How to Make Sense of the Performance Review Report in Google Search Console
While Google Search Console's Overview provides plenty of information, opening up the Full Performance Report gives you a mountain of interesting data that you can use in your business marketing.
Last time we walked through the reports on the Overview page, but some of those summaries also have a “Full Report” button you can click on. Performance is one of those. The summary graph shows the number of clicks to your website and which days, but wait until you see what’s in the Full Report!
Click to open it and you’ll find a graph that compares Clicks to Impressions. “Impressions” are when a link to your site shows up on a search results page. “Clicks” is when they see the link to your site on the search results page and then click on it. Search results serve up a lot of pieces of your website in different ways so be aware that these calculations can be difficult to identify. Your main objective is simply continued improvement.
The Total Clicks number and the Total Impressions number are used to determine your Click Through Rate (CTR). Again, instead of wondering what a good CTR is or comparing your CTR to another business’s, just focus on improving your own Click Through Rate month over month.
Also on this chart is your Average Position. Back in the internet stone age, a business would strive to be Number One on Google. There is no such thing anymore because of the many and varied ways that search results are served to Users. You can be Number One is so many ways.
In addition to the regular search results, a link to your website could show up on a map, as an image, in the Popular Products section, and so on. Still, there is a hierarchy to the search results and some website will be positioned first in each category. Google notes where the links to your website fall in each group’s hierarchy and reports back an average position number.
If you want to learn more about how Google arrives at this number, (and want your eyes to glaze over) you can find a very detailed analysis online. For the rest of us, know that, although there is a ton of data collected and organized, the algorithms are both secret and fluid, so don’t obsess over your Average Position. Improvement remains your main goal.
The next report is where the really fun data can be found, but it deserves a fuller explanation and an article of its own so we’ll wait until next time.
Concerned that your Average Position and Click Through Rate are declining rather than improving? Sprocket Websites can help you identify problems and advise you on how to correct them. Just give us a call to talk it over.
Photo by Yan Krukau
Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
Other posts by Kate Gingold
Contact author
Full biography
Full biography
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
x
Linked In
Google Plus