google-search-console vs google-analytics-4
Google Search Console vs Google Analytics 4 — features, pricing, and which to choose for your SEO workflow in 2026.
Quick Verdict
These two Google tools serve different but complementary roles in SEO monitoring. Google Search Console gives you Google's direct perspective on your site's search performance — what keywords bring traffic, which pages have indexing issues, and how Google crawls your site. Google Analytics 4 provides deeper user behavior insights once visitors land on your site, tracking engagement, conversions, and user journeys across devices.
The choice isn't really either-or since both are free Google products. The question is which one to prioritize when you're starting out, and which provides more actionable SEO insights for your specific needs.
Feature Comparison
Google Search Console excels at search-specific data you can't get anywhere else. It shows your actual search query performance (impressions, clicks, CTR, average position), Core Web Vitals scores, crawl errors, and indexing status. The Performance report reveals which keywords Google associates with your pages and how you rank for them. You also get mobile usability reports and structured data validation. Google Analytics 4 focuses on user behavior after they reach your site. It tracks page views, session duration, bounce rates, and conversion events. The AI-powered insights can identify trending content and predict user behavior. GA4's cross-platform tracking connects website visits to app usage, and its audience segmentation helps identify your most valuable traffic sources. However, GA4 shows "Google organic search" as a traffic source without the keyword-level detail that Search Console provides. Search Console's sitemap submission and URL inspection tools are essential for technical SEO, while GA4's funnel analysis and attribution modeling help optimize for conversions rather than just rankings.
Pricing Comparison
Both tools are completely free with no usage limits for most websites. Google Search Console has no premium tier — the free version includes all features. Google Analytics 4 is also free but has a premium version (Analytics 360) starting around $50,000 annually, though this targets enterprise clients with massive data volumes. For SEO purposes, the free versions provide everything most businesses need. Neither tool requires a credit card or has feature restrictions that would push you toward paid alternatives.
Best For
Google Search Console is better when your primary goal is improving search rankings and fixing technical SEO issues. Use it if you need to understand which keywords drive your organic traffic, want to monitor Core Web Vitals performance, or need to diagnose why pages aren't ranking. It's essential for new sites to ensure Google is properly crawling and indexing your content. Google Analytics 4 is better when you need to understand user behavior, track conversions, or measure the business impact of your SEO efforts. Choose GA4 if you're running an e-commerce site where conversion tracking matters more than keyword rankings, or if you need to demonstrate SEO ROI through revenue attribution.
The Verdict
Start with Google Search Console if you're doing SEO work — it provides the foundational search performance data you can't get anywhere else. Add Google Analytics 4 once you need deeper insights into user behavior and conversion tracking. Most serious SEO practitioners use both tools since they provide complementary data sets, but Search Console is more directly actionable for improving search performance.