Definition

Average position is the impression-weighted average of the highest position a site's link occupied in Google Search results, calculated across all impressions in the selected time range.

Search Console records the topmost position of any result from the site on each viewed page and then averages those positions across impressions. Positions are counted left-to-right and top-to-bottom across the visible search layout, including SERP features. A change in average position can reflect genuine ranking movement or a shift in the mix of queries that triggered the page's impressions.

Examples

• Single-query view

  A page appears at position 3 for 100 of the week's impressions and position 5 for another 100 impressions. Its average position for the week is 4.

• Query mix shift

  A page's average position drops from 8 to 14 after it starts ranking for a large set of new long-tail queries where it sits on page 2. The drop reflects the new query mix, not a loss in existing rankings.

Sources

• Search Console Help — Performance report (Position)

Related terms

• Impressions
  In Google Search Console, the number of times a link to a site appeared in Google Search results for a user, regardless of whether the user clicked it.
• Click-Through Rate
  The percentage of search impressions that resulted in a click. CTR = clicks ÷ impressions × 100.
• SERP
  The page a search engine returns in response to a query, including the list of results and any features such as ads, knowledge panels and rich snippets.
• Organic Search
  Search results that aren't paid for by an advertiser, ranked by the search engine's algorithm based on relevance to the query.
• Keyword Research
  The process of identifying the search terms people use to find information, products, or services related to a given topic.

Where QueryCatch uses this

• Google Search Performance
• Keyword Research