One of my favorite Chrome extensions is the Ahrefs SEO Toolbar. Click it on any page and you get a quick read on how that page is doing in search — domain rating, backlinks, keywords, traffic, the works. It's been a staple for a long time.
But here's where it starts to fall short: we're now optimizing pages for the prompts people are actually typing into AI tools, and a lot of those prompts simply aren't in Ahrefs' keyword database yet. That's especially true for pages we've just published or just re-optimized. So the tool that used to be the fastest gut-check on "how's this page doing" gets a lot less reliable right when we need it most — on our newest, most AI-focused work.
So Claude and I built something to fill that gap.
What It Is
GSC Metrics Sidebar is a Chrome extension that shows you real Google Search Console data for whatever page you're on, right in your browser — no tabs to Search Console, no exporting, no digging through property lists. If it's a domain you have GSC access to, you get the numbers instantly.
View it in the Chrome Web Store →
What You Actually Get
Open the sidebar on any page and it pulls up:
- Clicks and impressions for the last 28 days
- CTR and average position for the page
- Top queries driving traffic to that page, each with its own clicks and position — hover a row and you'll see that keyword's individual CTR and impressions too
Because this is pulled straight from Search Console, it doesn't matter whether the page went live yesterday or five years ago, or whether the queries it's ranking for are obscure, brand-new, or prompt-style phrasing Ahrefs hasn't indexed yet. If Google has data on it, you'll see it.
How to Install It
- Open the GSC Metrics Sidebar listing in the Chrome Web Store.
- Click Add to Chrome.
- Click the extension icon to open the sidebar, then click Sign in with Google and connect the Google account tied to our Search Console access.
- Navigate to any page on a domain you have GSC access to, and the sidebar populates automatically with that page's metrics.
That's it. No extra setup, no config.
Watch my full walkthrough of the install and a live demo of the sidebar in action!
Try It Out
Grab it, install it, and start clicking around on client pages you're already working on. If anything looks off or you think of a feature that would make this more useful, send it my way — happy to keep improving it.
One more thing: this is exactly the kind of gap tools like Ahrefs can't close on their own right now — real performance data on the AI-driven queries our AI Search Services are built around. If you're needing a clearer read on how your content is actually showing up in AI search, reach out.
