What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your website's presence in Google Search results. It shows you which queries bring users to your site, your indexing status, and any issues Google encounters when crawling your pages.

What permissions does Better Analyst need?

Better Analyst only requires read-only access to your Google Search Console data. We use OAuth 2.0 to authenticate securely through Google's official API. We never modify your search settings or submit any changes to your property.

How do I connect Google Search Console to Better Analyst?

Click "Connect Google Search Console," sign in with your Google account, and select the property you want to analyze. The entire process takes less than a minute. No API keys or manual configuration needed.

What data can I analyze with Better Analyst?

You can analyze all standard Search Console metrics including clicks, impressions, average CTR, average position, search queries, landing pages, device breakdown, country data, indexing status, and more. Ask any question in plain English.

Is my Google Search Console data secure?

Yes. We use enterprise-grade OAuth 2.0 authentication provided by Google. Your credentials are never stored on our servers. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. We maintain read-only access and never modify your search settings.

Can I compare time periods in my search data?

Absolutely. You can ask Better Analyst to compare any time periods — for example, "Compare this month's clicks to last month" or "Show me year-over-year changes in impressions." The AI handles the date calculations automatically.

Content Decay Report: Pages Losing Search Console Clicks

Find pages losing organic clicks with Google Search Console: compare recent periods, separate ranking drops from demand drops, and prioritise refreshes.

By David Bressler
Published October 31, 2026
Updated October 31, 2026

Summary

A content decay report compares each page's Search Console clicks in a recent period with an earlier one and lists the pages losing the most. Splitting each loss into position, impressions and CTR tells you whether the page slipped in rankings, demand fell, or the SERP changed, which decides whether to refresh, consolidate or leave it.

On this page

Who this report is for
What the report includes
How to build it in Better Analyst from Google Search Console
Questions to ask
Sample output
Charts to use
Keep it up to date
Further reading
FAQ

Who this report is for

Content leads and SEO teams with large blogs or documentation sites who need a refresh queue ranked by clicks lost, not by gut feel.

What the report includes

Metrics and dimensions in this report

Metric	Source field	Why it matters
Page	page	The URL being evaluated for decay.
Date	date	Used to build two comparable windows, such as the last 3 months versus the previous 3 months.
Clicks	clicks	The loss to rank pages by.
Impressions	impressions	If impressions fell with clicks, demand or rankings shrank; if not, CTR is the issue.
CTR	ctr	Falling CTR at a steady position points to a SERP change or a weaker snippet.
Average position	position	A rising number means the page is ranking lower.

How to build it in Better Analyst from Google Search Console

In Better Analyst, open Connectors, choose Add Connector, then Google Search Console.
Click Connect with Google and allow read-only access, using an account with Owner or Full user access to the property.
Select the URL-prefix or domain property you want to report on and click Connect.
Ask for clicks, impressions, CTR and position by page for two equal windows, for example the last 90 days versus the 90 days before.
Have Better Analyst rank pages by clicks lost and label each as a position drop, demand drop or CTR drop based on which metric moved most.

Questions to ask

“Which pages lost the most clicks in the last 90 days versus the previous 90 days?”
“For the top 20 decaying pages, did position, impressions or CTR change most?”
“Show weekly clicks for /blog/pricing-strategy over the last 12 months.”
“Which queries did this page lose clicks on?”

Sample output

Sample data for illustration, not real account data.

Sample data: largest click losses, last 90 days vs previous 90 days (illustrative)

Page	Clicks (prev)	Clicks (last)	Change	Position (prev → last)	Likely cause
/blog/excel-dashboard-guide	14,820	9,360	-36.8%	3.1 → 6.4	Ranking drop
/blog/kpi-examples	8,940	6,710	-24.9%	2.8 → 2.9	CTR drop
/templates/budget	6,300	4,950	-21.4%	4.0 → 4.2	Seasonal demand

Charts to use

Clicks lost by page (Horizontal bar chart): The pages with the biggest absolute click losses, colour-coded by likely cause.
Page trend (Line chart): Weekly clicks and average position for a single page to pinpoint when decay began.

Keep it up to date

A monthly scheduled task can rerun the comparison and post the top decaying pages to Slack. Because Search Console only keeps 16 months, archive page-level rows to a Google Sheet or warehouse table with a Data Flow if you want multi-year decay history.

Frequently asked questions

How do I tell content decay from seasonality?

Compare with the same period last year as well as the previous period. Search Console keeps 16 months of data, so a year-over-year comparison is possible for roughly the most recent four months; beyond that you need an archive.

What should I do with a decaying page?

If position dropped, refresh and expand the content and check for competing pages. If impressions held but CTR fell, rewrite the title and description. If demand fell, it may need no action.

Why does Search Console data differ from GA4 organic sessions?

Search Console counts clicks on Google results; GA4 counts sessions that loaded its tag, from all search engines, minus visitors who block analytics. Use them as related, not identical, measures.