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.
Conflicting average position data from Google Search Console?
-
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?
-
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
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
-
Google Trends Data Weird Since 1/1/2022
I am finding several instances of weird data drop offs on Google Trends at 1/1/2022. It seems like it's for data associated with a type/category as opposed to a search term. Here are some examples of "search interest" dropping suddenly off to next-to-nothing for prominent brands. Patagonia / clothing company Lands' End / clothing company Carhartt / workwear company Example screenshot.Capture.PNG Does anyone know what the cause of this is? Has Google stated anything directly about why the data suddenly changed so significantly?
Reporting & Analytics | | LivDetrick0 -
Whatstuffwherebot user agent messing up Google Analytics
Starting yesterday, Aug 26, 2020, I noticed a new bot crawling our site with user agent whatstuffwherebot. Google Analytics is counting these hits as human traffic, completely throwing off my numbers - yesterday, Analytics reported nearly triple my typical number of visitors. As of now, Search Console only shows data through Aug 25 so I don't know if Search Console is also affected. Is anybody else seeing something similar? Does anybody know what the whatstuffwherebot bot is? I don't get any results when I search on Google or Bing. For what it's worth, the traffic is coming from Columbus, OH, running over Amazon AWS via 278 different IP addresses so far. Also, WordFence (my WordPress security plugin) correctly identifies these hits as bot traffic.
Reporting & Analytics | | ahirai0 -
Tasks for Google Analytics training
Hi Mozzers, I'm delivering some Google Analytics (Fundamentals level) training, and trying to make it was fun and as interesting as possible... which is quite a challenge when it comes to GA. I was just wondering if you're aware of training tasks, or interactions, I could bring into this kind of training session? The group are particularly interested in user journeys and the effectiveness of content. Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | A_Q0 -
Tracking 301 redirect traffic in Google Analytics
if I 301 redirect www.mywebsite.com to go to www.yourwebsite.com, how can I track the traffic in Google Analytics that is coming from mywebsite.com?? I don't think that's a referral traffic, is it?
Reporting & Analytics | | Armen-SEO0 -
In Google Search Console: Total Clicks differ from the sum clicks on search queries
Hi.This may be a google technical question, but I've searched a lot and I couldn't find any certain information about that.The problem appears when you look at two stats in Search Console ( WebMasters Tools, some months ago), particulary in the Search Analysis.1- Total clicks2- Sum of clicks at every search query.I attached an image to make me clear.8IZsxs6.png
Reporting & Analytics | | NachoRetta2 -
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 -
How does switching to HTTPS effect Google Analytics?
We are looking at making our site HTTPS. We have been using the same Google Analytics account for years and I like having the historical data. All of our pages will be the same, we are just going to redirect from the http to https. Does anything need to be done with Google Analytics? What about other addons such as Optimizely, Crazy Egg, or Share this?
Reporting & Analytics | | EcommerceSite0 -
How can I track my rankings on Google Images?
I noticed a small amount of traffic coming from a particular very generic keyword. Being pleasantly surprised that we are ranking for this, and after some digging, I found that we are actually ranking in Google images, rather than in the web results. How can I track whether other keywords are ranking in Google images? I use Rank Checker to track keywords in the main web results, but this doesn't have a function for Google Images. Help please - thanks.
Reporting & Analytics | | TheJewelleryEd0