You can now see how your social content performs in Google Search

Google has switched on a genuinely useful new tool for anyone who posts on social media. It lets you see how your content on Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube actually performs in Google Search.

In short: your social posts have been showing up in Google for a while, and now you can finally see it, and act on it.

What's changed

Google has made platform properties globally available in Search Console. You connect your Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube account, and you can see which Google searches are leading people to that content: the terms they used, how often your posts appeared, and which ones are pulling traffic.

One thing worth being clear on: this shows how your social content performs in Google Search, not how it performs inside the apps themselves. So it's about your search visibility, not your in-app views.

What it means for your business

For a local business putting effort into social, this closes a gap that's been open for years. Your social work is no longer just about likes and follows on the platform. The same video or post can be quietly bringing people in from Google, and now you can see which ones, and lean into what's working.

“It's genuinely useful, particularly the link between YouTube and search,” says Dominic, owner of Hobart web design and digital marketing agency Wakeford Digital. “We've noticed more and more that social content is turning up in search results over recent years, so having a way to actually see it is a real benefit.”

It matters more now because search itself is broadening. Google results, and increasingly AI answers, pull from a widening set of sources beyond your website, social posts included.

“The breadth of sources that search, and now AI results, might pull from keeps broadening,” says Dom. “So being able to track those metrics across all of it, not just your website, is exactly the kind of consistency that counts now.”

How to add it to your Search Console

If you already use Google Search Console, adding your social accounts takes a couple of minutes:

1. Open Google Search Console and sign in.
2. Click the property selector at the top left, then Add property.
3. Choose the platform option and pick your platform: Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube.
4. Sign in to that social account when prompted, to confirm you manage it.
5. Give it a little time, then check the Performance and Insights reports to see how your content is showing up in Google.

There's no downside to setting it up, and it only adds to the picture you have of how people are finding you.

Our take

This is one we're acting on straight away. We're rolling it out across our managed ongoing clients this week, so the social content we produce is measured on its search visibility too, not just platform engagement.

We set up Google Search Console on every client's website as part of our core SEO service, so adding these social properties is a natural next step. If you'd like it switched on for your accounts, get in touch and we'll sort it.

And if you're investing in social content and SEO, this ties the two together in a way that wasn't visible before. Well worth doing.