Search Console guide

Mobile vs desktop clicks in Search Console: how to compare them

Direct answer

Mobile versus desktop search traffic is on the Devices tab of the Performance report in Search Console. Compare clicks, impressions, CTR and position for each device, then repeat for a second period. A device with similar impressions but a lower CTR deserves a closer look. Rankgaroo gives an AI the device split for two periods, so it can work out each device's share and flag changes.

Updated 2026-10-25

On this page

Do it by hand Ask your AI instead Worked example Limits to know Questions Related guides

Your phone traffic looks smaller than desktop, or your clicks slipped and you suspect phones. The Devices tab splits the numbers in two clicks, but the split only helps if you read CTR and position as well as clicks.

A device split is also the quickest way to learn whether a drop touches the whole site or only one side of it.

Do it by hand in Search Console

In Search Console, open Performance → Search results and set the date range.
Tick Total clicks, Total impressions, Average CTR and Average position.
Select the Devices tab. The rows are Desktop, Mobile and Tablet.
Open the date filter and use Compare to add the previous period.
Divide each device's clicks and impressions by the totals to get its share.
Use + Add filter → Device to look at one device in the Countries, Pages and Queries tabs and see where a change sits.

Compare view shows each device's change but not its share of the total, so you do the division yourself, and finding which country or page drives a device change means filtering again.

Ask your AI instead

With Rankgaroo connected to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, paste a question like this:

Prompt

For sc-domain:example.com, compare mobile, desktop and tablet in Search Console for 2026-09-25 to 2026-10-22 against 2026-08-28 to 2026-09-24. Show clicks, impressions, CTR and position per device, each device's share of clicks and impressions, and which device changed most. Then check whether the mobile change is concentrated in one country.

What the AI calls

gsc_search_analytics(siteUrl: "sc-domain:example.com", startDate: "2026-09-25", endDate: "2026-10-22", dimensions: ["device"])
then the same call for 2026-08-28 to 2026-09-24. The AI computes shares and changes.
gsc_search_analytics(..., dimensions: ["device", "country"], rowLimit: 1000)
once per period, to see where a device's change sits.

Worked example

Device	Period	Clicks	Impressions	CTR	Position
Desktop	Before	6,640	353,000	1.9%	18.5
Desktop	Now	6,370	335,000	1.9%	17.8
Mobile	Before	9,010	490,000	1.8%	19.5
Mobile	Now	8,150	560,000	1.5%	18.8
Tablet	Before	290	18,300	1.6%	18.2
Tablet	Now	300	17,400	1.7%	17
Mobile, United States	Before	3,020	150,900	2.0%	19.2
Mobile, United States	Now	2,640	171,200	1.5%	18.6
Desktop, United States	Before	1,540	87,000	1.8%	18.3
Desktop, United States	Now	1,500	91,000	1.6%	17.9

Example site · Search Console · 2026-09-25 to 2026-10-22 vs 2026-08-28 to 2026-09-24. Sample data from a fictional site.

What the answer says

Mobile produced 61% of impressions (560,000 of 912,400) but 55% of clicks (8,150 of 14,820), a 1.5% CTR against 1.9% on desktop, with average positions within one place of each other (18.8 against 17.8). Between the periods mobile impressions rose 14.3% while mobile clicks fell 9.5%, and desktop CTR held at 1.9%. The mobile loss shows up in the United States (3,020 to 2,640 clicks, CTR 2.0% to 1.5%), which is 380 of the 860 mobile clicks lost, while US desktop clicks barely moved (1,540 to 1,500), so check how those results look on phones.

Limits to know

Device means the searcher's device type. Search Console does not split by phone model, browser or app.
CTR gaps between devices partly reflect how results are laid out on each. Average position cannot show that, so look at the live results on a phone.
Tablet volumes are small, so tablet percentages move a lot on a few clicks.
GA4's device category counts sessions from every channel, so its mobile share will differ from Search Console's click share.

Questions

How do I compare mobile and desktop in Search Console?

Open Performance → Search results, select the Devices tab and read clicks, impressions, CTR and position for Desktop, Mobile and Tablet. Use Compare in the date filter to add an earlier period and see each device's change.

Why is mobile CTR lower than desktop CTR?

In the example above mobile CTR was 1.5% against 1.9% on desktop, with average positions within one place of each other. Search Console does not say why. Reasons to check include how much screen space features above your listing take on a phone, and whether searchers on phones get their answer from the results page.

Does Google rank mobile and desktop results separately?

Google indexes pages mainly from their mobile version, but rankings can still differ by device, which is why Search Console reports average position per device. If your mobile position is worse than desktop for the same pages, check the mobile page for missing content.

Can I see mobile vs desktop traffic in GA4 too?

Yes. GA4 reports sessions by device category in its standard reports. The numbers will differ from Search Console because GA4 counts visits from every channel, not only search clicks.