Massive difference at CTR between GSC and GA

[jediviper]

Hey guys,

I was comparing my CTR for a specific country between the data that I get from the GSC and the data from GA is totally different.
Like 8% vs 30%.
The same goes also for Impressions.

I thought that GA was reporting the data from the GSC directly. So why is there such a huge difference?

[JorgeV]

Hello-

I thought that GA was reporting the data from the GSC directly.

If so, you wouldn't need to insert the GA code on your pages. So different methods of tracking can cause different results.

Still it seems very big difference. Which is reporting the higher value? The GSC or GA ?

[jediviper]

GA has the bigger values

[RareBit]

I am trying to think of scenarios where you would see inflated CTR..is your GA tag working correctly in Tag Assistant? no recent changes?

I had similar issues recently but it was my live GA tag on my Dev site skewing the data

[Lexur]

Sorry for this basic question: are you talking about the same clicks and impressions?
GA measure it on your page while GSC measure it in the search results.

[brighteryeg]

I know there's some differences between how those tools actually measure impressions. Difference measurements in impressions would directly affect the ctr value - just one possibility.

[morevisibility.com...]

[jediviper]

At this morevisibility link I have noticed this part:
"You will notice a small difference, across all of the metrics. This shift will be exacerbated if your website shows up twice on the same search result page frequently.""

Can this create the huge difference? Because it's true that many times for the same kw, I see 1-2 different pages to rank.