Search Console guide
How to find content ideas in your Search Console data
Direct answer
To find content ideas in Search Console, look for queries that earn impressions but rank past position 20, or where the page that shows isn't about the question. Sort the Queries tab by impressions, click each candidate, and read the Pages tab to see what ranks. A gap between query and page is a topic to write. Rankgaroo can pull the queries and match them to pages for you.
Updated
On this page
Do it by handAsk your AI insteadWorked exampleLimits to knowQuestionsRelated guidesYou need the next topic to write, and a keyword tool's guesses don't tell you what your own site is already close to winning. Search Console lists real queries that already showed your pages to someone.
Two patterns are worth hunting for: queries where you rank far down, and queries where the page that shows doesn't fit the question.
Do it by hand in Search Console
- Go to Performance → Search results and set a date range of 3 months or more.
- On the Queries tab, tick Impressions and Average position, then export to Google Sheets or CSV.
- In the sheet, filter for position above 20 and impressions above a floor such as 15, then sort by impressions.
- Back in Performance, click a promising query, then open the Pages tab to see which page shows. If the page isn't about the question, mark it as a gap.
- Group related queries by theme, for example everything about freelance taxes, and add up impressions per theme.
- Rank the themes by total impressions and decide which need a new page and which need a section added to an existing one.
Grouping hundreds of queries into themes and checking the ranking page for each is spreadsheet work that takes hours even on a small site.
Ask your AI instead
With Rankgaroo connected to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, paste a question like this:
Using Search Console data for example.com from 2026-09-25 to 2026-10-22, find content ideas. List queries with at least 15 impressions where average position is worse than 20, and say which page shows for each. Also add queries at positions 7 to 10 whose landing page looks off-topic from its URL. Group them by theme and rank the themes by total impressions.
What the AI calls
gsc_search_analytics(siteUrl: "sc-domain:example.com", startDate: "2026-09-25", endDate: "2026-10-22", dimensions: ["query"], rowLimit: 1000)returns up to 1,000 queries. The AI keeps rows with position above 20 and 15 or more impressions.
gsc_search_analytics(..., dimensions: ["query", "page"], filters: [{dimension: "query", operator: "contains", expression: "invoice before"}])for each theme the AI wants to check, to see which URL shows.
Worked example
| Query | Clicks | Impressions | Position | Page that shows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| freelance tax deductions | 2 | 134 | 41.2 | /blog/how-to-bill-hourly/ (12 impressions at 25.9) |
| quarterly taxes for freelancers | 1 | 37 | 21.9 | /blog/freelance-tax-basics/ |
| plantilla de factura para autónomos (invoice template for freelancers, Spanish) | 0 | 34 | 50.8 | /es/templates/plantilla-factura/ |
| freelance tax checklist | 1 | 28 | 42.2 | /blog/freelance-tax-basics/ |
| self employed tax calendar | 1 | 16 | 44.4 | /blog/freelance-tax-basics/ |
| can you invoice before work is done | 0 | 144 | 7.7 | /templates/invoice-template/ |
| can i send an invoice before finishing a project | 0 | 68 | 9.5 | /templates/invoice-template/ |
| do i need a separate bank account as a freelancer | 0 | 35 | 8.2 | /blog/freelance-invoice-checklist/ |
What the answer says
Only 112 of the top 1,000 queries sit past position 20, holding 1,480 of those queries' 31,260 impressions, so far-down rankings are a small share here. The freelance tax cluster ("freelance tax deductions", "freelance tax checklist", "self employed tax calendar") is the clearest write-more signal, at positions 41 to 44 with 178 impressions combined. The larger gap is near the top of page one: "can you invoice before work is done" and "can i send an invoice before finishing a project" add up to 212 impressions and no clicks, and both land on the invoice template page, which suggests the question about when to invoice has no page of its own.
Limits to know
- Search Console only lists queries that already showed your site, so it can't reveal topics where you have no visibility at all. Keyword research tools cover that side.
- gsc_search_analytics returns at most 1,000 rows per call, highest clicks first. Queries with impressions but no clicks may fall outside it.
- Rankgaroo can't read page content. The AI judges whether a page fits a query from its URL and the queries it ranks for, which is a guess.
- Search Console hides rare, anonymized queries. In the example data about 45% of clicks come from queries that never appear in the list.
Questions
Can Search Console give me content ideas?
Yes. It lists real queries that already showed your site in results. The useful ones are queries with impressions but weak positions, and queries where an unrelated page shows, because both point to a question your site doesn't answer well yet.
What position counts as a content gap?
Past position 20 usually means no page of yours is competing for the query. Positions 7 to 10 with zero clicks can also signal a gap, when the page that ranks answers a different question. Position is an average, so check a few of the actual results too.
How is this different from keyword research tools?
Search Console shows only queries you already appear for, with your real impressions and clicks. Research tools estimate demand for topics you may not rank for at all. Search Console is better for finding near wins, research tools for finding new territory.
Should I write a new page or expand an existing one?
If one page already ranks for the query and covers a related idea, add a section there first. Write a new page when the query asks something the current page doesn't cover, as with questions about when to invoice landing on a plain invoice template page.