level on each.
It reads search analytics: clicks, impressions, CTR and position.
It runs URL Inspection.
It reads your Google account's email, which it shows as the connected account.

NameIO encrypts the Google access and refresh tokens at rest and refreshes access tokens on its own.

Choose the right property

The picker lists every property on the Google accounts you've connected, by its site URL exactly as Google returns it. Make sure you choose the property for this project's website. Both property types work:

Property type	How the picker lists it	What it covers, per Google
Domain	`sc-domain:example.com`	Every subdomain, protocol and subpath. Verified through DNS.
URL-prefix	`https://example.com/`	Only URLs that start with the exact prefix, protocol included. Several verification methods are available.

URL Inspection works with both types. Each URL you inspect must belong to the property.

In the picker you can search with "Search properties or accounts…". Use "Add Google account" to connect more than one Google account. To switch this project to a different property later, click "Change property or account" on the card. Saving a new property replaces the old one.

Permissions on the property

NameIO greys out properties where you're an unverified user and shows the note "Ask the property owner for Full access, or verify ownership in Search Console." You can select any property where you're an Owner, Full user or Restricted user.

Google defines these levels:

Owners can do everything, including adding users.
Full users can view all data.
Restricted users can view most data, including the Performance report. Google lists URL Inspection as "Fetch only" for Restricted users.

An owner can give you access in Search Console under Settings > Users and permissions > Add user, using your Google account's email.

If NameIO can't find your website

If none of your connected Google accounts has a Search Console property, the card says "We couldn’t find your website" and lists the accounts it checked.

Add your site to Search Console, or ask whoever manages it to give your Google account access. The card links to "Open Search Console" and Google's "Setup guide".
Click "Refresh" to load the list again, or click "Use a different Google account".

If the picker is already open and one account has no properties, that account shows "No websites found for this account. Add a website or get access, then refresh the list."

View your data in NameIO

In the sidebar, under "My Site", open "GSC Insights". The page heading is "Search Performance", and "Change property" links to the Integrations tab.

Totals. Clicks, Impressions, Click-through rate and Average position. Each comes with the change from the previous period of the same length.
Tabs. "Striking distance" (the default), "Queries" and "Pages".
Filters. Date range (Last 7 days, Last 28 days, Last 3 months; the default is Last 28 days), device (All devices, Desktop, Mobile, Tablet), country, and page or query text that contains or equals a value.
Page size. 25, 50 or 100 rows.
Export. "Export to Sheets" or "Export CSV", up to 1,000 rows.

Striking distance lists queries that rank at positions 5 to 20, sorted by impressions. NameIO takes up to 1,000 query and page rows, keeps each query's best-ranking page, and shows the query only if that page falls in the 5 to 20 range. It shows up to 100 queries. Select rows to use "Copy keywords" or "Save as keywords".

If the Queries or Pages table is empty and no filters are set, it shows "No Search Console data yet" with the note "Search Console data can take a few days to appear." With filters set, it shows "No rows match these filters".

The Dashboard shows Search Console data too:

Overview tab. The "Google Search Console Performance" card shows Clicks, Impressions, Click-through rate and Average position for the last 28 days and links to "View GSC insights". The "New keywords" card sits alongside it.
Keywords tab: New keywords. Searches where your site appeared in the latest week of Search Console data but not in the four weeks before. NameIO keeps queries with at least 10 impressions and shows the top 25.
Keywords tab: Top keywords. The queries with the most clicks over 28 days.
Keywords tab: Striking distance. Queries at positions 5 to 20 over 28 days.

Use Search Console from your agent

Once a project is connected, an MCP client can read its Search Console data. To set up the connection, see MCP. Both tools are read-only, use no credits, need only the read scope mcp (not mcp:write), and read only the property saved on the project.

get_search_console_performance ("Get Google Search Console performance") returns search analytics rows. Its options:

dimensions: 1 to 4 of query, page, country, device, date and searchAppearance. searchAppearance must be used on its own.
dateRange: last_7_days, last_28_days (the default), last_3_months, last_6_months, last_12_months or last_16_months. Or give an explicit startDate and endDate.
Filters: up to 5, combined with AND, using equals, notEquals, contains or notContains.
rowLimit: 250 by default, up to 1,000. Use startRow to page.
minPosition, maxPosition and minImpressions: NameIO applies these to the top 1,000 rows.
type: web (the default), image, video, news, googleNews or discover.
dataState: all (the default) or final.

inspect_urls ("Inspect URLs in Google Search Console") takes 1 to 10 absolute URLs that belong to the connected property, plus an optional BCP-47 languageCode. For each URL it returns:

the index verdict and coverage state
robots.txt, indexing and page-fetch state
the last crawl time
the Google-selected and declared canonicals, with any mismatch flagged
the rich-results verdict
sitemaps and referring URLs

If a single URL fails, the tool reports that failure alongside the other results.

If Search Console isn't connected, the tools reply "Search Console is not connected for this project. Connect it here:" followed by a link to the project's GSC Insights page. If the connection has expired or been revoked, they reply with a message to reconnect and the same link. get_search_opportunities combines Search Console with Google Analytics, so it needs both connected. See Google Analytics.

How current the data is

Google's most recent Search Console data is preliminary and can still change for a few days, so NameIO's preset date ranges end 3 days before today.
Reports reach back at most 16 months.
GSC Insights, the Dashboard performance card and the MCP tools fetch from Google each time they load. Your browser reuses a result for up to 5 minutes on GSC Insights and up to 10 minutes on the Dashboard cards.
The Dashboard "New keywords" and "Top keywords" lists use Google's final data and refresh at most once every 24 hours. If a refresh fails, they show "Showing saved results".
Google limits URL Inspection to 2,000 queries a day and 600 a minute for each site, and search analytics to 1,200 queries a minute for each site and each user.

Troubleshooting

These messages appear in NameIO:

Message	What happened	What to do
Search Console connection is missing a permission	A box on Google's permission screen wasn't checked, so NameIO didn't save the connection.	Connect again and check every box before you continue.
Search Console connection was canceled	Google's permission screen was closed or declined.	Connect again when you're ready.
Google sign-in didn't finish (a separate page showing "Code: state_mismatch")	The Google steps took longer than 10 minutes, the return page was opened a second time (for example by reloading it), or you were signed in to NameIO as a different user when Google sent you back.	Click "Back to NameIO", then connect again and finish the Google steps within 10 minutes.
Search Console connection didn't finish	NameIO couldn't save the connection, or Google returned an error.	Try again. If it keeps failing, email chris@getnameio.com.
Connection expired (in the picker)	The Google account's connection no longer works.	Click "Reconnect".
Couldn't load properties	Google didn't return that account's properties.	Click "Try again".
You do not have access to this resource. (when saving a property)	Google lists you as an unverified user on that property.	Ask an owner for access, or verify ownership in Search Console.

If Google refuses access, or NameIO can't refresh the token, the connection card replaces the data. Click "Change property or account": if the account shows "Connection expired", click "Reconnect". Otherwise check your permission on the property or choose another one.

These replies come from the MCP tools:

Reply	What happened	What to do
Search Console denied access to this property (no verified permission, or the connection was revoked).	Google refused access.	In NameIO, click "Change property or account" on the card and reconnect if needed, or check your permission on the property.
Search Console rate limit reached. Retry shortly.	Google's quota was reached.	Wait, then try again.
Search Console property not found. It may have been removed in Search Console.	The property no longer exists in Search Console.	Choose another property.

Disconnect a project

On the connected card, click "Disconnect project". NameIO removes the property from the project, deletes the project's cached Search Console reports, and shows "Search Console disconnected from this project".

Disconnecting doesn't delete your Google account's connection right away. Once a day, NameIO deletes Google connections that no project uses and that haven't changed in the past 24 hours. It revokes the access at Google unless another NameIO user, or a Google Analytics connection, still uses the same Google account.

Remove a Google account

On the card, click "Change property or account" to open the picker.
Open the property list (the button shows the project's current property), then click "Remove account" next to the Google account.
The "Remove Google account?" dialog tells you how many projects will be disconnected, or says "No projects will be affected." Click "Remove account".

NameIO deletes that account's Search Console connection, disconnects every project that used it, and clears those projects' cached reports. It then revokes the access at Google, unless another NameIO user or integration still uses the same Google account. You'll see "Google account removed". Signing in to NameIO with Google keeps working, and you can reconnect the account at any time.

To delete your NameIO account, email chris@getnameio.com from your account's address. Deleting your account revokes NameIO's Google access and deletes your projects' cached Search Console reports.

What's not done

NameIO's access is read-only. It can't submit sitemaps, request indexing or change anything in Search Console.
inspect_urls returns what Google already has on record. It doesn't run a live test of the URL.
A project connects to one property, so you can't combine several properties in one project.
NameIO doesn't check that the property you choose matches the project's website.
NameIO doesn't import Search Console data on a schedule. It reads from Google when you open a page or call a tool.