Data enthusiasts rejoice, Google has announced an important update to its Search Console API, which will allow access to hourly search performance data for the past 8 days. This builds upon the 24-hour data view that was added to the Search Console web interface in December.
The announcement was made by Daniel Waisberg from the Google Search team at the Google Search Central Live event in New York City.
Pictured: Daniel Waisberg at the event where the announcement was made. Image credit: Ray Grieselhuber via LinkedIn.
What are the potential benefits?
- Rapid issue detection – Identify sudden traffic drops or ranking changes within hours rather than days.
- Real-time content assessment – See almost immediate performance data after publishing new content.
- Custom alerts – Create automated monitoring tools that notify you when metrics fall outside expected ranges.
Since Google added the feature in January, users have had to manually export this data. Once rolled out, the API access will mean you can pull this data directly into your own tools or SEO platforms.
Google notes that the hourly data becomes visible in the system with minimal delay, but the numbers may still be adjusted as Google completes its data collection. Website owners should compare this early hourly data against the final exports from the standard Search Console reports when creating important analyses.
This update may come as welcome news for business owners and marketing teams who want the ability to be ultra-responsive to what’s happening with their site in search. Being able to see hourly patterns will offer a whole new level of granular performance data.
