URL Deep Dive

What is it?

URL Deep Dive runs the SEO Root Cause Analysis for one page. You pick a URL, and Prism shows its trend, funnel, hits and misses, the reason it moved, and the queries it ranks for.

Why use it?

• To understand why one important page gained or lost traffic.
• To see every Google search query that leads to that page.
• To check whether a page's change came from impressions, position or CTR.

Before you start

• Connect Search Console and GA4.
• Turn on Compare in the date picker, so Prism can compare two periods.
• Save a branded pattern to see the branded split. See Branded keywords.

How to use it

1. Open the tab

   In Advanced Analytics, click URL Deep Dive. You see Search for a URL above to start.

2. Search for the page

   Click the box and type part of the path, for example /blog/. The box shows Search N URLs — type part of a path, e.g. /blog/.

3. Pick the URL

   Click it in the list, or press Enter to pick the first match.

4. Read the report

   Scroll through the trend, funnel, Hits & Misses, Why this URL moved and Queries for this URL.

5. Pick another page

   Type in the box again (it now says Change URL (currently …)), or click Clear to start again.

Understanding the screen

URL picker

• The list includes every URL with data in this period or the prior period. The busiest URLs come first.
• Each row shows the URL, its category, and N sessions · N clicks.
• While loading: Loading URLs…
• Footer: Showing the top 50 — type more of the path to narrow it down.
• No match: No URL matches and your text.

The page you pick stays selected when you switch to another tab and back.

Header

The header shows:

• The URL.
• Open page ↗ — opens the live page in a new tab.
• A chip with the page's category and sub-category.
• Includes N Search Console versions of this page (anchor links, UTM-tagged links) — Prism groups these versions into one page. Hover to see the list.
• Clear — removes the URL.

Trend, funnel and Hits & Misses

These work the same as on the SEO Root Cause Analysis tab, but only for this URL. Read about the Organic Funnel and Hits & Misses. This tab does not have Why Analysis or the category table.

Why this URL moved

Which of Impressions, Position and CTR moved the same direction as this URL's Sessions — and whether Branded or Non-branded queries drove it.

• The big number is the change in sessions, such as -120 sessions, with the old and new sessions and the change in clicks next to it.
• With a branded pattern, a Driven by pill says Branded, Non-branded or Mixed.
• Below it, one sentence for each reason, such as "Average position slipped by 2.1 to 9.3." If no single reason fits, Prism says it is likely a mix of small shifts across many keywords.

Queries for this URL

Every search query this URL got impressions for, across all its versions.

• The top 25 queries come first, sorted by how much their clicks changed.
• Click Show all N queries to see them all, or Show fewer to go back.
• The list ends with a (not set) row: The (not set) row is the part of this URL's clicks and impressions Search Console doesn't attribute to any query, for privacy reasons. See (not set) explained.
• The download menu exports every query.

Example

For example, you pick /blog/seo-checklist/. Why this URL moved shows -120 sessions and the line "Average position slipped by 3.0 to 9.0." Driven by shows Non-branded. In Queries for this URL, the main non-branded query dropped from position 4 to position 9. Update the page's content to win back the rank.

Tips

• Start from URL Breakdown. Find a page in Biggest rank drops or Content decay radar, then open it here.
• Use Open page ↗ to check the live page while you read the report.

Common issues