When you look at the Google Webmaster for traffic they have the clicks, impressions, CTR, and position. The position is always a number with a decimal point? I would like to know what this means please can anyone help?
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Mitchguy
Premium Plus
Hi Susan,
The reason why it shows up as a decimal is because it is not an actual count like the number of clicks or the number of impressions (which are actual quantifiable events in and of themselves).
The average position value is based on how many times a keyword or keyword phrase has triggered your website to be listed in the search results combined with the position in which it appeared at in each of those individual search results.
For example: using a fictitious key word phrase "testing position average decimal point". When that key word phrase triggers a link to a page on your website it appears in the Google Search Results. Let's say that that key word phrase triggered impressions (listings of your website) as below in different Google searches:
keyword triggers your website in a search at position 24
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 38
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 16
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 22
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 7
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 19
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 27
The number that you would get as impressions would be 7. That is the number of times the keyword triggered your website to be listed as a result of a Google search.
The average position is a calculated value based on the position numbers of each individual search result. In this example, we would use 24, 38, 16, 22, 7, 19, 27 as the position values for each individual search result.
The final value shown as average position in Google Webmaster Tools, will be the average of these seven values or 21.9. To calculate the value, take the sum of the seven numbers that show the position your website appeared in the individual search results (gives you 153), then divide by the number of searches where your website appeared (7).
153 divided by 7 = 21.9 --> average position
The average position value in the Google Webmaster Tools shows both the average position for individual keywords or keyword phrases (shown as rows) as well as the grand total of all those keywords (the number in the box top right).
Hope this helps.
The reason why it shows up as a decimal is because it is not an actual count like the number of clicks or the number of impressions (which are actual quantifiable events in and of themselves).
The average position value is based on how many times a keyword or keyword phrase has triggered your website to be listed in the search results combined with the position in which it appeared at in each of those individual search results.
For example: using a fictitious key word phrase "testing position average decimal point". When that key word phrase triggers a link to a page on your website it appears in the Google Search Results. Let's say that that key word phrase triggered impressions (listings of your website) as below in different Google searches:
keyword triggers your website in a search at position 24
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 38
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 16
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 22
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 7
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 19
keyword triggers your website in another search at position 27
The number that you would get as impressions would be 7. That is the number of times the keyword triggered your website to be listed as a result of a Google search.
The average position is a calculated value based on the position numbers of each individual search result. In this example, we would use 24, 38, 16, 22, 7, 19, 27 as the position values for each individual search result.
The final value shown as average position in Google Webmaster Tools, will be the average of these seven values or 21.9. To calculate the value, take the sum of the seven numbers that show the position your website appeared in the individual search results (gives you 153), then divide by the number of searches where your website appeared (7).
153 divided by 7 = 21.9 --> average position
The average position value in the Google Webmaster Tools shows both the average position for individual keywords or keyword phrases (shown as rows) as well as the grand total of all those keywords (the number in the box top right).
Hope this helps.