Google Search Analytics API Now Supports Hourly Data (With Code Samples)

Google has expanded the capabilities of its Search Analytics API, introducing support for hourly data access. This is a significant step toward real-time performance analysis for SEOs, developers, publishers, and data analysts. The move follows recent updates like the “24-hour view” in Search Console, which already provided data with only a few hours’ delay.

This hourly granularity is ideal for monitoring newly published content and tracking search trends more precisely.

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📌 What’s New?

Two key changes have been introduced to the API:

• New Dimension: "HOUR"
  You can now group your search performance data by hour.
• New dataState: "HOURLY_DATA"
  This tells the API to fetch hourly-level insights.

💡 Note: Hourly data might be partial for very recent dates.

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🧪 Sample API Request

Here’s a working example of how to structure your request for hourly data:

jsonCopyEdit{
  "startDate": "2025-04-07",
  "endDate": "2025-04-07",
  "dimensions": [
    "HOUR"
  ],
  "searchType": "web",
  "dataState": "HOURLY_DATA"
}

This request asks for hourly data for April 7, 2025, using the new dimension and the newly introduced dataState.

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📊 Sample API Response

The response returns data grouped by hour, with clicks, impressions, CTR, and position metrics. Example output:

jsonCopyEdit{
  "rows": [
    {
      "keys": [
        "2025-04-07T00:00-07:00"
      ],
      "clicks": 1710,
      "impressions": 157473,
      "ctr": 0.010860813415364,
      "position": 10.8784745809911
    },
    {
      "keys": [
        "2025-04-07T01:00-07:00"
      ],
      "clicks": 1822,
      "impressions": 162222,
      "ctr": 0.011236552775052,
      "position": 9.54668055272578
    },
    {
      "keys": [
        "2025-04-07T02:00-07:00"
      ],
      "clicks": 1186,
      "impressions": 145028,
      "ctr": 0.008178445917746,
      "position": 8.334050935466
    },
    {
      "keys": [
        "2025-04-07T03:00-07:00"
      ],
      "clicks": 1931,
      "impressions": 159276,
      "ctr": 0.011858255611212,
      "position": 8.49665319105588
    },
    {
      "keys": [
        "2025-04-07T04:00-07:00"
      ],
      "clicks": 2015,
      "impressions": 159545,
      "ctr": 0.012622591674064,
      "position": 6.49180319298403
    }
  ],
  "responseAggregationType": "byProperty"
}

This structure enables hour-by-hour performance breakdown — invaluable for real-time optimization, especially after publishing new content or during marketing campaigns.

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📈 Why Hourly Data Matters

With this update, SEOs and content teams can now:

• Monitor fresh content right after publishing.
• Identify hourly traffic spikes or drops.
• Compare same-hour trends across days of the week.
• Fine-tune content publishing time for maximum impact.

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🧠 Final Word

The Search Analytics API’s hourly data support opens new doors for responsive SEO and granular analytics. With simple adjustments to your API calls, you can now gain near real-time insights into user behavior and search visibility.

This change further aligns the API with modern content strategies that demand faster feedback loops and deeper behavioral patterns.

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For more, explore the Google Developer documentation or join the ongoing discussions in the Search Central Community.

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