Average Position refers to the average rank at which a website’s ad or organic listing appears in search engine results over a specific time. It is calculated by averaging the ad's position or listing each time it appears for a user query. In SEO and PPC, this metric helps marketers understand visibility and ranking trends, though it's important to note that Google Ads officially retired the average position metric in 2019 in favor of more precise visibility metrics like impression share and top-of-page rate.
Applications in Digital Marketing and SEO:
- SEO Performance Tracking: In organic search, average position provides
insight into how well a page ranks for a target keyword or group of
keywords. - PPC Campaign Monitoring: Historically, average position helped advertisers
assess where their ads were showing (e.g., top of page vs. bottom),
influencing bid strategies. - Keyword Opportunity Analysis: Identifying keywords with an average position
just below page one (e.g., positions 11–15) allows for focused
optimization efforts to boost them into top visibility. - Content Strategy Alignment: Average position trends can help prioritize
content updates and technical SEO fixes for underperforming pages.
Examples:
- Elite SEO Consulting helped a home services client improve their average
position from 12.6 to 4.3 for high-converting keywords by optimizing
content structure, page speed, and internal linking. - In a competitive PPC campaign, a law firm previously used average position data
to adjust bidding and ad copy, ensuring their ads appeared in the top 3
positions before Google transitioned to new visibility metrics.