This may sound strange but there is a reason.
💡 The Avg. Position you see in Search Console is calculated as follows:
SUM(sum_position)/SUM(impressions) + 1 (for the URL table)
We know because that's what the BigQuery documentation for GSC states.
🤔 (sum_position = A zero-based number indicating the topmost position of this URL in the search results for the query. So 0 = first spot)
While this may not be of interest for an SEO, it is for an Analyst like me who needs to understand metrics 👀
This means that if impressions ⬆️, your Avg. Position ⬇️ which is ✅ because you rank higher!
Anyway, this isn't a good metric.
I dislike the Average Position because:
👉 it's an average, it needs a lot of context and proper aggregation
👉 the sitewide version (aka on the whole website) is absolute nonsense
👉 I just check the CTR lol
👾 So until now I've preferred the Pixel Ranking, which you can calculate via APIs like DataForSEO.
The idea is that you measure the position of a page based on its pixel height, aka how much vertical space it occupies.
Of course, if you don't want to spend money and it's something quick, use your GSC data.
With the new changes in search, this is what may happen though:
👉 a traditional "position" may not make much sense
👉 how Google calculates impressions may even get more chaotic
👉 using the CTR may not be a reliable option
But if you follow Seotistics, you already know Web Data is purely directional...
and all of this a nice extra for the business, not our main concern.
📩 Want to find out more about Pixel Ranking, BigQuery and all of that?
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