Year-over-year SEO analysis with Google Search Console data
If you want a true year-over-year (YoY) view of your SEO performance, native Google Search Console usually isn’t enough. Google Search Console only keeps up to 16 months of data, so you can’t reliably compare YoY unless you’ve extended your history somewhere else. In SEO Gets, that longer history comes from a Super Site, which enables extended storage for up to 5 years.
You need a Super Site to do true year-over-year analysis in SEO Gets. Super Sites enable extended storage, so you can keep enough history to compare the same period across different years.
Why true year-over-year analysis matters
Month-over-month changes can be useful, but they often hide the bigger picture. SEO traffic moves with seasonality, product launches, site changes, promotions, and algorithm updates. A year-over-year comparison helps you answer a simpler question: are you actually doing better than the same period last year?
That makes year-over-year analysis especially helpful when you want to:
Separate seasonal changes from real growth or decline
Measure the impact of a site migration or major SEO project
Spot content that’s losing performance compared with last year
Prove progress to clients or stakeholders with a cleaner baseline
What limits year-over-year analysis in Google Search Console
The main limitation is data retention. Google Search Console caps history at 16 months, which means you can only compare against the same period last year for a limited window. Once older data rolls off, that comparison disappears.
That’s why true year-over-year analysis requires extended storage. In SEO Gets, a Super Site stores up to 5 years of data, which gives you a much longer performance window to work with.
If you haven’t enabled this yet, start with What are Super Sites? or How to purchase Super Sites.
How to approach year-over-year analysis in SEO Gets
Make sure the site is set up as a Super Site. Without extended storage, you may not have enough history for a true year-over-year comparison.
Choose the same date range across both years. Compare like for like. If you’re reviewing January through March this year, use January through March from the previous year instead of a different time window.
Review trend data over time instead of looking at a single snapshot. Use the longer history in SEO Gets to see whether performance is growing, declining, or staying flat across the same period year over year.
Break the analysis down by page groups, topics, or site sections.This helps you find where the change is really happening. A site can look flat overall while one content group is growing and another is slipping.
Look for explanations before jumping to conclusions. Check whether the difference lines up with a migration, content update, technical issue, or seasonal pattern. A year-over-year drop is most useful when you can connect it to a real cause.
What to look for in a year-over-year comparison
Start with broad patterns, then narrow in.
Growth: Pages or groups that are outperforming the same period last year may show where your SEO work is compounding.
Decline: If performance is below last year’s baseline, you may be looking at decaying content, indexing issues, or lost rankings.
Flat performance: If numbers are steady year over year, that can still be a useful signal. It may mean the site is stable, or that newer wins are being offset by losses elsewhere.
Segment differences: Brand and non-brand patterns, topic clusters, or specific page sets can move very differently from the site average depending on numerous factors.
When comparing year-over-year performance, don't forget to consider external factors that can have an impact on businesses. Macro trends, new technology, viral products, and other non-direct causes can have a very direct impact on your performance. When analyzing, be sure to consider everything you do (and don't) control, so you can triage effectively and create an effective plan to counteract performance decline.
If you want to go deeper after the high-level comparison, How to group and track content performance can help you organize pages into cleaner segments, and How to detect decaying content before it’s too late can help you investigate drops.
When to use year-over-year analysis
YoY analysis is especially useful when you’re reviewing:
Seasonal businesses where month-to-month swings are normal
Site migrations and redesigns
Large content programs that need a longer trend line
Client reporting where steady, long-term growth is prioritized over a short-term spike
If you don’t have enough historical data yet
If the site wasn’t using extended storage during the period you want to compare, you won’t be able to create a true year-over-year view for that older range. In that case, the best next step is to enable a Super Site now so future comparisons are available.
You can learn more about what’s included in Super Site features.