Anonymized queries are search queries that Google leaves out of Search Console to protect user privacy. This entry covers the SEO meaning in the Performance report.
How do they affect your data?
Google states that some queries are omitted from the report for privacy reasons. These are rare queries, searched by very few people. Their clicks and impressions are counted in the chart totals, unless a query filter such as “queries containing” or “queries not containing” is applied. In that case they drop out of the totals as well.
As a result, the sum of the table rows can be lower than the number shown in the chart. Google also names a second cause: totals are aggregated differently by property and by page, which can lead to deviations too.
In the bulk export to BigQuery, rows have a Boolean field is_anonymized_query. When it is true, the query field is null. Google’s overview page, however, lists anonymized queries as an exception to the export, so the two pages do not fully agree.
| Aspect | Google Search Console | Google Analytics 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility in Search | Impression: a link to the site was seen (or potentially seen) in Search, Discover or News | no own data; once linked, GA4 shows Search Console metrics in dedicated reports |
| Visit from Search | Click: for most result types, any click that sends the user to a page outside Google Search, Discover or News | records the visit on the site (session, events); clicks from Google Search only through the Search Console link |
| Session | no such metric | Session: starts with a page or screen view when no session is active and times out after 30 minutes of inactivity by default |
| Page views | no such metric | Views: number of web pages or app screens users saw, repeated views included |
| Data source | Google's data on how the site appears in Google Search | events sent by the Google tag (JavaScript) on the site; visits without JavaScript enabled are missing |
| Delay | data usually available in 2–3 days; the newest data can be preliminary | processing can take 24–48 hours; Search Console data appears in GA4 48 hours after collection |
| Privacy (this term) | anonymized queries: very rare queries are omitted from the table but included in chart totals | data thresholds: rows with demographic data or search query information may be withheld when there are too few users; not adjustable |
| Completeness | data truncation: only the most important rows are stored and shown, the table shows up to 1,000 rows; the most complete list comes from the bulk data export | sampling: if a query exceeds the event quota (10 million events for standard properties), a subset is used and scaled up |
Search Console clicks and GA4 sessions count different things, so their numbers differ. Google lists privacy, processing, time lag, time zones (Search Console counts days in Pacific Time) and JavaScript among the reasons. The two help pages give different delays (2–3 days in the Search Console Help, 48 hours in the GA4 Help on the integration). Sources: Search-Console-Hilfe: Impressionen, Position und Klicks; Search-Console-Hilfe: Leistungsbericht – Fehlerbehebung und Datenabweichungen; Search-Console-Hilfe: Leistungsbericht – Dimensionen und Datengruppierungen; Search-Console-Hilfe: So werden Klicks und Impressionen gezählt (vorläufige Daten); Analytics-Hilfe: [GA4] Analytics-Sitzungen; Analytics-Hilfe: [GA4] Dimensionen und Messwerte; Analytics-Hilfe: Datenaktualität; Analytics-Hilfe: [GA4] Datengrenzwerte; Analytics-Hilfe: [GA4] Stichprobenerhebung; Analytics-Hilfe: [GA4] Search Console-Integration; Analytics-Hilfe: [GA4] Datenerfassung für Websites einrichten. Last checked: .
Example
A chart shows 1,000 clicks and the queries table adds up to 800. Part of the gap can come from anonymized queries. (Invented example, numbers chosen freely.)
Sources
- Performance report: dimensions and data grouping – Search Console Helpsupport.google.com
- Table guidelines and reference – Search Console Helpsupport.google.com
- Bulk data export overview – Search Console Helpsupport.google.com
Last updated: