Google Analytics - Average Position
-
Hi
Just trying to get some clarity on Google Analytics Average Positions in "Aquistions/Search Engine Optimisation".
For a very competitive keyword Google Analytics is saying i am on average position of 6. Is this Page 6? I am assuming position six would be 1.6?
-
There are a lot of factors that can influence where a page may rank for a given query. One of the largest differences would be a query that seems to have local intent. If I search 'pizza', there's a good chance I don't care about the history of pizza. I want a pizza place near me.
So if we skip over the map pack, I see Pizza Hut, Domino's and Andy's. There's no way Andy's should rank #3 organic for 'pizza' for everyone in the United States. It only has three locations in my home town. So it might rank... maybe 403 for everyone outside of my hometown (just for the sake of argument, and ease of calculation). Perhaps it ranks a little higher for someone just outside the city limits... let's say... #8 organic. But that #8 doesn't matter. It's the highest and the lowest rank.
3+403=406/2=203 So the average position for 'pizza' is #203. If you drop that number in front of Andy after paying you for months, he won't be happy. That's why you'll have to tell Andy that it's a high/low average based upon a complicated algorithm, and that he can easily see he ranks #3 organic when Google knows your approximate location.
As for the average position you see above all of the queries in Google Analytics, that's just an X-bar-bar. X-bar-bar is the average of averages. You simply add up all the average positions and divide by the number of keywords. You'll see the number is pretty close.
It helps if you have a little background in statistics or statistical process control. In case that was clear as mud, here's something on basic SPC that can help you better understand the calculations in GA. I was a machinist, prior to all this internet marketing nonsense. It helps.
Edit: One thing I forgot to mention: If an average position still seems off - set the secondary dimension to Country. I've found instances where sites show up for queries in foreign countries. This is despite explicit national targeting in Google Search Console.
-
This is the Average Position for your Search Impressions.
Example: Locally, you got 500 impressions at average position of 6.0. Nationally, you got 0 impressions at 122. It would report 500 impressions at an average position of 6.0.
-
What you've put makes sense, and I understand what google are showing now. but the calculation doesn't make much sense.
Great Answer thank you.
-
Hi,
I'm not agree with Lawrence on this . Calculation of Average position in Google search console under 'Search analytics' tab or in "Aquistions/Search Engine Optimisation" is complicated. Google changes definition in 2012 and Here is how Google explains it:
Let’s say Nick searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 3, 6, and 12. Jane also searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 5 and 9. Previously, we would have averaged all these positions together and shown an Average Position of 7. Going forward, we’ll only average the highest position your site appeared in for each search (3 for Nick’s search and 5 for Jane’s search), for an Average Position of 4.
Please also check this thread @ http://searchengineland.com/google-changes-definition-of-average-search-ranking-position-109289
Hope this helps
Thanks
-
thought so... but I think it's wrong in Google as we're no way competing nationally or local for the said keyword.
-
No, pos. 6 is the sixth position on the first page.
Page six would generally be 61-70 depending on the type of SERP
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
-
Why isn't my google analytics working on a subdomain?
I have a website with Google Analytics which works fine. I tried adding the code to a subdomain using http://www.verticalrail.com/kb/filter-in-google-analytics-to-track-subdomains/ as a guide. There is no data showing up though. Any ideas?
Reporting & Analytics | | EcommerceSite0 -
Google Analytics global page empty
Hello, I don't know what happened with my Google Analytics initial page. For around a week I have there all my websites, but they show no results on global page. If I enter on any property I can see everything as normal, just not on the initial page. Screenshot: http://imgur.com/JKFVIh4 For sure I changed anything that I shouldn't. Perhaps you know what's wrong? Thank you in advance.
Reporting & Analytics | | prozis0 -
Universal Analytics & Google Tag Manager - Track URLs that include hashes
Does anyone have any experience tracking URLs that include hashes (#) using Universal Analytics and Google Tag Manager? Can it be done using GTM's container for UA, using the "more settings" options? Or building another tag to work with the GTM UA container? The fallback I'm considering is implementing the UA code in GTM for every page as Custom HTML with the "ga('send', 'pageview', location.pathname + location.search + location.hash);" solution, rather than GTM's specialized UA tag. I'm not yet sure what problems may arise from that, if any. Thanks in advance.
Reporting & Analytics | | 352inc0 -
Google Analytics Events that lead to Goals (conversions)
Hello! I'm in the process of setting up Events in Google Analytics to track the performance of banner ads on our site. While that will take care of the action performed by the visitor (i.e. the click on the banner), it doesn't tell me if the visitor ultimately completed the form where the banner ad directs them (which is set up as one of out site's Goals). Once the Event is in place, will I be able to track the Goal conversions that it leads to? It's nice that Events will tell me which banner drove someone to the form, but if I'm not able to see if that Event led to a Goal conversion it seems like something will be missing. So, is this something that's already available within Goals or Events reporting, or is there an additional step I need to take? Thanks in advance for your feedback! Erik
Reporting & Analytics | | SmileMoreSEO0 -
Google Analytics: Okay to change domain?
So, we are a long time user of GA and we're planning a domain change.
Reporting & Analytics | | jmueller0823
Does anyone know if I can 'change the domain' in GA so we don't lose our past data?
Thanks!0 -
Google Analytics Site Search to new sub-domain
Hi Mozzers, I'm setting up Google's Site Search on a website. However this isn't for search terms, this will be for people filling in a form and using the POST action to land on a results page. This is similar to what is outlined at http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1012264 ('<a class="zippy zippy-collapse">Setting Up Site Search for POST-Based Search Engines').</a> However my approach is different as my results appear on a sub-domain of the top level domain. Eg.. user is on www.domain.com/page.php user fills in form submits user gets taken to results.domain.com/results.php The issue is with the suggested code provided by Google as copied below.. Firstly, I don't use query strings on my results page so I would have to create an artificial page which shouldn't be a problem. But what I don't know is how the tracking will work across a sub-domain without the _gaq.push(['_setDomainName', '.domain.com']); code. Can this be added in? Can I also add Custom Variables? Does anyone have experience of using Site Search across a sub-domain perhaps to track quote form values? Many thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | panini0 -
Cross domain tracking setup in Google Analytics
I really need help on this, I can't figure it out. I need to track a few subdomains and and couple of seperate domains in one profile in Google Analytics. So I have: www.maindomain.co.uk sub1.maindomain.co.uk sub2.maindomain.co.uk www.anotherdomain.co.uk So the code I have placed on all of these domains is as following: I have then set up seperate profiles which filter out the data by domain. E.g. for sub1.maindomain.co.uk, I have user the fitler: Custom filter > Include > Filter Field = Hostname > Filter Pattern = sub1.maindomain.co.uk For the www.anotherdomain.co.uk, I have used the same filter. Now this all seems to be tracking visits and unique visitors okay, but I always have a very low pageview count, less than visits and sometimes zero. Could anyone shed any light on what I am doing wrong? Thanks in advance mozzers.
Reporting & Analytics | | MirandaP0 -
How can I verify if someone is Google Analytics certified?
I am looking to hire an IC to help with analytics. I need to know how I can verify if they are GA certified. They gave me a link to a http://www.starttest.com profile. Is that legit?
Reporting & Analytics | | inhouseseo0