Average Position

Average position is a Search Console metric that reports where your site appeared in Google results. For each query or page it takes the topmost position a link to your property occupied, where 1 is the top, and averages those values. It describes the best place your result held, not the place every visitor saw.

What it is and where the boundary lies

Google defines the position in the Performance report as the topmost position occupied by a link to your property or page, averaged. If a site shows at positions 2, 4 and 6 for one query, that query counts as 2. If it shows at 3, 5 and 9 for another, that query counts as 3. The average of 2 and 3 is 2.5. Google also warns that the position a person actually sees can differ because of search history, location and device.

How it differs from similar terms

Term	What it describes	Source of the value
Average position	topmost position, averaged	Search Console Performance report
Rank in a tracker	a position for one fixed query, place and device	a rank-tracking tool
CTR	clicks divided by impressions	Search Console
SERP	the whole results page	Google Search

Why it matters

Position gives a rough sense of visibility: a result near the top is easier to notice than one far down. It also helps to pick queries worth working on, as in striking-distance keywords. But it is one input among several: clicks and impressions are what the report counts as outcomes.

Property versus page: the number changes

Grouping decides what “topmost” means. By property, the topmost position of any page of your site is reported. By page, the topmost position of that specific page is reported. Google’s example has three URLs of one site in results for a query and one user clicking all three: by property the position is 1 and CTR is 100 percent; by page the average position is (1 + 2 + 3) ÷ 3 = 2 and CTR is 33 percent for each URL. Grouping by property generally gives higher CTR and position values when several pages of the site appear.

How to read it correctly

1. Note the grouping first: by query, by page, or both.
2. Look at impressions next: a position based on a few impressions is unstable.
3. Compare two equal periods with the same filters before saying a position moved.
4. Read position together with CTR and clicks, not alone.
5. Remember that a total over many queries mixes very different positions.

Practical example

Common mistakes

• Reading it as the exact rank: it is an average of topmost positions.
• Judging a page by the site-wide figure: property and page groupings give different values.
• Trusting a position with few impressions: a handful of impressions moves it easily.
• Assuming a better position always brings more clicks: check CTR and the result’s title.
• Comparing it with a rank tracker: they measure different things.

How to validate the result

Choose the same length of time before and after a change, apply the same filters and compare position, impressions, clicks and CTR together. If you need the position for one query in one place, check it in a live search or a tracker and treat the Search Console value as a different measurement.

More questions

Is lower or higher better?

Lower numbers are better: 1 is the topmost result.

Why does my position differ from what I see?

Google says the position a person sees can differ because of search history, location and device.

What is a good average position?

Google gives no threshold. Judge it with clicks, CTR and the queries involved.

Next practical step

Open the Performance report, group by page, and compare the page-level position with the site-wide one. The lesson on CTR and average position walks through a worked example.

Related concepts

• CTR — clicks divided by impressions.
• Google Search Console — where the metric is reported.
• Striking-distance keywords — queries chosen by position band.
• SERP — the results page the position refers to.

Sources

• Search Console metrics definitions
• Data aggregation in Search Console