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Help — Export from Google Search Console

DeCannibal analyses the Google Search Console Performance export. Follow the steps below to produce a file with every column it needs. A missing column is the number-one reason uploads fail — the checklist at the bottom shows how to avoid it.

What you need

A verified Search Console property (URL-prefix or Domain) with at least a few days of Performance data. Owner, full user, or restricted user access is enough.

Step-by-step

  1. Open Google Search Console and pick the property you want to analyse.
  2. In the left sidebar click Performance → Search results.
  3. At the top, set Search type: Web and pick a date range. 3 months is a good default; use up to 16 months if you want more signal.
  4. Turn on all four metrics above the chart: Total clicks, Total impressions, Average CTR, Average position. If any is off, the export will not contain that column.
  5. Do not apply a Query or Page filter. Filtering to a single query/page produces a file with only one row per dimension and DeCannibal cannot find overlaps.
  6. Click Export (top-right) → choose Download CSV or Download Excel. Both work; DeCannibal reads .csvand .xlsx files directly.
  7. Drop the file into the DeCannibal uploader and the analysis starts immediately.

The columns DeCannibal expects

A valid GSC Performance export contains these headers (Google localises them to your account language, and DeCannibal recognises the common translations):

  • Query — the search term
  • Landing Page / Top pages — the URL that ranked
  • Impressions
  • Url Clicks / Clicks
  • Average Position
  • Optional: Date — enables the after-upload date range filter

Common mistakes that cause missing columns

  1. Metric toggles left off. Clicks, Impressions, CTR and Position each render only if their toggle above the chart is enabled at export time. Turn all four on before hitting Export.
  2. Exporting a single tab. If you copy just the visible table from the Queries tab, Pages is missing (and vice versa). Use the Export button to download the full Performance report.
  3. Filtering to one query or one URL. A single-row export has no overlaps. Remove any Query / Page filter before exporting.
  4. Opening the CSV in Excel and re-saving. Excel can drop the header row, change separators to semicolons, or reformat Position as text. Upload the file Google gave you, not a resave.
  5. Google Sheets export as XLSX with formulas. If you paste GSC into Sheets and re-download, formulas like =A2/B2 replace CTR values. Use the original download.
  6. Wrong Search Console report. "Discover", "News", "Google Analytics" and "Looker Studio" exports look similar but ship different columns. Use only Performance → Search results.
  7. Regex / Not-containing filters. These can strip so many rows that only one page remains per query and cannibalization disappears. Export unfiltered, then use DeCannibal's in-app filters.
  8. Date range too narrow. 1–2 days rarely produces the multi-URL overlaps this tool looks for. Use at least 28 days; 3 months is ideal.

Still stuck? Email lukasz@zelezny.co.uk with a screenshot of the toggles above your Performance chart — that reveals almost every bad-export case.