Quick Summary: Google Search Console now lets you add Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube accounts as platform properties, so you can see how your social and video content performs across Google Search, Discover and Google News where applicable. You can analyse clicks, impressions, CTR, average position and search queries, then use those insights to identify trends, compare formats and inform your content strategy.
At a Glance:
| At a glance | Summary |
| What is it? | Google Search Console platform properties let you track social media and video content that appears in Google Search. |
| Platforms supported | Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube |
| What can you track? | Individual posts, Reels, TikToks, X posts, YouTube videos that appear in Google. |
| Data available | Clicks, impressions, CTR, average position and search queries, with filters for factors such as date, country and device. |
| Reports available | Insights for a simplified overview and Performance for deeper analysis. |
| How do you add an account? | Go to Add property, choose the relevant platform, then sign in and authorise the connection with GSC. |
| How quickly does data appear? | It will take a few days for data to appear in the reports |
| SEO value | Use actual Google search queries to identify new keywords, search intent, content gaps and format opportunities. |
| Video comparisons | Compare URL patterns such as YouTube /watch vs /shorts/ and Instagram /p/ vs /reels/ to analyse formats. |
| What it doesn't replace | It does not replace native social analytics or GA4, and adding a platform property does not directly improve rankings. |
Until platform properties were introduced, Search Console reporting was focused on websites. If your content lived on TikTok, Instagram, X or YouTube, you had no equivalent way to see how it performed when surfaced by Google. A TikTok video could appear in a short video carousel for a competitive search without that visibility appearing in your Search Console data.
Google has now extended Search Console with platform properties, making this type of reporting available for supported social and video accounts. The setup is free and relatively straightforward.
This guide covers what the feature is, how to add social media to Google Search Console step by step, how Bidmark clients can give us access, and the problems to watch for.
Table of Contents
- What Is Platform Property?
- Why Has Google Search Console Added Social Media?
- What Reports Are Available for Social Media in Google Search Console?
- How Does Google Search Console Track Video Content?
- Why Does This Matter for SEO?
- How to Add Social Media & Video Properties to Google Search Console Reporting
- What Are the Benefits of Tracking Social and Video in GSC?
- How Can Social Media Data Help Your SEO Strategy?
- Common Google Search Console Social Media Tracking Issues
- Conclusion
- FAQs
What Is Platform Property?
A platform property is a type of Search Console property that lets you see how eligible Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube content performs across Google, rather than inside the individual social platforms.
Search Console used to work on one assumption: you own a website. Every property was a domain or a URL prefix, and you had to verify ownership before Google showed you anything. If your content was on TikTok or Instagram, you had no way to track your data.
However, in July 2026, Google introduced platform properties in Search Console, allowing creators and publishers to track eligible Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube content across Google. Google announced the feature on 7 July 2026 and announced global availability on 29 July. Its current Help documentation nevertheless notes that availability may still vary for some users.
Why Has Google Search Console Added Social Media?
Because social and video content increasingly appears in Google Search, Discover and Google News, and creators now need visibility into how that content performs on those surfaces.
If you've searched for a recipe, a product review or a "how do I" question lately, you'll have noticed that the results page is no longer ten blue links. Google's own guidance describes several places your social content can turn up: short video carousels, latest posts carousels and "what people are saying" sections. A fair amount of the content in those slots comes from the platforms covered by this update.
That creates an obvious problem for Google. It's surfacing creators' content, but creators have had no window into how it's performing. Adding platform properties closes that loop, and it also serves people who've never needed a website. A freelance videographer or a restaurant that lives entirely on Instagram can now get the same Search Console data a publisher takes for granted.
The practical benefit is that creators and publishers can now see how content published outside their own websites performs when it is surfaced by Google. This gives social and video content a clearer connection to search data without replacing the analytics available inside each platform.
What Reports Are Available for Social Media in Google Search Console?
When the update launched it allowed you to add four platforms (Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube), each as its own property, and each with Insights and Performance reports.
You add and verify each account individually, so a brand on all four platforms ends up with four platform properties alongside its normal website property. That's slightly more admin than a single dashboard, but it keeps the data clean, because a YouTube channel and an Instagram profile behave very differently in search.
Once an account is connected, Google gives you two reporting layers:
Insights Reports
The Insights report is the simplified, visual overview. The main summary shows clicks across Google, while the detailed lists focus on how people discover your platform content through web search. It also highlights top-performing content, search queries and traffic trends over the default 28-day period. Google explains how those work in its help documentation on query groups.
Performance Reports
The Performance reports are where you dig in. You can filter by country, date and search term, compare devices, and ask questions like which posts do better in a particular country, or whether there are searches you'd expect to bring traffic that aren't. Google's guide to advanced filtering and comparisons is worth bookmarking if you're new to this part of the tool.
Reporting Summary
| Report | What It Shows | How You Can Use It |
| Insights | A simplified overview of clicks, top-performing content, search queries and traffic trends, typically over the default 28-day period. | Quickly identify which social content and searches are generating Google visibility. |
| Performance | More detailed search data with filters for country, date, search term and device, allowing you to compare different segments. | Analyse individual queries, content performance and search trends in greater detail. |
How Does Google Search Console Track Video Content?
Google Search Console tracks video content by URL, recording impressions, clicks and queries for individual videos, Reels and posts so you can compare formats and search visibility.
Search Console tracks video by URL, the same way it tracks everything else. Every video, Reel, post and playlist has its own web address, and the Performance report logs impressions, clicks and queries against each one.
This makes format comparisons possible. Google specifically recommends using comparison mode to set YouTube URLs containing "/watch" against those containing "/shorts/", or Instagram URLs containing "/p/" against "/reels/". You can then see whether your Shorts get more Google visibility than your long-form videos, or whether Reels beat static posts, without relying on a hunch.
Important Note: If you filter YouTube URLs for "playlist", you're looking at the playlist page, not the videos inside it. It's easy to read those figures as video performance and draw the wrong conclusion, so filter by video URL when that's what you want to measure.
The 24-hour view is also worth using. If you've just published something, you can check within a day whether a particular search term is already sending people to it. We've found it useful for spotting a post that's catching a trend early enough to act on it.
Why Does This Matter for SEO?
The queries that lead people to your social and video content provide Search Console data about the searches generating visibility for that content.
Let's be clear about what this isn't. Adding your accounts to Search Console doesn't boost your rankings, and there's no suggestion from Google that social engagement is a ranking factor. What you get is visibility into something that was invisible before, and that's valuable in its own right.
New Keywords
The first reason is keyword research. Some reporting tools estimate demand, but Search Console reports the queries that generated impressions or clicks for your content.
For example, if a TikTok post about solar panel grants receives impressions for a query you have never targeted, that query may be worth investigating for future blog posts, landing pages or video content.
Our post on informational versus intent keywords is a good primer on how to read what these queries actually mean.
Visibility vs Competitors
The second reason is crowded search results. If a competitor's short video and your web page appear for the same query, you can inspect the Google results separately to understand how the different content types are being presented. Search Console itself reports your own content rather than competitor performance.
Social results can also occupy space that used to belong to articles, which ties into what we covered in our piece on zero-click analysis.
AI Search
Platform properties can also provide useful evidence when you are thinking about visibility across Google's wider search ecosystem. They show which searches are already generating visibility for your social and video content, although Search Console does not provide a separate report showing when a particular post or video was used in an AI Overview.
If you're working on that, our AI engine optimisation services can help you. For a wider discussion of AI search visibility, see our guides on why AIO isn't so different from SEO and getting your content cited by AI.
How to Add Social Media & Video Properties to Google Search Console Reporting
Open Search Console, choose "Add property", pick Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube, and follow the on-screen steps to authorise the connection.
The process is the same for all four platforms, and Google's own platform properties help article is the reference to check if anything looks different on your screen. Here's the sequence in plain terms.
Step 1: Sign in to Google Search Console
Sign in to Google Search Console with the Google account you want to manage the data from.
Step 2: Open the property selector drop-down
Open the property selector drop-down, which sits at the top left in most views, and click "Add property". You can also reach the same options from the Search Console verification page.
Step 3: Choose the Platform to Add
You'll then see the four available platforms, and you pick the one you want to add.
Step 4: Verify the connection with GSC
Follow the on-screen verification steps, which will ask you to sign in to that platform and authorise the connection. Once that's done, the property appears in your list. Google says it can take a few days for performance data to appear.
How to Add YouTube to Google Search Console
To add YouTube to Google Search Console, choose YouTube from the platform list and sign in with the Google account that owns or manages your channel.
YouTube gives you useful opportunities to compare different video formats. Google specifically recommends comparing /watch and /shorts/ URL patterns to analyse how different formats perform in Google Search.
Step by Step
- Sign into GSC
- Select the YouTube profile from the platform list. The list only shows YouTube channels that are linked to your email address.
- Sign in with the Google account that owns or manages your YouTube
- Your property will add automatically
How to Add X to Google Search Console
To add X to Google Search Console, select X from the list and authorise the connection using the account you want to track. Make sure you're logged in as the right handle first, especially if you run a brand account and a personal one side by side.
X content tends to surface in the "what people are saying" style of result, so the queries you'll see are often topical and fast-moving. That makes the 24-hour view particularly handy here. If you're running paid campaigns there too, our paid social team can fold the findings into your wider strategy.
Step by Step
- Select X from the platform list.
- Authorise the connection using the X account you want to track. A pop up box will appear - simply accept the connection request.
Note: Make sure you are logged into the correct X handle before connecting with Search Console.
How to Add TikTok to Google Search Console
To add TikTok to Google Search Console, pick TikTok from the platform list, then sign in to the TikTok account you want to verify and approve the connection when prompted. Authorise from the brand's own login rather than a team member's personal profile wherever you can.
TikTok videos often show up in short video carousels, and the search terms behind them can provide useful ideas for future video topics, captions and hashtags. Google's guidance specifically suggests using these insights to brainstorm your next video, caption or hashtag approach. If TikTok is a serious channel for you, our TikTok ads agency explains how we can help you.
Step by Step
- Select TikTok from the platform list.
- Sign in to the TikTok account you want to verify.
- Approve the connection when prompted.
Note: Make sure you are using the brand's own TikTok login rather than a team member's personal profile.
How to Add Instagram to Google Search Console
To add Instagram to Google Search Console, choose Instagram from the list and sign in to the profile you want to track when asked to authorise. As with the others, check which profile you're logged in to before you approve anything.
Instagram is the one where format comparison pays off quickest. Compare "/p/" URLs (standard posts) against "/reels/" URLs and you'll see whether your Reels are earning more search visibility than your feed posts. If you'd like help turning that into a content plan, our Instagram management service is built around that kind of decision.
Step by Step
- Select Instagram from the platform list.
- Sign in to the Instagram profile you want to track.
- Approve the connection when prompted.
Note: Check that you are logged into the correct profile before authorising the connection.
What Are the Benefits of Tracking Social and Video in GSC?
The main benefits are seeing real search demand for your content, spotting what's working early, and measuring social against search in one place.
See Search Visibility in One Place
Tracking social and video properties in Search Console gives you a more complete view of how your content appears in Google Search. Instead of looking at website pages separately from videos and social profiles, you can see their search performance within the same reporting environment. That makes it easier to understand how different parts of your digital presence contribute to overall visibility.
Spot Changes Quickly
Recent data makes it easier to identify sudden changes in performance. You can filter to shorter time periods and investigate whether a recent post, video or external event has affected search visibility. You can also compare the latest performance with previous periods to distinguish a genuine change from normal fluctuations.
Understand Which Content Is Being Found Through Search
Search Console can show you which individual social posts and videos are appearing in search and how users are discovering them. That gives you a more granular view than simply looking at overall traffic or engagement figures on the social platform itself.
Connect Social Activity With Organic Search
Having social and video data alongside your website's Search Console data makes it easier to look for relationships between the two. For example, you can investigate whether increased visibility around a topic coincides with greater search interest in related website content. This doesn't prove that one caused the other, but it gives you a useful starting point for further analysis.
Make Reporting More Complete
Social and video search visibility can otherwise be missing from traditional SEO reports, particularly when reporting is focused primarily on website clicks and rankings. Including these properties gives stakeholders a broader picture of how the brand is appearing in Google Search, rather than reducing SEO performance to website traffic alone.
Support More Informed Decisions
Rather than treating social media and video as completely separate from organic search, you can use Search Console data to see where the channels intersect, investigate changes and decide where further analysis is worthwhile.
How Can Social Media Data Help Your SEO Strategy?
Social media data can support your SEO strategy by revealing new keywords, search intent, content gaps and format opportunities based on the queries generating visibility for your social and video content.
Search Console data from social and video properties can reveal the Google queries generating visibility for your content. Those queries can provide additional keyword and search-intent data for your wider SEO research.
In practice you can use it in a number of ways:
Discover New Keywords
Google Search data from your social and video content can uncover queries, phrases and questions that are not yet obvious in traditional keyword research. If a YouTube video, TikTok, Instagram post or X post appears in Google for a search query you had not targeted, that query can provide another source of keyword and search-intent data to investigate. This is particularly useful for finding longer, more conversational searches and emerging topics.
Understand Search Intent
The wording people use on social platforms can provide additional insight into what they actually want from a search. Questions, comparisons, how-to searches and problem-based queries can help you understand the intent behind a topic and shape the corresponding website content around it, rather than simply targeting a keyword.
Identify Content Gaps
Social media search data can reveal topics your audience is already looking for but that your website does not yet cover. Look at the queries bringing people to a video, then check whether you have a relevant page targeting the same search intent. If not, that could highlight a genuine content opportunity rather than a keyword chosen purely from research tools.
Compare Content Performance
Comparing the same topic across different platforms can also show how people prefer to consume your content. For example, if a detailed YouTube tutorial attracts strong search visibility while a shorter TikTok version receives little interest, it may be worth adapting the subject for a longer-form format rather than simply creating more short videos. Exporting data from each platform and comparing performance side by side can make these differences easier to identify.
Strengthen Existing Content
Social data isn't only useful for finding new pages. It can show you additional questions and terminology around topics you already target, which can be used to expand existing content. For example, if a video attracts searches for several closely related questions that your existing article doesn't address, those questions could become new sections or FAQs on the page.
Find Content Format Opportunities
Performance differences between platforms can also tell you which content formats resonate with a particular topic. A subject that performs well as a detailed YouTube video, for example, may justify a comprehensive guide on your website, while a question that repeatedly performs well in short-form video could become an FAQ or concise supporting section.
Common Google Search Console Social Media Tracking Issues
Most problems with the platform properties update come down to the rollout not reaching your account yet, authorising the wrong profile, or expecting the data to measure something it doesn't.
The most common worry is low numbers. Only a fraction of social content ever appears in Google, so modest figures at first are normal. Google doesn't promise a set amount of history, so check what yours shows rather than assuming. The first few weeks can provide an initial baseline, but a new property may not have enough data to identify meaningful patterns immediately.
The second is comparing Search Console with in-app views. They won't match, and they aren't meant to. A video can have a million in-app views and a few hundred Google impressions, or the reverse. If you're measuring engagement on social media, you still need each platform's own analytics. Search Console answers a narrower question: how your content performs when it is surfaced across Google Search, Discover and News where applicable.
Issues Summary
| Issue | Likely cause | Fix |
| Platform option missing | Gradual rollout, or you're looking in the wrong place | Use the Search Console verification page, check again in a few days and read Google's help article |
| Wrong account connected | Signed in to a personal profile when authorising | Remove the property and re-add it from the correct login |
| Very little data | New property, low search visibility or a small audience | If the property is new, give the reports time to collect enough data to establish a useful baseline. |
| Numbers don't match in-app analytics | The tools measure different things | Treat Search Console as Google visibility only |
| Playlist figures look odd | The filter reports the playlist page, not the videos inside it | Filter by video URL instead |
| Can't give an agency access | The property sits under someone's personal login | Move ownership to a shared business login first |
Most of these issues can be diagnosed by checking the connected account, property setup and the date on which data collection began.
Conclusion
If your business publishes content on Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube, adding the relevant platform properties gives you another source of Google search-performance data to analyse alongside your website property.
Platform properties extend Search Console reporting to eligible Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube content. You can see which content receives Google visibility, which queries generate that visibility and how different formats compare.
The data does not replace native social analytics or GA4, and adding a platform property does not directly improve rankings. Its value is the additional Google search data it provides for content and keyword research.
Once enough data has accumulated, review the queries generating impressions and clicks and look for topics or search intent that are not yet reflected in your wider content strategy.
If you'd like a hand with setup, reporting or turning the findings into a proper strategy, the Bidmark team would be glad to help. Take a look at our tracking and analytics services or get in touch for a chat about what social media tracking could look like for your business.
Video & Social Media in Google Search Console FAQs
How Do You Add Social Media to Google Search Console?
Adding social media to Google Search Console is done by creating a platform property for the account or channel you want to track. In Search Console, open the property selector and select Add property, then choose the relevant platform from the available options. You can currently add Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube. Follow the on-screen instructions to authorise and verify the connection. Once verified, Google says it can take a few days for data to appear.
Each social account or channel needs to be added separately, so if you manage multiple profiles, you will need to create a separate property for each one.
What Social Media Platforms Can You Track in Google Search Console?
Google Search Console currently supports four social and video platforms as platform properties: Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube. Each account or channel is tracked as its own property, allowing you to analyse its performance separately in Google Search.
What Data Does Google Search Console Show for Social Media?
Platform properties provide performance data for your social and video content when it appears across Google. The Performance report includes clicks, impressions, average CTR and average position, with filters allowing you to examine individual posts, videos and search queries.
Depending on where your content appears, Search Console can also report traffic from Google Search, Discover and Google News.
What Doesn't Google Search Console Track?
It does not show native social metrics such as likes, comments, shares, followers, watch time or engagement rates. It also does not show how often content is viewed within Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube itself. Instead, Google Search Console focuses on how your social and video content is discovered through Google, including search queries, impressions, clicks, CTR and average position. For engagement and in-platform performance, you still need to use the native analytics provided by each social platform.
Does Adding Social Media to Google Search Console Improve Rankings?
No. Adding a platform property gives you reporting data; it does not itself improve your rankings. Its SEO value comes from the search-query and visibility data you can use to inform content decisions.
Can Google Search Console Show the Keywords People Use to Find Your Social Media Content?
Yes. Search Console can show the search queries or search terms people use on Google before finding your Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube content. You can use these queries to understand which subjects and phrases are generating search visibility for your social content.
Can Social Media Data in GSC Help You Find New SEO Keywords?
Yes, but it should be treated as another source of keyword and search-intent research rather than a replacement for traditional keyword research. The queries bringing users to your social content can reveal questions, terminology, long-tail phrases and topics that you may not have considered when planning your website content.
Can we give Bidmark access to our platforms to set up tracking?
If you'd prefer Bidmark to handle the setup, you can give us the appropriate access to the relevant accounts. Where the platform supports delegated or business access, we recommend using that rather than sharing passwords.
Search Console Access
- Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with the Google account that owns your website's property. You must be a verified Owner to add users.
- Click the property dropdown in the top-left corner and select your website.
- Click Settings (the gear icon) at the bottom of the left-hand menu.
- Click Users and permissions.
- Click Add user in the top-right corner.
- Enter our email address: (marketing@bidmark.co.uk).
- Choose a permission level: Owner (recommended) or Full (minimum)
- Click Add, then message us the website URL so we can confirm access.
YouTube
- Sign in to YouTube Studio (studio.youtube.com) as the channel owner.
- Click Settings in the left menu, then Permissions.
- Click Invite.
- Enter our email address (marketing@bidmark.co.uk).
- Choose a role: Manager or Editor for full work.
- Click Save, then accept any confirmation prompts. We'll receive an invite email to accept.
X (Twitter)
- Go to Settings and privacy > Account > Delegate (this requires a Premium/verified account).
- Click Invite or Add delegate and enter our X username (@Bidmark_agency).
- We accept the invite from our account.
- Note: if you don't have Premium, X has no native sharing. For ads access, you can add us in X Ads Manager under Settings > Account access. If native delegation or business access is unavailable, contact us and we can confirm the access options available for that platform.
- Make sure the account is a Business or Creator account linked to a Facebook Page.
- Go to Meta Business Suite (business.facebook.com) > Settings.
- Under People, click Add people and enter our email address (marketing@bidmark.co.uk). Or, under Partners, click Add partner and enter our Business ID.
- Select the Instagram account and choose the access level (Full control or limited permissions).
- Click Assign or Send invite.
TikTok
- Create or open your TikTok Business Center (business.tiktok.com).
- Under Assets, click Add > TikTok account and link your account if you haven't already.
- Go to Members > Invite member and enter our email address (marketing@bidmark.co.uk).
- Choose a role (Admin or Standard) and assign the TikTok account as an asset with the permissions we need.
- Click Send invite, and we'll accept from our end.
Last Updated: October 2026
Categories:
General | Tags: Google Search Console, Instagram, Platform Properties, Social Media Tracking, TikTok, Tracking, Video Tracking, X, YouTube
