In short. Search Console reports can differ because property scope selects different URLs, aggregation changes counting units, and most data follows canonical URLs.
Definition: A Search Console property defines which website URLs a report covers. As of October 2026, Google's documentation distinguishes Domain properties, which include subdomains and protocols, from URL-prefix properties, which cover a specified URL prefix; Performance totals also depend on whether results are counted by property or by page.
Key facts
- Google's property documentation states that a Domain property aggregates subdomains, protocols and subpaths, while a URL-prefix property includes URLs beginning with its specified prefix.
- Google's Performance overview describes property aggregation for the chart and page aggregation for the Pages table.
- Google's counting rules count multiple appearances of a property on a results page as a single impression when aggregating by property.
- Google's dimension documentation assigns most performance data to the canonical URL, the URL used to group performance data for duplicate pages.
Which URLs does each property include?
Google's property setup guide gives example.com as a Domain property. It includes HTTP and HTTPS URLs, subdomains such as m.example.com, and their subpaths. A URL-prefix property specifies the beginning of a URL, including its protocol and any path.
The guide gives this URL-prefix example:
https://example.com/pets/
It includes paths such as https://example.com/pets/puppies. It excludes http://example.com/pets/ and https://m.example.com/pets/. Consequently, a comparison with the Domain property covers different sets of URLs. The guide recommends a page filter to examine a protocol or subdomain within a Domain property's Performance report, or additional URL-prefix properties for separate segments.
Why can chart totals differ from page totals?
Aggregation means combining results into a counting unit. Google's About the data documentation distinguishes the property unit from the page unit. Under property aggregation, a property appearing twice on a search results page receives one impression. Under page aggregation, each unique page receives its own impression.
The distinction also affects clicks. If someone clicks a result, returns to Search and clicks another URL from the same property, property aggregation counts a single click; page aggregation counts two clicks. Position uses the property's topmost result under property aggregation and the specific page's topmost result under page aggregation.
Google's Performance overview assigns Queries, Countries, Devices and Dates tables to property aggregation, and Pages and Search appearance tables to page aggregation. Adding page rows therefore uses a different counting unit from the chart total.
How should the comparison be checked?
Google's overview documentation provides date-range and search-type filters. A comparison starts with matching those settings, active filters and the table dimension in both properties. Search types include web, image, video and news.
Canonical attribution also matters. Google's dimension documentation states that a click on a duplicate URL generally counts toward its canonical URL. The same documentation identifies URL Inspection as the tool for finding a page's canonical. Comparing property coverage therefore requires checking the URL receiving the performance credit, as well as the URL visited.
Related terms
- Canonical URL
- Where do I compare Google's selected canonical with my declared URL?
- How do I compare search queries by country in Search Console?
FAQ
Can I compare chart impressions with summed page rows?
Google's counting documentation uses different units for property and page aggregation. If several pages appear in the same results, you can have a single property impression and separate page impressions.
Why can a visited duplicate URL have little reported performance?
Google's canonical attribution rules assign most performance data to the canonical URL. You can check that URL with URL Inspection.
Sources
- Google Search Console Help, "Performance report (Search results): Overview and basic setup", undated
- Google Search Console Help, "Add a website or platform property to Search Console", undated
- Google Search Console Help, "Performance report (Search results): About the data", undated
- Google Search Console Help, "Performance report (Search results): Dimensions and data groupings", undated
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