Average position is the mean of the topmost position a site's result held each time it appeared in Google, weighted by impressions. It blends every device, location and day, so it rarely matches one live search. Lower is better: 1.0 means the top result every time, and a fall from 8 to 25 means fewer people see it.
What it doesn't do: It isn't a rank you can reproduce. It blends every device, place and day the result appeared, and it says nothing about clicks.
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Google's Performance report help defines the chart value as "the average position of the topmost result from your site". Each time the site appears, only its highest link counts, and those positions are averaged across impressions. Positions are counted from top to bottom on the main column of the page, then the side column (Google help).
A short example: three impressions at #3, #5 and #10 average to 6.0, a position the site never actually held.
Average position sits on each client's key figures and next to every search. Sample data: Copperline Gutters, a fictional business on a reserved .example domain. Average position on buyer searches improved from 34.8 to 24.6 over four weeks.
Report totals are added up per page, so impressions run higher, and average position a little worse, than Search Console's property view. The tile says "added up per page".
The weekly live rank check adds today's rank for up to 50 of each client's searches, so the average and a real results page can be read side by side.
In our own calibration run on three sites we operate (13 weeks to Oct 11, 2026, measured Oct 20, 2026), searches where a site was listed in the map pack or cited in an AI Overview showed Search Console positions near the top of the page, close to that feature's slot. A high average doesn't always mean a top organic link.
The first report builds from 13 weeks of Search Console history as soon as you connect. Start with 3 client sites.
Weekly search report · Copperline Gutters
Sep 14 – Oct 11, 2026 vs the 4 weeks before
Copperline Gutters got 27 clicks from named buyer searches in the last 4 weeks, up 23% from the 4 weeks before. Google hides the search terms behind 84% of all 289 search clicks. Rankings rose across the site: pages that steadily show up are up about 2.4 positions.