BIG NEWS: Google just connected SEO and social media – here’s what to do with it!

Google has just made social media measurable in Search…and it’s huge. For the first time ever, brands and creators can connect their Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube accounts directly to Google Search Console. For the first time, businesses can start seeing how social content contributes to Google Search visibility: which posts are being found, which keywords are driving people there, and how social channels fit into the wider search journey.

Read this blog to find out:

• Google is bringing social content into Search Console reporting
• You’ll be able to see the keywords driving traffic to your TikToks, Instagram posts, YouTube videos and X content
• Why keyword data for social content is such a big deal
• SEO and social teams need to plan together, not work in separate silos
• Why businesses should start planning content around customer discovery

via GIPHY

This isn’t just another Search Console update

Google has introduced a brand-new property type inside Search Console called ‘Platform Properties’.

For years we’ve measured channels independently:

• SEO team → website
• Social team → engagement
• PPC → conversions

Each team has its own dashboard. Its own KPIs. Its own reports. That’s how marketing has been organised for years. Customers, however, have never cared about any of that. They discover brands wherever works best for them. Sometimes that’s Google Search. Sometimes it’s TikTok. Sometimes it’s Instagram. Sometimes it’s YouTube.

On the surface, Platform Properties is a reporting feature. But this is bigger, it feels like Google officially recognising that customers don’t just discover brands through websites anymore. They discover them through TikToks, Instagram Reels, YouTube videos and social content that increasingly appears in search results. Search is no longer just about your website. It’s about your brand appearing in the places their audiences are active.

For the first time, brands and creators can now connect and verify their Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube accounts inside Search Console – allowing Google to show how that content performs across Google Search and Discover.

Once connected, businesses and creators can see:

• Total clicks and impressions from Google Search
• The search queries driving people to their social content
• Which posts are performing best
• Performance trends over time
• Exportable reporting data

One of the most interesting parts of the announcement is what it says about how Google views your brand.

Essentially, Google is saying that even though you don’t own Instagram.com, TikTok.com, YouTube.com or X.com, and your social content doesn’t live on your website, it still contributes to your brand and how you appear in Search.

That’s a significant shift. Historically, Search Console has only measured assets you directly own, such as your website, subdomains and apps. Now, Google is officially giving businesses the tools to measure and optimise how their social content performs in Search too.

To us, this feels like Search Console evolving from a website reporting tool into a brand visibility platform, recognising that your search presence extends far beyond your own website.

Google has positioned the feature for creators too, meaning influencers and content creators can verify their own accounts. This could also make creator partnerships easier to measure. If influencer or partner content appears in Google Search, brands may have a clearer way to understand whether that content is contributing to discovery, not just social engagement.

Keyword data for social content changes everything

The feature that’s likely to generate the most excitement is the introduction of keyword-level reporting. Search Console now shows the exact search queries that are driving people to your social media content. That might not sound revolutionary to SEO professionals, but for social teams it’s something they’ve never really had access to before.

Previously, understanding how social content was being discovered through search was a much more manual process, we had to look across individual platform analytics and third-party tools to piece together the bigger picture. Now, Search Console brings that insight into one place.

Also, instead of relying solely on engagement metrics, marketers can now understand why people are finding particular pieces of content and which searches are creating that visibility, which changes how content gets planned. SEO teams can identify search demand and emerging topics and social teams can create content around those opportunities. Successful videos can uncover new keyword opportunities for the website, while SEO insights can shape future social campaigns. Rather than SEO and social working from different datasets, they’re finally looking at the same customer behaviour.

If Google is combining search and social…why are businesses still working in silos?

via GIPHY

This update raises a much bigger question than simply “how do we report on social?”

If Google now considers your website, your Instagram, your TikTok and your YouTube channel to be part of the same Search ecosystem…why are so many businesses still organising their marketing teams in silos?

Traditionally, SEO teams have focused on rankings and website traffic, social teams have focused on engagement and reach and paid teams have focused on conversions. Each team measures success differently, even though they’re ultimately working towards the same objective; helping people discover the brand.

We are absolutely not suggesting one person should suddenly become responsible for SEO, social and paid, but teams should work together much more closely together by building one shared understanding of how customers discover your business.

What businesses should do next

Whilst Platform Properties is still rolling out, there are a few practical things every business should be thinking about.

1. Connect your social accounts as soon as the feature becomes available

The sooner your Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube accounts are verified, the sooner you’ll start building valuable performance data.

2. Don’t just look at this as another dashboard to check every month

Use the data to understand how customers are actually discovering your brand. Which searches are driving people to your videos? Which topics perform well across both your website and your social channels? Where are the gaps?

3. Bring your SEO and social teams closer together

Search demand shouldn’t live exclusively with SEO. Audience insight shouldn’t live exclusively with social. Both teams should be contributing towards a shared understanding of customer discovery.

4. Start planning content around discovery

Rather than building separate SEO and social content plans, start looking at where they overlap. Search demand should shape social content, and successful social content should inform your wider SEO strategy. The brands that think in terms of customer discovery rather than individual platforms are likely to get the most value from this update.

5. Think human-first rather than platform-first

For years, marketers have optimised individual channels because that’s how businesses have been structured; SEO focused on search rankings, social focused on engagement, paid focused on conversions. But, customers don’t care which channel they discover you on, they search wherever works best for them. Seeing what drives them to your content helps you understand their behaviour, thought processes, opinions and problems – which means you can create the content that matches it.

The takeaway

For anyone who’s been trying to explain why social media should be part of a search strategy, this update feels like a very welcome nod from the Google gods.
Social content isn’t just “brand awareness” anymore. It can influence how people find your business through Search, and now there’s a clearer way to measure that impact.

The real opportunity is what happens next: SEO and social teams working from the same data, planning around the same audience behaviour, and proving the value of content beyond likes, reach and engagement.

Google has made the connection more visible. Now businesses need to act on it.