Four metrics in one example
In plain English: Visibility creates an opportunity; clicks show which opportunities led to visits.
If a page records 1,000 impressions and 30 clicks, its CTR is 3% because 30 ÷ 1,000 × 100 = 3. That is arithmetic, not a judgement about whether the result performed well.
- 1,000 impressions
- 30 clicks
- 3% CTR
What counts
In plain English: Google applies result-specific rules before recording an impression or click.
An impression generally means an eligible link or search feature pointing to the property was seen under the relevant result rules. A click generally means someone selected a result leading away from Google to the site.
Most performance data is credited to Google's selected canonical URL, which can differ from the URL a visitor ultimately opens.
Average position is not a fixed rank
In plain English: It averages the topmost recorded position across impressions.
A result can appear in different positions for different queries, devices, countries, locations and users. An average of 8 does not mean everyone always saw the page at number eight.
Track trends for a carefully filtered page or query instead of refreshing a personal search and treating it as the report result.
Keep in mind: Google recommends focusing more on click and impression trends than position alone.
Filters change the question
In plain English: A total for the property and a row for one page are different aggregations.
Apply query, page, country, device, search appearance and date filters deliberately. Compare similar periods and note preliminary recent data. CTR and position can change simply because the mix of queries or devices changed.
- Page + device filter: mobile performance for one URL
- Query + country filter: one search term in one market