Google Search Console Now Lets You Combine Mobile, Tablet and Desktop in the Performance Report

Google Search Console now offers multi-select for device types in its search results report, where you used to pick one. Dan Richardson raised it on X with a screenshot, and Barry Schwartz then confirmed he sees the option too. The original write-up, screenshot included, is on Search Engine Roundtable.

Search Console was previously known as Google Webmaster Tools. It's still the main place website owners check how their site appears in Google search through its Performance section. It shows clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR) and average position for the queries and pages that bring you search traffic.

The update to the Google Search Console Performance report

Until now, you could filter results by one type of screen at a time. You picked desktop, mobile or tablet, and every chart and table showed that one alone. Now you can tick two or all three, and the figures cover whatever you ticked.

Google gave the country filter the same multi-select option about a month earlier, and now this one has it too. The write-up gives no other information about the update, so treat this as a filter change and nothing more.

The trouble with one screen type at a time

Before this update, a combined view of two screen types meant exporting each one and merging the data yourself. Clicks and impressions add up easily, but CTR and position don't, because both need weighting first. It was easier to read the blended total instead, and that total hides the gaps you care about. With multi-select, the report now does that combining automatically.

UAE businesses and the new filter

The write-up doesn't mention any regional limit on the rollout, so UAE sites should see the same option. Open your own Google Search Console account and check the filter before you rework how your team tracks results.

The update matters most to businesses whose customers search on more than one kind of screen. A Dubai clinic might see patients find it on phones, while a real estate broker's buyers compare listings on a desktop at work. In-house marketers who track organic traffic each month get a cleaner split, without adding totals up in a spreadsheet.

If your site runs in Arabic and English and serves more than one Gulf market, consider pairing the new filter with the country one. Select the UAE and the other markets you serve, then tick the screen types that matter to your sales. You'll get one view of the audience you're trying to reach, instead of several exports.

Using the new filter, step by step

1. Sign in with your Google account and choose Search results under Performance in your property's left menu.

2. Add a new filter above the chart, pick the one that lists desktop, mobile and tablet, then tick each option you want.

3. Switch on every metric at the top so clicks and impressions sit beside CTR and position.

4. Open the Queries and Pages tabs to see which search queries and landing pages carry the combined traffic.

5. Use the date comparison to set the same period last year beside it, so seasonal swings don't mislead you.

You can still filter by query or by page on top of your screen selection. That allows you to check one service page across the screens you chose, without losing the rest of your settings. The Overview page gives a quick chart of clicks, but the filters live in the full Performance view, so start there.

Reading the combined data

A useful first split is mobile and tablet together against desktop on its own. Run the handheld view and note its click-through and position figures, then switch to desktop and note the same two. If a page ranks the same on both but earns fewer clicks on phones, check its snippet on a small screen.

Average position needs care in a combined view, because each impression counts towards it. Whichever group shows up more often pulls the figure towards its own ranking, so check each group alone before you act on it.

Impressions tell a different story. If desktop impressions hold steady while handheld ones fall, check that your key pages are mobile-friendly and load quickly on a phone. The Search appearance tab is worth a look too, since rich results and other features can display differently on phones.

With the handheld view on, sort the Queries tab by clicks and note the keywords at the top. Switch to desktop and do the same, then look for searches that rank well on one screen group and poorly on the other. Those gaps often point to content that needs work, like a key answer buried under a tall hero image on phones.

Every business groups its screens a little differently, so choose the split that fits how people reach you:

• If your clinic takes most bookings by phone, start with the mobile view, because that's where a call button gets tapped.

• A B2B supplier whose buyers research at their desks might pair desktop with tablet and treat phones as an early research channel.

• A property developer's buyers may browse on a phone and come back on a laptop to enquire. Track the same project pages in both groups so you see the whole path.

• An online shop could treat phones and tablets as one handheld audience and keep desktop apart. Product page clicks in each group then show where the shop's search traffic is coming from.

The Google Search Console reports to open next

This view tells you what happened on Google's results pages, and the reasons sit elsewhere. Google Search Console has other tools and reports for that, and the split tells you which ones to open first.

• The Core Web Vitals report gives mobile and desktop their own results for loading and user experience. It's the obvious next stop when handheld clicks drop.

• URL Inspection shows whether a page is in the Google index and how Googlebot rendered it. Use it when a single landing page loses clicks on a mobile device.

• The Indexing reports cover crawl errors and indexed pages, and the Crawl stats report sits under Settings. This update leaves both alone.

• Check your top pages by hand on a real phone, since a mobile usability check catches layout and content problems that numbers miss.

Search Console data stops at the click. By linking Search Console to your Google Analytics account, you can see what those visitors did next on phones and desktops. When phone visitors arrive but rarely enquire, the cause is more likely on the page than in search.

Search Console also covers Google's own results only. It can't show how often ChatGPT or other AI assistants mention your brand. That's a different measure, covered in our guide to AI search visibility.

Next steps for a Dubai business

Set aside some time this week to run the handheld and desktop views on your main service pages. Write down where each group stands now, so you have a baseline before your next site update. Then rework your monthly SEO report to show the screen groups that match how your customers buy. Feed what you find into your SEO strategy, so you resolve issues on the pages that lose the most phone clicks first.

Use the same views to monitor your site after each change, such as a new theme or a page rewrite. If you also run Google Ads, put its phone and desktop split beside this one. Paid and organic listings share the same small screen, so judge them together whether you work in-house or with a PPC agency in Dubai.

Google Search Console covers the search side of the story. The Adnika Dashboard: one live view of a client's ads, analytics and CRM data, with AI recommendations reviewed by the strategist. If you're an SEO client, it shows the other side of the click, from site visits in analytics to leads in the CRM. For help reading this data across a whole site, talk to our SEO agency in Dubai.