Website Keyword Analysis: Turn GSC Data Into a Content Plan

Most “keyword research” workflows start with third-party tools. But if your goal is to turn real search demand into a publishable content plan, your best dataset is the one Google already gives you: Google Search Console (GSC).

GSC tells you what Google actually showed your site for (impressions), what users actually clicked (clicks), and how compelling your result was (CTR), tied to the pages you own. That is exactly what a modern website keyword analysis should be built on.

Why GSC wins

Traditional keyword tools are great for expansion, competitive gaps, and estimating demand. But they do not know what your site is already eligible to rank for.

GSC does.

That matters because your fastest growth usually comes from:

• Queries where you already get impressions but your CTR is weak

• Pages sitting in positions 4 to 15 that need better intent match, structure, or internal links

• Topics you partially cover across multiple URLs (cannibalization)

If you are building an execution-focused content plan, start with your first-party data.

To go deeper on automating the GSC workflow, see Automate Google Search Console for AI Blogs.

What to pull

A website keyword analysis based on GSC is only as good as the export you choose.

Use the right report

Use the Performance report in GSC, then work from two perspectives:

• Query first: what search terms trigger impressions for your site

• Page first: which URL is earning (or missing) demand

Google’s documentation for the Performance report is the best reference for what each metric means and how filters work: Search Console Performance report.

Pick a time range you can act on

In 2026, most teams do best with these two cuts:

• Last 28 days: what is happening now, useful for quick wins

• Last 3 months: enough volume to reduce noise and see patterns

If your site is seasonal, compare year-over-year periods.

Note: GSC stores a finite history in the UI (Google documents the current retention window in their Search Console docs, and it has changed over time), so export regularly if you want long-term trending.

Apply filters before exporting

Filtering inside GSC keeps your export smaller and cleaner.

Useful filters:

• Search type: Web (or Image if you are auditing image keywords)

• Country: your primary market first

• Device: mobile vs desktop often changes CTR and intent

• Page: isolate a section (for example, /blog/)

Clean the data

Most teams skip this step, then wonder why the content plan feels random.

Separate branded and non-branded

Branded queries (your company name, product name, team names) behave differently:

• CTR is usually high even at lower positions

• They do not tell you much about content gaps

Keep them, but segment them.

A simple rule is fine:

• Branded if it contains your brand, domain, or product names

• Non-branded otherwise

Normalize queries

You do not need perfect NLP to get value. You need consistency.

Common normalizations:

• Lowercase

• Trim whitespace

• Remove tracking-like artifacts (odd punctuation)

Avoid over-normalizing (do not delete meaningful words like “best”, “pricing”, “vs”, “template”). Those modifiers are often the intent.

Find opportunities

A practical website keyword analysis turns exports into buckets that map to actions.

You can get surprisingly far with just four fields:

• Impressions (demand signal)

• Clicks (traffic captured)

• CTR (snippet and intent match)

• Average position (ranking proximity)

Opportunity buckets

Use position ranges to choose the right action.

CTR gap checks

CTR is context-dependent (SERP features, brand strength, AI Overviews, ads), so do not chase a universal benchmark.

Instead, use relative gaps:

• Queries where position is stable but CTR is low

• Pages with high impressions but flat clicks

Often, these are “snippet problems” (title, meta description, rich result eligibility) or “intent clarity problems” (the page ranks but looks wrong for the query).

If you want a rigorous way to validate ranking changes before rewriting, you can use the workflow in Search Engine Rank Checker: How to Validate Results.

Decide what to publish

Here is the part most keyword analyses never finish: mapping keywords to specific page decisions.

Use a simple decision matrix

Take each query group and assign it to one of four outcomes.

If cannibalization and URL swaps are common for your site, the URL-first approach in Website Keyword Rank Checker: Track Pages, Not Just Terms pairs well with this GSC workflow.

Build the content plan

Now turn those decisions into a backlog your team can actually ship.

Cluster by intent, not by “similar words”

Two queries can look similar and still want different pages.

Examples:

• “website keyword analysis” (how-to, educational)

• “website keyword analysis tool” (comparison, evaluation)

Cluster by intent first:

• Learn: definitions, how-to, checklists

• Compare: tool comparisons, alternatives

• Do: templates, scripts, dashboards

If you need a cluster-first structure, From Keywords to Clusters is a good companion to this post.

Use a backlog template

A content plan is just a prioritized table with ownership.

Suggested columns:

Score what to do first

Keep scoring simple enough that it is used.

A practical approach is a 1 to 5 score for each:

• Demand (based on impressions)

• Winnability (based on position, internal link support, and competitiveness)

• Business value (how close it is to your product, pipeline, or revenue)

Then compute:

Priority = Demand × Winnability × Business value

This prevents the classic trap of prioritizing high-volume terms that do not convert.

Turn GSC insights into briefs

A publishable plan needs briefs that reduce writing time and align with SERP reality.

A short brief is enough:

• Audience and problem

• Target intent (what the searcher wants to accomplish)

• Draft outline based on what is missing from your page (or what competitors cover)

• Answer block (2 to 4 sentences that can stand alone)

• Internal links to add (hub page, related clusters, and money page where relevant)

• Proof elements (sources, examples, screenshots, quotes)

If you care about trust signals while scaling output, keep your editorial guardrails consistent with E-E-A-T for Automated Blogs.

Review monthly

A GSC-driven content plan should never be “set and forget”.

In a monthly loop:

• Re-export last 28 days and last 3 months

• Check which new pages gained impressions (eligibility) but not clicks (CTR gap)

• Watch for cannibalization after publishing new content

• Refresh posts that slip from positions 1 to 3 into 4 to 10

This is also where internal linking compounds results. If you want a system for prioritizing links without over-optimizing, see Internal Linking Weights.

How BlogSEO helps

You can run everything above in spreadsheets. The bottleneck is usually not insight, it is execution.

BlogSEO is built to turn keyword opportunities into published output by automating the repetitive parts:

• Website structure analysis to understand what you already have

• Keyword research and competitor monitoring to expand beyond GSC

• AI-powered content generation with brand voice matching

• Internal linking automation to connect new posts into clusters

• Auto-scheduling and auto-publishing across multiple CMS integrations

If you want to operationalize the GSC-to-content loop at scale, start with the workflows in Automate Google Search Console for AI Blogs and Auto-Blogging 101.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is website keyword analysis in Google Search Console? Website keyword analysis in GSC is the process of reviewing the queries and pages that generate impressions and clicks, then turning those patterns into actions like refreshes, new pages, and consolidation.

How do I find quick SEO wins with GSC data? Look for high-impression queries in positions 4 to 15, and high-impression pages with low CTR. These usually respond fastest to improved intent match, better structure, and stronger internal linking.

Should I prioritize queries or pages when building a content plan? Use both. Query-first shows demand patterns, page-first reveals which URLs are underperforming and where cannibalization exists. The best plans map query clusters to one owner URL.

How often should I redo my GSC-based content plan? Monthly is a strong default. High-velocity sites may do it weekly for “near wins” and CTR gaps, then do a deeper clustering review monthly.

Do I still need third-party keyword tools if I use GSC? Often yes. GSC is best for first-party reality and near-term wins, while third-party tools help with expansion, competitive gaps, and estimating demand outside your current visibility.

Start turning GSC into published growth

If you already have GSC data, you already have a content roadmap, you just need a system that turns it into drafts, internal links, and scheduled publishing.

Try BlogSEO free for 3 days at blogseo.io, or book a quick demo call here: https://cal.com/vince-josse/blogseo-demo.