Google Search Console Definitions

Google Search Console Definitions

Google tracks these metrics for you:

• Impression
• Clicks
• Position

And allows you to view these metrics over time, as well as broken down by keyword, page, or even device (mobile vs desktop for example). Google Search Console also allows you to see which of your pages Google has crawled and is showing in Google search results (and if any are excluded) as well as a host of technical errors Google may run into when crawling your site.

What are impressions?

Google defines impressions as such:

The number of times any URL from your site appeared in search results viewed by a user, not including paid Google Ads search impressions.

Some people make a mistake when it comes to impressions by thinking it is the number of times their website has been seen in Google search results, but that is not quite the case.

If you rank 10th on Google that puts you at the bottom of page 1, whether or not someone scrolls down all the way, you will earn an impression for ranking 10th. As far as Google Search Console is concerned, ranking 10th is just as good as 1st, as they will earn the same number of impressions.

What are clicks?

Clicks are a bit more straightforward. They measure how many clicks you are getting from Google search results (excluding any clicks on ads).

Frustratingly enough, clicks may not perfectly match up with the data you see in Google Analytics. This is impart due to other influencers such as a Google Local Listing.

What is position?

Position is another crucial metric to track for your SEO strategy. Google defines average position as such:

The average ranking of your website URLs for the keyword or keywords. For example, if your site’s URL appeared at position 3 for one keyword and position 7 for another keyword, the average position would be (3+7)/2 = 5.

Position correlates to rank, when you view your position in Google Search Console it shows an average for that period.