# GA4 beside Search Console, per project

> Search Console says what Google showed and what was clicked; GA4 says what happened next. What netweft reads from each, with which scopes, at what cost.

Source: https://netweft.com/blog/ga4-beside-search-console
Updated: 2026-10-08

**Search Console reports what happened on Google: impressions, clicks, click-through rate and position, by query and page. GA4 reports what happened next: sessions, active users, engagement rate and key events, by channel, device and landing page. netweft reads both read-only, per project, for no credits.**

A project in netweft can connect two Google properties: a Search Console site
and a GA4 property. They are often treated as one integration. They answer
different questions, and the useful reading is the two side by side.

## Search Console: before the click

Search Console is Google's own account of the results page. For a date range,
netweft reads the totals, the top queries and the top pages, each with
impressions, clicks, [click-through rate](/glossary/click-through-rate) and
average position, and it can compare the range with the one before it.

That makes it the record of demand and visibility: which queries the site
appeared for, how often, and how often someone chose it.

Its average position is not the same thing as a rank check. It is an average
over every impression, across devices and personalisation, reported by Google.
A [stored rank observation](/blog/snapshots-not-recomputation) is one result
page, fetched at a time, in one market. Both are true. They are different
measurements, and the gap between them is often the interesting part.

## GA4: after the click

GA4 starts where Search Console stops. netweft reads four figures from it:
sessions, active users, engagement rate and key events. Each comes broken down
one of three ways: by channel, by device, or by landing page.

The landing-page breakdown is the one to pair with Search Console. A page that
gains clicks in Search Console and shows the same sessions with a falling
engagement rate in GA4 is ranking for something it does not answer.

## Two connections, two steps

Each project chooses its own Search Console site and its own GA4 property,
because a workspace usually holds several sites. Granting Google access is a
separate step from choosing the property, for the reasons in
[why connecting Search Console is two steps](/blog/search-console-two-steps).

The access netweft asks for is read-only: `webmasters.readonly` for Search
Console and `analytics.readonly` for GA4. It is requested when you connect the
integration, not at sign-in, and netweft never writes to a Google account.

## What it costs

Nothing in credits. Neither report appears on the [rate card](/pricing),
because Google does not invoice for them and the credit only exists to pass
through what a vendor charges. Reading them does need an active subscription,
the same as every other screen that fetches fresh data.

## A reading routine

Once a month, for each important page:

1. Search Console: did impressions for its main query move, and did the
   average position move with them?
2. The rank record: does the weekly observation agree with that movement?
3. GA4: did sessions on that landing page follow, and did engagement hold?

When all three move together, the change is real. When only one moves, that
one is the place to look.