Measurement hub
Search Console Analytics
Google Search Console is the only source of real search clicks and impressions for your own site, which makes it the base layer of casino SEO measurement. This hub explains how its numbers are built, where they are incomplete, and which 2025 and 2026 changes affect comparisons.
Guides in this hub
Measurement guide · Search Console
Interpreting Search Console average position
How the number is built, why it moves when rankings did not, and how to report it.
Measurement guide · Search Console
Casino SEO CTR and impression analysis
Segment CTR by country, device and query group, and avoid the low-volume and row-limit traps.
Measurement guide · Search Console
Branded vs non-branded search
Regex rules, ambiguous brand names, Google's branded filter, and how to keep the split auditable.
Facts every report should respect
| Topic | What Google says |
|---|---|
| Average position | The topmost position occupied by a link, averaged across all queries where the property appeared |
| Aggregation | Queries, countries, devices and dates aggregate by property; pages and search appearance by page; the chart is always by property |
| Privacy | "Some queries are omitted from the report to protect user privacy"; filtering by query lowers totals |
| Time zone and freshness | Dates are in Pacific Time; the newest data "can be preliminary" |
| Rows | 1,000 rows in the interface; 50,000 rows per day per search type by API; no such limit in bulk export |
| Retention | 16 months in Search Console; bulk export tables kept "forever, by default" |
| AI features | Reported under the Web search type; AI Mode in totals since June 16, 2025 |
Changes that affect 2025 to 2026 comparisons
- Impression logging error: Google's data anomalies page says a logging error "prevented Search Console from accurately reporting impressions from May 13, 2025 until April 27, 2026". Impressions, CTR and position were affected; clicks were not.
- Bulk export gap: for some properties, February 28 and March 1, 2026 are missing from bulk exports.
- Branded queries filter: introduced in November 2025, with AI classification that "may mislabel" queries.
- Generative AI performance report and control: Google announced them on June 3, 2026, starting with a subset of UK sites, and its help pages say both reached all websites worldwide as of August 31, 2026. The control excludes a site from AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover; Google says it is not a ranking signal for the rest of Search and does not affect AI training.
Casino-specific advice
- Filter by country before anything else; for the US and Canada, use state or province page groups.
- Separate brand, product and responsible-gambling query groups.
- Check pages that rank for safer-gambling and licensing queries; they serve real policy-context searches.
- Set up bulk export early if you need more than 16 months of history.
Where to go next
Use Reporting to turn these numbers into a monthly report, and Rank Tracking to see how observed positions differ from Search Console averages.
Sources
- Google: New opportunities, control and insights for website owners June 3, 2026; updated August 31, 2026
- Search Console Help: Insights report (branded query classification) no date shown
- Search Console Help: What are impressions, position, and clicks? no date shown
- Search Console Help: Performance report, dimensions and data groupings no date shown
- Search Console Help: Exporting data (topic overview) no date shown
- Search Console Help: Data anomalies in Search Console entries through 2026
- Search Console Help: Generative AI performance report (Search) no date shown
- Search Console Help: Search generative AI control no date shown