This page helps explain impressions, position values, and click data in the Search Analytics report.

What is an impression?

A link URL records an impression when it appears in a search result for a user. Whether or not the link must actually be scrolled into view or otherwise visible depends on the type of search element that contains the link, as described later.

For example, here is a very basic search result that includes only one link: the title "The Compleat Guide to Daffodils - Example.com".

The URL pointed to by this link records an impression when the user opens the page containing this result (even if the result is not scrolled into view). Note that the visible link URL below the title is not a hyperlink and so it is not recorded as impression. (Also note that the visible URL is not necessarily the same as the hyperlink URL of the title).

Aggregating data by site vs by page

If a single search element contains several links (as many do), impressions are counted by URL or by site, depending on your view in the Search Analytics report. For example, here is a Knowledge Graph card with several image and text links:

If you look at the Search Analytics report with data grouped by site, only one impression is counted in total for the entire card: 

• www.example.com - 1 impression

However, if you look at the report with data grouped by page, you would see five pages with one impression each:

• www.example.com - 1 impression
• www.example.com/rain - 1 impression
• www.example.com/rainbow - 1 impression
• www.example.com/shamrock - 1 impression
• www.example.com/lightning - 1 impression

Although some of these pages have multiple links, all impressions for the same page are combined into a single impression when grouping data by page.

See element-specific details for additional behavior.

What is search result position?

The Google Search results page is composed of many search result elements. Search result elements include blue link sections, carousels, featured snippets, Knowledge Graph cards, and many other types of result features. A single search result element can include text, interactive features, and one or more links.

Most of search result elements have a numeric position value describing their position on the page.The following desktop diagram shows a search results page with four blue link sections (1, 3, 4, 5), an AMP carousel (2), and a Knowledge Panel card (6). Position for each is calculated from top to bottom on the primary side of the page, then top to bottom on the secondary side of the page (in right-to-left languages, the right side is the primary side), as shown here:

All links within a single element have the same position. For example, in the previous diagram, all items in the AMP carousel have position 2; all links in the "blue link" block at position 5 have position 5; all links in the knowledge card have position 6, and so on.

The location of the result elements on the page can vary depending on the device type, search features, and the screen size, but the general rule is the same: position is calculated top to bottom, left to right (or right to left for RTL languages). Note that this method of calculation might change in the future.

What counts as a position placeholder?

Only elements containing at least one non-query-refinement link count as a position; elements that have no links, or have only query refinement links, do not occupy a position. For example, a carousel of van Gogh paintings (which point to new Google searches) are not counted as position placeholders, and their presence does not affect the position value of elements below them on the page. If a non-positional carousel had appeared in the example above above the AMP page carousel (at position 2), it would not affect the position values anywhere on the page.

On the other hand, some image thumbnails in the main search page do (eventually) lead to a web page (perhaps after an extra click to expand it), and so count as a position placeholder. For example, a featured snippet has a link to the source site, and so it (typically) occupies position 1. Note that ads do not occupy a search position.

What does position value mean on the Search Analytics report?

The position value shown in the Search Analytics report is the position of the topmost link to your site or page in search results, averaged across all queries in which your site appeared. So, for example:

1. If one query returned your site at positions 2, 4, and 6, its position is counted as 2 (the topmost position).
2. If a second query returned your site at positions 3, 5, and 9, its position is counted as 3 (the topmost position).
3. The average position across these two queries is (2 + 3)/2 = 2.5.

A link must get an impression for its position to be recorded. If a result does not get an impression—for example, if the result is on page 3 of search results, but the user only views page 1—then its position is not recorded for that query. In some report configurations you might see a dash (-) for the position value. This means that there is no recorded position because the user never saw your site for that query. For example, if you compare desktop and mobile results for a page that has 10 impressions on desktop but none on mobile, you'd see 10 for desktop and - for mobile.

What does the position value mean for my site?

The position value is a complex metric that can be misleading if you don't understand the subtleties. For example, in the previous diagram, the Knowledge Graph card in position 6 has the largest value on the page, which might seem bad, but in fact it appears in a very prominent position. Furthermore, in image search, the number of results shown per row and page depends on the width of the screen and other factors, so the position describes only very roughly how far down the image appeared.

For example, here are just a few possible explanations of a position value 11 for an element:

• In a desktop search, it could mean the top right side position in a Knowledge Graph card
• In a desktop search, it could mean first item on page 2 (if the first page had nothing on the secondary side)
• In desktop image results, it could mean the second or third row of results (visible without scrolling)
• On mobile, it could mean the sixth row of results (visible only with scrolling)

As you can see, a position number can mean different things in different situations, and so you should not make simple assumptions. We recommend that you monitor change in position over time, particularly sudden position changes, as well as absolute position.

What is a click?

For most result types, any click that sends the user to a page outside of Google Search is counted as a click, and clicking a link that stays inside search results is not counted as a click. See What is a query refinement? for more information.

Clicking a search result to an outside page, returning, then clicking the same link again counts as only one click. Clicking a different link counts as a click for each link clicked.

Some types of search results can count clicks differently; read the search element type click details.

What URL is my search analytics data assigned to?

Clicks, impressions, and position are assigned to the URL to which the user is directed by Google Search. In some cases, this might not be the URL displayed visibly in the search result. For example, if a site hosts a page at example.com/mypage for desktops and m.example.com/mypage for mobile devices (perhaps indicated by a rel=”alternate” tag), the search result on a mobile device might show example.com, but the link target would be m.example.com. In this case, Search Console would assign the impression and click to m.example.com/mypage (the actual target).

If the target page redirects the user to another page, that has no effect on the URL assigned the impression or click.

Search result element details

Clicks, impressions, and position count can have subtle differences depending on the result element type, as described here.

Carousel

Carousels are scrolling containers (typically horizontally scrolling) that contain a set of items of the same type, such as image thumbnails or AMP pages.

Click: Behavior depends on the contained item type.

Impression: An item must be scrolled into view in the carousel to register an impression. The carousel itself need not be scrolled into view in the current page.

Position: A carousel occupies a single position in search results, and all items in the carousel are assigned that same position. However, a carousel occupies a search position only if the contained element type can occupy a search position: for example, a carousel of AMP pages has a position because AMP pages can have a position, but a carousel of links to refined Google queries would not occupy a search position, because such links cannot occupy a search position.

URL: The carousel itself has no URL; data is assigned to the URLs of the contained elements.

AMP page

An AMP page can appear as a standard result link or in summarized format inside a carousel. Clicking a summarized AMP page in a carousel opens the full AMP page in a special AMP viewer. Users can page through full AMP pages in this viewer in the order in which they are hosted in the carousel.

Click: Clicking a summarized AMP page in the carousel (opening the page) counts as a click. Viewing a full AMP page in the AMP viewer counts as both a click and an impression; therefore, if you have the AMP viewer open and page through it, a click (and impression) is counted for each page the first (and only the first) time you see it.

Impression: An impression for an AMP page is counted when the AMP page is visible either in the carousel in search results or in the full-page AMP viewer. An impression is counted only once no matter how many times the user sees the page in either the carousel or in the viewer. If a search result link points to the AMP page as a simple "blue link" result (not in a carousel), that is also counted as an impression.

Position: The position is the position of the containing search result element (the carousel, the blue link group, and so on). The position within a carousel is not noted.

URL: The URL reported is the URL of the AMP page.

Featured snippet

A featured snippet displays information extracted from a single, specific web page. It includes a link to the source web page.

Click: Clicking the link to the external page in the featured snippet counts as a click.

Impression: Standard impression rules apply.

Position: Standard position rules apply.

URL: The final URL to which the user is redirected when clicking the link in the featured snippet.

Rich result

Rich results are defined using structured data and can be displayed in a variety of ways in Google Search results.

Click: Clicking a link in a result that takes the user outside of search results counts as a click.

Impression: Standard impression rules apply.. 

Position: Standard position rules apply.

URL: The URL of the page containing the rich card structured markup.

List/Details rich results

Some rich result types have two search result views: a list view and a details view. The initial search result is a list containing the top results, with minimal information about each. The user can either expand the list to show more list items, or click a specific result in the list to open a details view with more information about the selected item.

In desktop results, expanding the list automatically opens the details view of first item in the list. This is counts as an impression, but not a click, on the first list item.

Here is an mobile device example showing the initial short list view and a details view for a specific job posting.

List/detail result types

You can filter the Performance report to show List view or Details view data for a given rich result type (for example, Job listing, Job details, Event listing, Event details).

The following rich result types are shown as list/detail items in search results:

• Job posting
• Event

List view data

Click: Clicking an item in list view counts as a click for the provider shown in the list item.

Impression: An impression is counted when a list item is visible in the short list view, and also when the list view is expanded, whether or not the item is actually scrolled into view. Therefore, if an item is visible in the short view and the user then clicks to expand the list, two impressions are counted. If the item were not visible in the short view, and the user clicks to expand the list, only one impression is counted.

Position: When a list item is viewed in the short list view, all visible items are assigned a single position (the position of the list view container). When the list is expanded and scrollable, each item is assigned its position within the list, where the top item is 1, the second item is 2, and so on. Therefore, if an item is in position 2 in the short list and the user clicks to expand the list, the listing item's position is calculated like this:

(List container position (usually 1) + position within the list (2)) / 2 = 1.5.

URL: The URL of the provider shown. Only one provider is shown in list view for each list item.

Details view data

Click: Clicking a details item counts as a click for the provider selected in the details view. The details view can show multiple providers, but the user must choose only one.

Impression: All providers shown in the details view get an impression, no matter how the user got to the details view. A details view can be opened in the following ways:

• By clicking a list item
• Following a direct link to a details view (for example, someone shares the link with them). This can cause your impressions to be higher than your clicks.

Position: For a details view, the position is always 1.

URL: The URL of the selected provider.

Examples

Here are some example scenarios, for a job posting rich result:

Example 1: Job listing visible in short list view in position 2.

Actions: User clicks to expand the list, clicks on the job listing to see details, then clicks the job details view to visit the provider page.

• Job listing:
  • Impressions: 2 (1 from minimized list, 1 from expanded list)
  • Clicks: 1 (click to open job details).
  • Position: 1.5 ((1 for short list view + 2 for position in expanded list) / 2) = 1.5)
• Job details:
  • Impressions: 1
  • Clicks: 1
  • Position: 1

Example 2: Job listing not visible in minimized list (position 5).

Actions: User clicks to expand the list, clicks the job listing to see details, does not click to visit page.

• Job listing:
  • Impressions: 2 (1 from minimized list, 1 from expanded list)
  • Clicks: 1 (to open job details)
  • Position: 5 (position in the expanded list)
• Job details:
  • Impressions: 1
  • Clicks: 0
  • Position: 1

Example 3: A job listing not visible in minimized list (position 10)

Actions: user clicks to expand list, does not scroll down to see job listing.

• Job listing:
  • Impressions: 1
  • Clicks: 0
  • Position: 10 for the expanded list, even though not scrolled into view
• Job details:
  • Impressions: 0
  • Clicks: 0
  • Position: none

App install link

When a user searches on a mobile device, if the result includes an app page for an app that isn't on the device, the user may see a link to install the app on the device (and results that point to pages in the app will be omitted from results).

Click: Clicking the link to the install location counts as a click. This does not guarantee that the user actually completed installation of the app.

Impression: Standard impression rules apply.

Position: Standard position rules apply.

URL: The URL associated with an app install link is the root URI of the device (without the app:// prefix), which is "/".

Image

Image results can appear as embedded thumbnails in the combined search results page or inline in the image search results page. In the combined search results page they sometimes appear in a carousel of images.

In search analytics data, an image is simply a link to the URL of the host page. This means that Search Console doesn't distinguish between different images on the same page; all are considered identical links as far as clicks, impressions, and position are concerned.

An image can appear in both web and image search results. Search Analytics records data for each search type separately; it does not combine the data across search types.

Click: Clicks to expand a thumbnail image are not counted as clicks. Clicks on expanded images, or any image clicks that navigate the user out of Google Search, are counted as a click.

Impression: Impressions are counted when the user sees either the thumbnail or expanded image. An impression is counted only once per host page URL, so if a user scrolls away and returns, or expands a thumbnail into a large image, it is counted as a single impression. Only a single impression is recorded per URL; if a query shows multiple different images from the same page, only one impression is recorded. When an impression is recorded depends on the search view that the user has open:

• Combined results tab - In the default search results page, which combines results of all types, image impressions are counted whether or not the image is scrolled into view in the browser window; however, if an image is inside a carousel on this (or any) page, it must be scrolled into view within the carousel for an impression to be counted.
• Image search tab - Image impressions are counted only when the image has been scrolled into view.

Position: Standard position rules apply.

• Position in the combined results tab is calculated using the standard position rules, where a block of images occupies the same position.
• Position in image search results is counted left to right, then top to bottom, (or right to left for right-to-left languages). For example, English language image results in a left-to-right page would count positions this way:

In the image search results page, a wider screen shows more results per row. Because the number of images per row varies depending on the screen size as well as each image's width, it can be hard to judge the exact meaning of a position value in image search results.

URL: The URL is the URL of the image host page.

 

Google Play Instant

An Google Play Instant result is an app that appears in Google Search results on mobile that can be run directly from Search results without first being installed on the device.

Click: The user clicked on an Google Play Instant result.

Impression: When an Google Play Instant result is shown for the user.

Position: Standard position rules apply.

URL:  The app link specified for your Instant App.

Web Light Result

A Web Light result is a page that was transcoded to a simpler and faster version by Google Search for users on slower connections or devices.

Click: The user clicked to open a transcoded page result.

Impression: The user saw a search result for a transcoded page.

Position: Standard position rules apply.

URL: The URL of the original page on the web.

Media Actions

A Media Action result enables a user to initiate playback of audio or video content directly from search results. (Podcast results are not counted as media action results.)

Click: The user clicked to begin playback on a browser or application.

Impression: The user saw a search result for a transcoded page.

Position: Standard position rules apply.

URL: The Action.url value, which is the URL of the page or application opened when the user clicks the result.

* Nguồn: Google Search Console