Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
New GSC Search Analytics report: position mixes web and image
-
Dear all,
I am auditing a site in Google Seach Console (GSC, formerly Google Webmaster Tools) and find the Position data in the new Search Analytics report very, very improbable.
I suspect that even if you filter by "SearchType = web", the Position data does count the ranking of images in the Image search widget as a search position.
Has anybody observed this as well?
Here is the case: the site targets a quite broad search query in the bath room domain. I have made a number of searches with private browser sessions, different browsers, alternative IP address via a VPN, etc, and the look of the search result in the relevant geographical market is consistently the following.
- Three Adwords ads
- #1 organic result
- Images universal results widget
- #2-10 organic results
The site’s first page ranks consistently around #15 of the organic results, hence on the second SERP. But it also consistently has an image in the Images universal results widget (usually #2 or #3).
This is consistent with the data I have in Moz Analytics.
Yet, the GSC Search Analytics report shows 2.2 as average position with the default SearchType=Web setting.
I have done the search over and over, and never has a PAGE of the site ranked that high.
Is there any public information how exactly the position is calculated? I mean, something more precise than the very general information on https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6155685?hl=en
Is there any way to get the correct position/ranking?
Thanks for sharing your experience!
-
Thanks for your observations!
That'd be a really biggy, wouldn't it, if the Position data was really biased by Image boxes?
Did you find any statement by Google on this topic?
Schöne Grüße nach Berlin
Frank
-
When I compare image and web, I can see that image searchers aren't counted as web searchers.
When I check positions, I can see that some search querries of one of my sites are at positions 1.1 to 1.9 based on web and 3.1 to 45.4 based on image search. Thats working - as long as it is picture search vs. web search. And as long as the search querry has no image-box.Now your question - I checked another side wich has a lot of rankings in image boxes in web search. And I think you are right:
- Search Console is telling me I am on the web at postion 1.1
- When I Google it, my picture is the first one in a picture box at the top of the Results.
- Than there is a website (wich is not mine)
- And finally I am on Positon 2 (Picture Box, other Website, my Website)
- the same with a lot of querries. Google is here counting my image result (first result) in a picture box @ web search.
Tried to find some clients - found one. A search result he simply couldn't have with his website. But he had - it was a picture somewhere in the middle of the SERPs. I also saw that google seems to count each image as one result.
So finally you are right. If you have a Picture somewhere in an Image Box (wich is displayed in a Web Search) is a Web Search Position in Google Search Console.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Paid traffic or "Paid Search" is not showing in my Google Analytics
Hi, I have two campaigns running in Google Adwords or Google Ads now and I saw in Google Ads account that I had 5 clicks today (09/18/2018) but when I try to search for this clicks in my Google Analytics in ACQUISITION > All Traffic > Channels I don't find nothing about "Paid Search" or something like that. Bellow is a picture of my Google Analytics account to prove it. The accounts are linked and I can find the 2 campaigns in the Analytics. How can I interpret this picture? Where the paid traffic is showing? or not showing there? Thanks Leandro uvAtrsg
Reporting & Analytics | | lmoraes0 -
Google Search Console (new GWT) - Does a language specific sub folder need its own GSC profile
HI I've got a clients site set which targets 3 language/countries: English via the main site on the domain.com Turkish via a Turkish language site on a subfolder domain.com/tr/ And German via domain.de The devs have set up .com and .de in GSC and is reporting data in both However there's no data in the domain/com/tr GSC profile ! Is that because its on a subfolder so data pertaining to it is being reported in the main domain.com GSC account ? Or does something more need to be done to set up the Turkish subfolder in GSC ? If so what ? All Best Dan
Reporting & Analytics | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
% Change - Google analytics - how to calculate?
Hi All,
Reporting & Analytics | | JohnPalmer
I have two dates with two different numbers I want to calculate the "% Change" like google analytics, The numbers of June 2015 - 127,931 sessions
The numbers of June 2014 - 90914 sessions please tell me what is the %Change. Best. J0 -
Google Analytics Real Time Not Working! :(
Hello Everyone, Today, the real time feature in my google analytics stopped working. I am able to see that traffic is visiting my site, but not in real time. The real time count is usually at 0. But, there are some instances where real time will come back online, but there will be only 1 unique visitor. At any given time, our website usually has 20 visitors or so..Has anyone encountered this issue? Where should i start looking for fixes? What are the possible problems? Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | KarlMarxTheBear0 -
Comparing % Change, Google Analytics
Hey Mozzers, Is there a simple way to compare the "% Change" in traffic when comparing two separate time periods in a single Google Analytics report? When comparing data from two separate time periods, an exported CSV doesn't include the % Change (booo!), and there's no option to sort by % Change within the GA report, essentially forcing you to scroll through all the results to pinpoint the major movers and shakers. I'm not averse to using spreadsheets to sort this data, but I'm thinking that I'd likely need a macro to make this work, something like this. However, none of the macros on that page are working (possibly because they were designed for a previous version of Analytics). All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | dangaul0 -
Setting up Google Analytics default URL
If someone has set: the default url in Google Analytics to a non-www address (http://mysite.com) then placed the UA tracking script from that GA account within the CMS framework of the website... ... and then set the permanent 301 redirect in the htaccess file to redirect to the www address (http://www.mysite.com). How less accurrate will my GA analytics measurements be considering the default url within GA is non-www and the permanent 301 redirect in htacess is to the www-address? Anyone know how reliable GA reports are until the default url in GA analytics is changed to match what is the redirected url in htaccess file? _Cindy
Reporting & Analytics | | CeCeBar0 -
Should you get a new Google Analytics account if your site has a new domain after a site redesign/new development?
We recently developed a new site for a client and they have opted to move forward with a domain change. Should we create a new Google Analytics account for the new site?
Reporting & Analytics | | TheOceanAgency0 -
How do shortened links show up in Google Analytics?
Hey, How do shortened links show up in GA? So if I tweet about something and use bitly, does twitter get the referral? I am thinking not. I have never seen bitly show up as a referrer, but we gets lots of clicks from those links. Hmmmm. Anyone? E
Reporting & Analytics | | ErinTM0