Google Search Console performance export
The Performance report export (Search results) from Search Console, a multi-sheet workbook (or multi-CSV zip) of clicks, impressions, CTR and average position. Treated as one joinable table, it is several independent top-1,000 breakdowns whose totals deliberately do not add up.
The shape, how the file is really laid out
One "export" produces SEPARATE sheets/files per dimension, Queries, Pages,
Countries, Devices, Search appearance, Dates, plus a Filters sheet naming
the applied date range and search type (default Web only). Each sheet is its
own breakdown; there is no Query x Page grid in this export. Every dimension
is capped at the top 1,000 rows. Metrics are Clicks, Impressions, CTR
(a percentage) and Position (average position). Daily bucketing is in
Pacific Time regardless of the viewer's locale, data lags roughly 2-3 days,
and the most recent days are incomplete.
The traps
Non-additive across sheets: summing Clicks on the Queries sheet is LESS than the site total because rare/personal queries are anonymized and dropped for privacy, and because the sheet is truncated to the top 1,000, so the Query sheet under-counts by design and never reconciles to the Dates total.
- Every trap in this export, worked through
- The reconciliation anchor, the total the file asserts about itself
- The refusal cases, when to stop and ask instead of guess
Reference: Google Search Console Help, Performance report, exporting data, data anonymization & limits · Search Console API, Search Analytics (row limits, Pacific Time, average position)