Finding Content Keywords in Google Search Console

If you are looking for the legacy "Content Keywords" report in Google Search Console, you will no longer find it in the navigation sidebar. Google officially retired the Content Keywords feature because it caused confusion among webmasters.

The original tool simply counted keyword frequency across the pages Google crawled on your domain. It did not reflect actual user queries, impressions, or ranking positions. As noted in Search Engine Land's report on the deprecation, Google shifted focus toward dynamic, query-level performance metrics that show how users actually discover content.

Today, keyword research inside Google Search Console (GSC) is substantially more actionable. Rather than assessing static word counts on a page, you can analyze real-world search queries, user demand, and click-through performance across your entire site.

Where Keyword Data Lives in Modern Search Console

All current keyword insights reside in the Performance report. This dashboard pulls first-party search data directly from Google’s index, giving you clear visibility into impressions, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), and average search ranking positions.

To access your query data:

1. Open Google Search Console and choose your verified property.
2. In the left sidebar, click Performance (or Search results under the Performance heading).
3. Toggle on all four primary metrics: Total clicks, Total impressions, Average CTR, and Average position.
4. Scroll to the data table below the chart and ensure the Queries tab is selected.

This table functions as your primary keyword report. It lists every search term that generated at least one impression for your verified URLs within the selected timeframe.

How to Use Search Console for Actionable Keyword Research

Unlike third-party SEO platforms that estimate monthly volumes based on sampled databases, Search Console records your actual SERP visibility. You can uncover high-impact keyword opportunities using three core workflows.

1. Identify "Striking Distance" Keywords

Striking distance keywords are queries where your pages rank between positions 8 and 20. Google already views your content as relevant, but because these rankings sit near the bottom of page one or on page two, they capture minimal organic clicks.

To isolate these terms:

• In the Queries tab, click the filter bar above the table.
• Select Position, set the condition to Greater than, and enter 7.9.
• Add a second Position filter set to Smaller than 20.1.
• Sort the table by Impressions in descending order.

High-impression queries in this range represent rapid optimization opportunities. Updating the target page with concise answers, clearer subheadings, or missing subtopics can lift these rankings into the top five.

2. Isolate Page-Level Keyword Clusters

To evaluate the topical focus of a specific URL—similar to the page-by-page view of the legacy Content Keywords tool—you can narrow the report down to a single page:

1. Click the Pages tab within the Performance report.
2. Select the specific URL you want to analyze.
3. Switch back to the Queries tab.

The table will now display only the terms driving impressions and clicks to that URL. This view often surfaces unexpected secondary queries. If an adjacent term generates substantial impressions but a low CTR, consider adding a dedicated sub-section to address that query directly.

3. Spot Low-CTR Opportunities

Queries with heavy impression volume but low click-through rates often indicate snippet or intent mismatches. If your page ranks in the top five positions but maintains a CTR below 2%, your title tag and meta description may not adequately answer user intent.

As highlighted in Semrush's guide to Search Console keywords, aligning title tags with the specific phrasing users search for can generate meaningful traffic gains without requiring entirely new articles.

Adapting Keyword Strategy for AI Answers and Zero-Click Search

While Search Console is critical for monitoring search impressions, search behavior is undergoing a major shift. With Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity answering complex queries directly, many user journeys no longer result in a traditional web click.

Ranking in the standard ten blue links does not ensure discovery if an AI engine synthesizes an answer directly above the results. To remain visible, content must be structured so large language models can extract, summarize, and cite your domain as an authoritative source.

Sustaining this across an entire editorial calendar can be challenging. A platform like Terradium streamlines the process through a four-agent pipeline that discovers the questions buyers ask AI, generates answer-ready content engineered for citation, and publishes it via an API or webhook. It also tracks directional visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews, helping attribute AI-driven traffic alongside your Search Console metrics.

Best Practices for Search Console Keyword Analysis

To keep your keyword research streamlined, incorporate these ongoing practices:

• Compare Date Ranges: Use the Date filter to evaluate the last 28 days against the previous period or previous year. Identifying sudden impression drops lets you address decaying content before traffic declines significantly.
• Group by Search Intent: Export queries to a spreadsheet and group them into informational ("how to," "what is") and commercial ("best," "pricing") categories to guide your publishing priorities.
• Filter Out Brand Queries: Add a regex or query filter (Queries not containing [Brand Name]) to separate existing brand awareness from pure organic discovery.
• Uncover Topic Gaps: When a URL gains impressions for a query it only briefly mentions, create a dedicated article targeting that specific topic and link back to the parent page.

The retired Content Keywords report provided a static inventory of crawled words, but modern Search Console metrics offer direct visibility into user search demand. By tracking real queries, optimizing striking-distance keywords, and engineering content for both search indexes and AI engines, you can turn raw performance data into consistent visibility.