Your Instagram and TikTok reports show views, engagement, and follower growth. But they don’t tell the whole story of how your content is helping people find your business outside those platforms. That’s where Google Search Console comes in. Google introduced an update in July 2026 that allows you to connect your Instagram and TikTok accounts and see how your content is performing in Google searches. You can see what people are searching for, which posts appear in the results, and how often people click on them. Those insights can help you plan future content and understand how older posts are still helping people discover your business. And if you’re wondering whether Google still matters with the rise of AI, Google reported more than 5 trillion searches annually in 2025. There’s still plenty of value in getting found there.
Here are a few ways to use that data to guide your content planning and get more out of the content you’re already creating.
Google Search Console: The Basics
Google Search Console shows how your social content performs in Google Search, including:
Impressions: How often your content appears in search results.
Clicks: How many clicks it receives from Google.
Click-through rate: The percentage of appearances in Google search results that result in a click.
Search queries: What people search for when your content appears.
Top posts: Which posts and videos receive the most search traffic.
You can review web, image, and video search performance and compare periods to see which posts and topics are gaining or losing traffic. These reports measure activity from Google, rather than views inside Instagram or TikTok. A click to your social content also isn’t automatically a website visit or a customer.
Use Search Queries to Guide Your Content Planning
As we’ve reviewed client reporting, we’ve seen searches containing business names alongside broader queries about local events and places to visit. Those searches tell you different things. Someone searching for your business by name may already know you and want to learn more. Someone searching for an event, a type of restaurant, or something to do nearby may be discovering you for the first time. The queries your content already appears for can also reveal opportunities, even when your posts are far down the results. Google recommends using these insights to brainstorm future videos, captions, and content themes.
For example, if your restaurant’s content appears for “Italian restaurants in Sherman Oaks,” you could create a video featuring your Italian dishes and clearly showing where the restaurant is located. You’re building on a relevant query your content already appears for and creating something that directly addresses what that person is looking for. Keep in mind that Search Console doesn’t show the total number of searches for a keyword. It shows how your content performed when it appeared for that query.
And if people are searching for those topics on Google, they’re probably searching for them on Instagram and TikTok, too. On TikTok, search analytics can show the terms people used to find your videos within the app. Your Google queries offer another source of content ideas to test on both platforms, while keeping in mind that search behavior can differ. Don’t overlook older content when reviewing your results. For one client, a post published more than two years ago was the account’s top-performing post for Google search clicks. Those older posts can reveal topics worth revisiting, updating, or building on with a follow-up.
Bring Those Insights Into Your Social Media Plan
Start with one relevant query or topic and build it into your next round of content. Then compare performance over time to see whether your content is gaining impressions and clicks. Creating more content doesn’t guarantee stronger rankings, but reviewing the results helps you decide what to keep exploring.
Google Search Console adds another piece to your social media reporting: how people find your content beyond the apps and which posts continue providing value over time.
At L.A. Social Karma, we plan, create, manage, and review your social content so those insights become part of your ongoing marketing. We also provide email marketing in Los Angeles to help businesses stay connected with their customers. If you’re looking for social media management in Los Angeles, let’s talk.
Helpful Resources
Ready to connect your accounts? Follow Google’s instructions for adding Instagram and TikTok to Search Console.
