For many marketers and business owners, the “Average Position” metric in Google Search Console (GSC) seems like an easy way to measure SEO progress. A lower number looks better. A higher number looks worse. Simple, right?
Not quite.
In practice, this metric can be highly deceptive and lead you to draw the wrong conclusions—especially when viewed without context. Let’s break down why that happens, using two practical examples from real SEO agency work.
Case 1: When Your Site Is Growing, but the Average Position Looks Worse
Let’s say your website initially ranks for 10 keywords, all on the first page of Google. Some keywords are in position 1, some in position 2, and some in positions 9 or 10. The average position is around 5.
Then you start expanding your content, adding new relevant topics and optimizing for more keywords. Over the next month or two, your site begins to appear for 20 additional search queries. These are new terms for which your site had no prior visibility. Naturally, Google starts ranking your pages for these new terms somewhere on the second or third page—positions 21, 25, 30, and so on.
At the same time, your original 10 keywords maintain or even improve their positions (e.g., a keyword that was in position 10 is now in position 7).
Despite this growth, your overall average position across all 30 keywords is now 17.
At first glance, this looks like a drop in performance. But the reality is quite different—your site is expanding its presence in search results, gaining visibility across more terms, and building a foundation for future traffic. This is a sign of progress, not decline.
Case 2: When Your Site Is Losing Ground, but the Average Position Improves
Now let’s look at the opposite scenario.
Your site previously ranked for 50 keywords, with an average position of 24. Some keywords were in the top 10, others on page 4 or beyond.
Then something happens—Google stops ranking your site for 30 of those keywords. Maybe the content lost relevance, or there was a technical issue, or algorithm changes impacted your visibility. You’re now left with just 20 keywords, and the average position for those is 14.
On the surface, it looks like progress. The average position improved from 24 to 14.
But in reality, your keyword footprint has been reduced by 60 percent. You’ve lost visibility for many queries, and even the remaining 20 may not be delivering more traffic. Your overall search presence and potential for clicks have decreased. The average position number got better, but the business result got worse.
Why Does This Happen?
Google Search Console calculates average position based on all the search queries for which your site appeared in search results. It doesn’t weigh keywords by importance, search volume, or number of impressions. It simply averages the position across all queries.
This leads to misleading results when:
- You start ranking for many new keywords with lower positions
- You stop ranking for less relevant or low-performing keywords
- You improve or lose positions for a small group of terms, while others fluctuate
As a result, the average position metric tends to obscure what’s really happening in your SEO performance.
How to Measure Real SEO Progress Instead
Rather than relying solely on average position, use a more comprehensive approach. Focus on:
- Position changes for high-impact keywords
- Growth in the total number of keywords your site ranks for
- Trends in impressions and clicks over time
- Segmenting by content type (e.g., commercial pages, blog posts, categories)
- Comparing individual keyword positions month over month
Also, consider using filters in GSC to isolate branded vs. non-branded keywords, or to focus only on queries with significant impressions or clicks.
If your average position drops but impressions and clicks go up, that’s a strong indicator of growing visibility. If the average position improves but clicks drop, you may be losing traction on valuable terms.
Conclusion
The average position metric in Google Search Console is not inherently bad—but it is easily misunderstood. On its own, it rarely tells the full story.
SEO performance should always be evaluated in context. Look beyond the averages. Focus on the actual business outcomes: visibility, traffic, and conversions.
A better-looking number doesn’t always mean better results.
If you want a clearer picture of your SEO efforts, pay attention to the movements that matter—where you’re gaining traction, where you’re losing it, and how that affects real user behavior.
Leave a Comment