- In July 2026 Google added platform properties to Search Console. You can connect Instagram, TikTok, X, or YouTube and see how that content performs in Google Search, Discover, and News.
- It is the first Search Console property you can verify with no website. A business with only a Google Business Profile and an Instagram can use it.
- You get three reports: Performance (clicks, impressions, CTR, position, and the exact queries), Insights (top posts), and Achievements (milestones).
- It does not make social a ranking factor and will not fix a weak profile. It measures the Google-facing payoff of content you already post.
- Pair it with sameAs schema on your site so Google ties those accounts to your business, which feeds the Knowledge Panel and AI answers.
- Use it to prove or kill the effort: find the posts that pull people in from Search, do more of those, and stop guessing whether social is worth it.
For years, your social media and your Google Search data lived in two different worlds that never spoke to each other. You could see likes and views inside Instagram or TikTok, and you could see search clicks inside Search Console, but never how your social content actually performed in Google. In July 2026, that changed. Google added a new kind of Search Console property, called a platform property, that lets you connect your Instagram, TikTok, X, or YouTube account and finally see how those posts show up in Google Search, Discover, and News (Google Search Central).
Here is what that means in plain terms, how to set it up in about two minutes, and what a local business should actually do with the data once it starts flowing. The best part is that it works even if you never built a website.
What are Search Console platform properties?
A platform property is a new type of Search Console property that reports how a social or video account performs in Google, without needing a website attached. Google announced it on the Search Central Blog on July 7, 2026, and it verifies a single Instagram, TikTok, X, or YouTube account so Google can show you its Search performance (Google Search Central).
The genuinely new part is that it needs no domain. Every Search Console property before this required you to own and verify a website. A platform property is the first one you verify by authorizing the account itself, which means a business with nothing but a Google Business Profile and an Instagram page can now see its Google data. That is a real gift for very small local businesses that never got around to a site.
One thing to be clear on: this measures Google, not the platform. It shows how your posts do in Google Search, Discover, and News, not how many views a Reel got inside Instagram. It is also different from Search Profiles, the public creator pages Google rolled out in June 2026. Platform properties are private analytics for you, not a public page for customers.
What can you actually see in the reports?
Three reports, and they mirror the ones website owners have used for years. If you have ever looked at Search Console for a site, this will feel familiar, just pointed at your social account instead (Search Console Help).
The three reports you get
What each report shows once your account is connected and data starts collecting.
Surfaces covered: Google Search, Discover, and News. The Discover and News numbers only appear if your content actually gets traffic there.
The Performance report is the one you will live in. It answers the question social apps never will: not how many people liked a post, but how many people searched something on Google and ended up on your content because of it. That is a different, and frankly more useful, signal for a business.
How do you set one up?
About two minutes. You add a platform property the same way you add a website, then authorize the account instead of verifying a domain. Here is the whole flow.
Setting up a platform property
Four steps, start to finish. Repeat for each account you want to track.
One practical note: Google checks the connection periodically. If the login you authorized with expires, data collection pauses until you re-verify, and it picks right back up when you do, without losing your history. So if a report goes quiet, re-authorize before assuming something broke.
What should a local business do with the data?
Find the posts that actually pull people in from Google, and make more of them. That is the whole game. Sort the Performance report by clicks and impressions and look for the pattern in what is winning, then feed that back into what you post next.
A few specific reads worth doing. Check whether people find you by name or by what you do, because branded queries mean your reputation is working and non-branded queries mean your content is doing discovery work. Watch the Discover numbers, since a single strong photo or short video can reach far more people there than in classic Search. And notice which formats earn position and clicks, then stop pouring time into the ones that never surface.
Why this content shows up in Google at all
How often a video appears in Google results, by query type, and where a local business gets the most from it. Toggle the view.
The bigger reason to bother is the one covered in why your customers don't start on Google anymore: a large share of local discovery now begins on social and video, then finishes on Google. Platform properties finally close the measurement loop on that behavior. You can see the Google payoff of the social content that was doing the discovery all along.
Want the whole picture, not just one channel?
The free RMCM audit reads your website the way search engines and AI tools do, so you can see how your site, profile, and content work together to turn discovery into calls, in about 30 seconds.
START WITH A FREE AUDITHow do you connect your social to your brand?
Add your profile URLs to your website's schema so Google treats those accounts as part of one business. A platform property measures your social content, but it does not tell Google that the account belongs to you. The sameAs property in your site's Organization schema does that job, and the two work best together.
When Google can confidently link your website, your Google Business Profile, and your social accounts into a single entity, it feeds the Knowledge Panel that shows up when people search your name, and it strengthens the signals that AI tools read when they decide who to recommend. For the full setup, see local business schema markup. Here is how the two pieces divide the work.
| Platform property | sameAs schema | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A Search Console property for one social or video account | A property in your site's Organization schema listing your social URLs |
| Its job | Measures how your posts perform in Google Search, Discover, and News | Tells Google those accounts belong to your business |
| Needs a website? | No | Yes, it lives in your site's code |
| Main payoff | See which content pulls people in from Google | Feeds your Knowledge Panel and AI answers |
| Do you need it? | Yes, to measure | Yes, to connect. They are complementary. |
What are the limits?
It measures Google, not the platforms, and it is not a ranking button. Set expectations before you set it up, so the data does not disappoint you. A few honest limits worth knowing:
- It is not a ranking factor. Connecting an account does not lift your rankings, and social posts still are not a direct ranking signal. This is a report, not a boost.
- It only sees Google. It shows Google Search, Discover, and News performance, not native platform engagement. It will not tell you how many times your video played on TikTok itself.
- LinkedIn is not supported yet. Launch platforms are Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube only.
- It is rolling out gradually. Google is releasing it over several weeks, so the option may not be in your account today.
- Small accounts may see little at first. If your content gets very little Google traffic, the reports will be thin until that grows.
None of that makes it less useful. It just means you should treat it as what it is: a clean, free way to see whether the social content you already make is doing anything in Google, so you can stop guessing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I track Instagram or TikTok in Google Search Console?
Do I need a website to use Search Console platform properties?
Does connecting my social accounts to Search Console improve my rankings?
Which platforms are supported, and is LinkedIn coming?
How is this different from adding social links to my website's schema?
Stop guessing whether social is worth it. Now you can measure it.
For years, the honest answer to "is our social doing anything for the business" was a shrug. You could count likes, but likes are not customers, and none of it connected to how people actually find you on Google. Platform properties close that gap. For free, with no website, in about two minutes of setup.
So connect the accounts you already run, give it a few days, and read the Performance report like a scoreboard. Do more of what pulls people in from Search, drop what never surfaces, and add sameAs schema so Google ties it all to your brand. If you want a clear read on whether the rest of your Google presence is ready to catch that demand, start with the free audit.
