Google Search Console Platform Properties: Tracking Your Social Media
Your social media content has been showing up in Google Search for years. You just haven’t been able to see it.
Until now, if someone searched Google and landed on your TikTok video or Instagram profile, that traffic was invisible to you. Google’s own analytics tool only worked for websites you owned and verified. Social was a black box, and marketers had to make up for it with predictions.
Now that’s all changed.
Google has launched Google Search Console Platform Properties.
It’s a new property type that finally shows you how your social and video content performs in Google Search and Discover.
The Lowdown
- Google announced platform properties on 7 July 2026, a new Search Console property type that reports on how your social and video content performs in Google Search and Discover
- It covers four platforms at launch: Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube
- The Performance report shows clicks, impressions and the actual search queries leading people to your posts, with filtering and sorting to find your top performers
- The Insights report gives you a high-level view of traffic trends, top posts and how people discover your account through Google
- It works even if you don’t have a website, and it’s rolling out gradually over the coming weeks, so don’t panic if you can’t see it yet
Want to Know What is Google Actually Sending to your Socials?
We’ve spent over 25 years helping businesses turn search data into leads, sales and growth. If you’d like help connecting your social accounts to Search Console and, more importantly, doing something useful with the numbers, our in-house SEO and social teams are ready when you are. Get in touch for a free, no-obligation chat.
What are Google Search Console Platform Properties?
Google Search Console Platform Properties are a new type of property you can add to your Search Console account.
Instead of verifying a domain you own, you connect a social account you control. Once verified, Search Console starts reporting on how that account’s content appears and performs in Google Search and Discover.
This comes after an experiment Google ran in late 2025, when limited social channel data appeared inside the website Insights report.
Platform properties go much further.
They’re standalone, self-service and available to anyone with a supported account.
One important clarification before we go on. This is Google Search Console social media data, not social media analytics.
Search Console won’t tell you how a Reel performed inside Instagram; it tells you how that Reel performed in Google. Your native platform analytics still matter; this is just a new layer on top, not a replacement.
What Does the Performance Report Show?
The Performance report will feel familiar if you’ve used Search Console for a website.
You get total clicks, impressions and related metrics for your social content in Google Search and Discover.
Crucially, you can see the actual search queries that led people to your posts.
That’s the tangible bit.
If your YouTube video keeps appearing for a query you’d never considered targeting, that’s a content idea handed to you on a plate. You can filter and sort the data to find your top-performing posts and export it if you’d rather analyse it in your own reporting tools.
What Does the Insights Report Show?
The Insights report is the quick-glance view.
It summarises recent traffic trends, highlights your top-performing posts and shows how people are discovering your account through Google. Both reports default to a 28-day window, which is a sensible baseline for spotting genuine trends rather than daily noise.
How to Add a Platform Property in Search Console
Google has actually kept the setup refreshingly simple.
Here’s how to add a platform property in Search Console in three steps:
- Open Search Console and click the property selector drop-down, then choose “Add property”
- Select one of the four available platforms: Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube
- Follow the on-screen verification steps to authorise the connection securely
That’s it.
No DNS records, or code snippets. Each platform you connect becomes its own property, so you get a clean, platform-specific view rather than everything mashed together.
There’s one caveat, though. The rollout is gradual over the coming weeks, so the option may not appear in your account immediately. If it’s not there yet, check back. It’s coming.
Can You Use Search Console Without a Website?
Yes, and this is genuinely new.
Using Search Console without a website was impossible until now, because verification always required proving you owned a domain. Platform properties change the model entirely. You prove you control the account, not the domain.
For social-only creators and brands, that’s a first.
If your entire business lives on Instagram or TikTok, you can now see real Google Search data about your content without ever buying a domain name. Given that Ofcom’s Online Nation 2025 report found YouTube alone reaches 94% of UK online adults, the audience being measured here is enormous
Does This Update Actually Matter?
We’ll be blunt. Plenty of Google updates are tweaks dressed up as revolutions, but this one isn’t. It’s a real shift in how people search.
Search and social have been merging for a while.
Mintel’s UK Social Commerce Market Report 2025 found that platforms like TikTok and Instagram now play a central role in product discovery for UK shoppers. Meanwhile, Ofcom’s latest data notes that Google still handles around 3 billion searches a month in the UK. Your customers move between the two constantly, and, until now, your measurement didn’t.
So what should you do with the data?
Three things, in our view:
- Find your accidental winners. Look for posts pulling search traffic for queries you never targeted, then make more content on those topics deliberately
- Optimise your titles and captions. If a post gets impressions but few clicks, the query data tells you what searchers wanted. Rewrite accordingly
- Get your SEO and social linked up. They’re now working from the same dataset, whether they like it or not. Businesses that connect the two will get measurable results faster than those keeping them in separate silos.
Want to Make the Most of Google Search Console Platform Properties?
Platform properties are free, quick to set up and genuinely useful. But numbers on a dashboard don’t grow a business; what you do next does.
If you want help turning your new search and social data into more leads, more sales and measurable growth, the One2create team has been doing that for over two decades.
Find out more about how we can help you get more leads, grow online sales and build your brand, or get in touch for a free consultation.
FAQs
Does Google Search Console track social media?
Yes. Since 7 July 2026, Google Search Console Platform Properties let you track how your Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube content performs in Google Search and Discover, including clicks, impressions and the search queries driving traffic.
How do you add a platform property in Search Console?
Open Search Console, click the property selector drop-down and choose “Add property”. Select Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube, then follow the on-screen verification steps to authorise the connection. Setup takes minutes and requires no technical knowledge.
Can you use Google Search Console without a website?
Yes. Platform properties work by verifying that you control a social account, not a domain. Social-only creators and brands can now access Google Search performance data without owning a website for the first time.
Which platforms do Google Search Console Platform Properties support?
At launch, platform properties support Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube. Each connected account becomes its own property with separate Performance and Insights reports. Google has indicated more platforms may be added over time.
