What does each number tell you?
Search Console helps you understand how people find your site in Google's search results. GA4 helps you understand what your setup records after people arrive, such as opening a pricing page or sending an inquiry. Google recommends clicks and sessions as the closest comparison, while explaining that their totals won't match exactly.
Use the reports together to ask two questions: are people clicking through from search, and what do recorded visitors do on the site? Keep the metric names beside your numbers so you can explain which question each one answers.
Sources: Google Search Central: comparing Search Console and Analytics
First, narrow both reports to Google search traffic
In Search Console, select your website and open Performance > Search results. Choose Search type: Web and a complete date range. Check for country, device, page, or query filters you didn't mean to apply. Start with the Total clicks figure above the chart.
In GA4, open Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. Use the same dates and choose Session source / medium in the table's first-column menu. Find the exact google / organic row and read Sessions. Source means where the visit came from; medium means the type of traffic. Here, organic means unpaid search.
Don't compare Search Console clicks with all website sessions. That GA4 total also includes other sources, such as email and paid ads. Organic Search alone is broader than Google, too: it can include other search engines. If Traffic acquisition is missing, ask an Editor or Administrator to add it to your navigation.
This is the closest starting comparison, rather than an exact match. Search Console separates Web, Image, and other search types differently from GA4. Keep the chosen search type in your notes.
Sources: Search Console: report controls and Total clicks · Google Analytics: Traffic acquisition and google / organic · Google Search Central: differences in traffic breakdowns
Check when each day starts and whether the data is ready
Search Console's daily reporting uses Pacific Time. GA4 uses your property's chosen timezone. If yours uses Madrid time, the same visit can fall on different calendar dates in the two tools. Note both timezones; selecting identical dates doesn't make their day boundaries identical.
For a first comparison, choose a complete week that ended several days ago. GA4 processing can take 24–48 hours, and figures can change while that happens. Search Console can also show preliminary data, marked with a dotted line. Wait for complete figures before investigating a recent gap.
Sources: Google Search Central: timezone differences · Google Analytics: data freshness · Search Console: preliminary data
Check whether Analytics could record the visit
GA4 relies on a tag, the code that sends website activity to Analytics. A missing tag on a landing page can leave a gap even when Search Console records clicks to that page. A landing page is the first page someone opens during a visit.
Consent matters too. In basic consent mode, Google tags stay blocked when someone doesn't consent, so that visit won't send Analytics data through those tags. Ask whoever maintains tracking which setup you use. Respect the visitor's choice; matching report totals isn't a reason to bypass it.
Sources: Google Search Central: missing tags and measurement differences · Google Analytics: basic consent mode
Check page addresses before comparing individual pages
Search Console usually assigns clicks to Google's chosen canonical URL: the address it treats as the main version of a page. GA4 can record activity at other addresses where your tag runs. If several addresses show the same content, a row-by-row comparison can mislead you.
For example, suppose /services/ and /services/?offer=autumn show the same page. Check which address Google treats as canonical before expecting each address to have matching figures in both tools. That's a made-up example, not a finding about your website.
Sources: Search Console: canonical URLs and click assignment
What should you do with the remaining difference?
Suppose a complete week shows 100 Search Console clicks and 75 GA4 google / organic sessions. These are hypothetical numbers. The difference is 25, but you can't call that 25 lost visitors or a 25% consent rejection rate. You're subtracting different measures, and the totals don't identify the cause.
Keep a short note of your dates, timezones, filters, and both totals. Repeat the comparison next week. If the gap changes sharply, check when it began and whether it affects particular pages or devices. Ask your developer to check recent tag, consent-banner, or website changes. Treat those as possible explanations to test.
Once you've checked the comparison, return to your business question. If you want more inquiries from search, check completed inquiries from recorded Google organic visits and try the form yourself. Making two totals equal won't tell you whether the form works.