If you've spent time in Google Search Console, you've probably hit the wall: 1,000 rows, no clean export, and a UI that makes it nearly impossible to slice data the way you actually need it. This guide focuses on one specific workflow — finding striking distance keywords — and shows how to pull the raw data directly into Google Sheets without touching a line of code.
The Problem: Your Best Opportunities Are Hidden Below Row 1,000
Striking distance keywords are queries where your pages rank in positions 5 through 15. They already have impressions — Google is showing your content — but the click-through rate is low because you're not on page one yet. A targeted content or metadata update on these pages often produces faster results than publishing something brand new.
The catch is in how the GSC interface actually works. It loads 1,000 rows of data, and any filtering you apply — by page, by query, by date range — runs client-side on that initial set. You're not filtering your full dataset; you're filtering a sample of it. For sites with real search volume, your best opportunities are systematically excluded before you even touch a filter.
This trips up a lot of people. It's one of the most common questions in the TechSEO community and a recurring thread in Google's own support forums. Google's own engineering team acknowledged the depth of data available through the API — but accessing it has always required technical setup that most SEOs don't have time for.
The GSC API removes that ceiling — up to 25,000 rows per request, with full query-to-page mapping and flexible filters. The only barrier has traditionally been the setup: OAuth flows, JSON request bodies, and manual copy-paste into a converter tool.
API Import eliminates that barrier entirely.
Setup: Connect Google Search Console in One Click
Open API Import from the Extensions menu in any Google Sheet, then select Google Search Console from the connector list.
You'll be prompted to sign in with the Google account that has owner or user permissions on your GSC property. API Import handles the OAuth handshake — no client IDs, no credentials file, no API console setup required.
Once connected, you're ready to query.
Execution: Pull Your Query Data with Plain English
In the API Import prompt field, describe what you want:
"Get the last 90 days of search performance data for my site, broken down by page and query, with clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position."
API Import handles all the technical translation automatically:
- Property format — detects whether to use
sc-domain:apiimport.comorhttps://www.apiimport.com/based on your connected property - Dimensions — maps "page and query" to the correct
["page", "query"]array - Row limit — sets
rowLimit: 25000, not the UI's 1,000
The result lands directly in your sheet, one row per page–query combination:
| Page | Query | Clicks | Impressions | CTR | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /blog/seo-guide | best seo tools | 12 | 4,200 | 0.29% | 7.4 |
| /pricing | api pricing comparison | 3 | 1,800 | 0.17% | 9.1 |
| /features | google sheets api connector | 8 | 990 | 0.81% | 6.2 |
No JSON to copy. No converter tool. No CSV import step.
Analysis: Building Your Striking Distance Hit List
With the data in Sheets, add a helper column to flag striking distance candidates:
=AND(F2>=5, F2<=15, E2<0.05, D2>500)
This flags any row where:
- Position is between 5 and 15
- CTR is below 5%
- Impressions are above 500 (enough search volume to matter)
Sort the filtered results by impressions descending. What you're left with is a prioritized list of pages that are already indexed, already getting shown, and already have an audience — they just need a nudge.
What to do with each row
Low CTR at position 5–8: The page is competitive but the title tag or meta description isn't compelling enough. Rewrite the <title> to match the exact query phrasing more closely. Test a number or a concrete outcome in the description.
Low CTR at position 9–15: The content may be a weak match for the query intent. Check whether the query is informational (how-to) while your page is promotional, or vice versa. A section addition or H2 restructure is often enough to move from page two to page one.
High impressions, zero clicks: The query is showing your page in featured snippets or image results. Look at the query — if it's a question, add a direct answer in the first paragraph beneath the relevant heading.
Keeping the Data Fresh
The real advantage of pulling GSC data into Sheets via API Import isn't the one-time export — it's that you can re-run the same prompt next week and compare. Paste the new data into a second tab, add a simple VLOOKUP to track position changes, and you have a lightweight rank-tracking setup with no additional tooling.
For sites with consistent search volume, running this monthly gives you a clear picture of which optimizations actually moved the needle — and which pages have slipped back into striking distance and need another pass.