What is Average Position?

How we calculate the average ranking of your tracked keywords

Average Position tells you where your tracked keywords rank in Google search results overall. But there's a catch: not all keywords are equally important. A keyword at position 5 that gets 1,000 impressions matters a lot more than a keyword at position 50 that gets 10 impressions. That's why we use an impression-weighted average instead of a simple average.

The formula

Average Position = sum(position × impressions) / sum(impressions)

Each keyword's position is weighted by how many impressions it receives. Keywords with more impressions pull the average more strongly toward their position. This gives you a realistic picture of where your site actually shows up in search results for the queries that matter.

Why weighted matters

Let's compare the two approaches with a simple example:

Example: Simple average vs. impression-weighted average
Keyword Position Impressions
"project management tools"51,000
"agile board software"15100
"kanban app reviews"5010

Simple average: (5 + 15 + 50) / 3 = 23.3

Impression-weighted: (5×1000 + 15×100 + 50×10) / (1000 + 100 + 10) = 7,000 / 1,110 = 6.3

The simple average of 23.3 makes it look like your site is buried on page 3. But the weighted average of 6.3 reflects reality much better: the vast majority of your search visibility comes from that position 5 keyword with 1,000 impressions. The position 50 keyword barely moves the needle.

This is the same method Google Search Console uses in its own reporting, so our numbers match what you see in GSC.

How to read position changes

The Dashboard shows how your Average Position has changed over 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days. Remember: lower is better because position 1 is the top result.

Arrows and colors: A green arrow pointing up means your average position improved (the number went down, closer to position 1). A red arrow pointing down means it worsened (the number went up, further from position 1). This can be counterintuitive at first, so just remember: green = good, red = bad.

What affects your average position?

Your average position can change for several reasons:

  • Ranking changes - keywords moving up or down in search results
  • Impression shifts - if a high-ranking keyword suddenly gets more impressions, it pulls the average up (better). If a low-ranking keyword gets more impressions, it pulls the average down
  • New keywords - adding or removing tracked keywords changes the pool

For keyword-level position tracking, head to the Keywords page where you can see the exact position and change history for each individual keyword.