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Conflicting average position data from Google Search Console?
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I'm looking at Google Search Console data in Google Analytics, specifically Average Position as given in the Landing Page report, and the same metric broken out by mobile and desktop in the Devices report.
In the Landing Page report, I see an aggregated average position that's much higher/worse than an actual average of what is reported for mobile, desktop and tablet traffic under the Device reporting.
For example:
- Mobile: 5
- Desktop: 5
- Tablet: 5
So the average still should be roughly 5, right? Why would the Landing Page then show an aggregate Average Position of 8? I wouldn't expect to see a precisely same average given that different device types have different proportions that could render differently when the buckets are combined, but this is a huge swing. In fact, the aggregate Average Position as given in the top level Devices report is closer to 5 than to the 8 shown in the Landing Pages report. (These aren't actual numbers, but are illustrative of what I'm seeing, by the way.) Unless I'm missing some vital difference in the way that Average Position is reporting for the Landing Page report versus the Device reports, it doesn't seem like this should be possible. What am I missing?
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Howdy.
So, here are my thoughts and findings.
The discrepancy starts in Google Search itself. So it's either algorithmical/calculational bug or there are other metrics used. And i'm inclined to believe the second version.
Here is my idea - they use sessions or clicks as a metric together with avg position. As far as I know they use this system in other metrics as well. So, here is data for our website, which checks out with all the reports:
I got a page https://www.regexseo.com/luxury-websites-houston.php and the avg position reported is 22. If i look at the breakdown, it's got 96% of traffic going to desktop and 22 avg position, 2% to mobile with 15 avg position and 0.05% tablet with 14 avg position.
So, the report checks out, if you think about it like this:
If to 96% of users your page is ranking #22, and to 2% of users it ranks in #15, wouldn't it make sense to say that on average your page is ranked #22.I guess it's more like a weighed avg position then pure avg position.
Hope it makes sense
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