Google Search Console Shows 150+ Ranking Keywords, But Ahrefs Shows Only 30 – Which Data Do You Trust?

Guestwriting

Guestwriting

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As of lately I've come across this anomaly when reviewing one of my client site.

Ahrefs indicated that the site was only ranking for roughly 30+ keywords in the SERPs.

Looking at the Google Search Console Performance Search results Pages Queries, I discovered 150+ different queries that the pages garnered impressions for.

Upon manual review on a portion of these, over 100 of them actually displayed the site in the SERPs.

Even more surprisingly, many of these keyword not displaying in Ahrefs.

This means the numbers looked somewhat like this:​

Ahrefs: 30+ ranking keywords​

GSC: 150+ queries
​

Manual SERP checks: 100+ keywords that displayed rankings

This is the part that lead me to question just how much keyword coverage we get in 3rd party SEO tools...

I understand that Ahrefs and other keyword rank tracker have their own keywords databases, update speeds, locations, devices, and rank counting methods, I am not declaring Ahrefs wrong.

However if google search console identifies the queries for which it earned the impression, wouldn't that be the preferred tool for uncovering the long tail and newly developing keywords for which the site is ranking?

Just thought I'd inquire if anyone else has experienced the same.

Have you been comparing GSC queries data against Ahrefs/Semrush very recently?
 
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As the website is added to your search console account and this data comes from the Google search engine, then this the real data which we can trust. As Ahrefs/Semrush is a third party this takes into consideration the data from competitors also.
 
Check the average position column on those extra 120 before you get too excited, mine were nearly all sitting between 40 and 90 with zero clicks on them, gsc counts you as ranking if you appeared at all even on page 6.
 
GSC is a more accurate picture of what your site actually ranks for since it pulls directly from Google's own data rather than sampling a keyword db. Ahrefs and Semrush only track keywords in their index which misses a chunk of long tail queries.
 
Yeah, GSC often shows way more long-tail queries than Ahrefs/Semrush. you should use GSC for discovering new keywords and third-party tools for tracking the bigger picture.
 
GSC makes more sense for finding the actual long-tail and new queries your own site is getting impressions for, but even GSC isn’t a complete keyword list

Google hides some anonymized queries for privacy and the normal Performance tables can also be truncated, so those 150 still may not be every query the site appeared for

For this use case, GSC is better for discovering your own query coverage, while Ahrefs/Semrush are more useful for competitor research and broader keyword estimates. On a bigger site, the bulk GSC export gives you more rows than the normal interface, although the anonymized queries still stay hidden
 
Guestwriting said:
As of lately I've come across this anomaly when reviewing one of my client site.

Ahrefs indicated that the site was only ranking for roughly 30+ keywords in the SERPs.

Looking at the Google Search Console Performance Search results Pages Queries, I discovered 150+ different queries that the pages garnered impressions for.

Upon manual review on a portion of these, over 100 of them actually displayed the site in the SERPs.

Even more surprisingly, many of these keyword not displaying in Ahrefs.

This means the numbers looked somewhat like this:​

Ahrefs: 30+ ranking keywords​

GSC: 150+ queries​

​

Manual SERP checks: 100+ keywords that displayed rankings

This is the part that lead me to question just how much keyword coverage we get in 3rd party SEO tools...

I understand that Ahrefs and other keyword rank tracker have their own keywords databases, update speeds, locations, devices, and rank counting methods, I am not declaring Ahrefs wrong.

However if google search console identifies the queries for which it earned the impression, wouldn't that be the preferred tool for uncovering the long tail and newly developing keywords for which the site is ranking?

Just thought I'd inquire if anyone else has experienced the same.

Have you been comparing GSC queries data against Ahrefs/Semrush very recently?
Click to expand...
Why would you trust Ahrefs over Google? Especially when you know this is Google reporting on its own data?

A third-party cannot have a more accurate data than the original source/owner of such data. GSC is more accurate than any third party.
 
When it comes to actual rankings, I would rely more on GSC. Ahrefs is useful too, but it might miss keywords that GSC is already showing. I usually use both and compare them.
 
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