Google has introduced the Query Groups feature within Search Console Insights, making search performance analysis much more understandable and strategic. Designed especially for websites with high query volume, this tool brings together search queries that share the same user intent under a single group. This allows content creators and SEO professionals to view user behavior in a more holistic and meaningful way.
Why Are Query Groups Important?
Users may search for the same thing in many different ways. For example, queries related to a recipe, a product, or a technical topic can vary widely due to differences in wording, question formats, or language preferences.
This variability caused several challenges in performance reports:
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Queries appeared scattered
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The main topic was not clearly visible
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Strategic content decisions became harder to make
With the introduction of Query Groups, this complexity is eliminated, and similar intents are grouped together, providing a much clearer overall view.
How Query Groups Support SEO Strategies?
Query Groups enable more accurate analysis in several key areas of content strategy:
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Identifying which topic groups are trending upward
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Understanding what information users truly need
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Detecting content gaps
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Making high-performing content clusters more visible
Instead of reviewing hundreds of individual queries, analyzing a “cluster of intent” saves time and supports stronger strategic decisions.
How Google Search Console Query Groups Work?
Google’s advanced AI models analyze different queries that reflect the same user intent and group them accordingly. This grouping remains accurate even when wording, language, spelling, or expression varies significantly.
For example, queries such as:
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“cleaning computer”
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“improve pc performance”
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“how to speed up laptop”
may all be grouped together because they address the same underlying need.
What You See in the Query Groups Report?
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Group Performance
You can view the total number of clicks for each group, making it easier to identify which topic areas drive the most traffic to your site.
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List of Queries Within the Group
Each group shows all the queries associated with that particular user intent, ranked by click performance. The query with the highest number of clicks appears at the top.
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Detailed View
When you click on a group, you can see:
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All queries within that group
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The specific pages those queries lead users to
This provides a deeper understanding of how search behavior connects to your content.
Query Groups Trend Tracking
Query Groups also categorizes groups to help you analyze trends:
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Top-performing
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Rising
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Declining
This makes it easier to identify growing content opportunities as well as topics losing traction.
Who Can Use Query Groups
Currently, the feature is visible only for websites with high query volume. This is because meaningful grouping requires a sufficient amount of data. For sites with low query volume, grouping would not produce reliable results. Therefore, the feature is being rolled out gradually to eligible websites.
Frequently Asked Questions About Query Groups
What do Query Groups do?
It groups search queries based on similar user intent, making it easier to understand the overall performance of a specific topic.
Why can’t smaller sites see this feature?
Because they don’t have enough query volume to produce meaningful groupings. As data volume increases, the feature becomes available.
How does Query Groups affect my SEO strategy?
It helps you clearly identify which content is gaining attention, simplifies content planning, and highlights new growth opportunities.
Can AI produce incorrect groupings?
Minor inaccuracies may occur, but overall, it is highly effective at detecting user intent. As Google continues improving these models, accuracy will increase over time.
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