Tuesday Tidbit: What's the difference between impressions, positions & clicks in Google Analytics

Since Google is an obvious front runner in almost all digital areas, it's easy to forget that Google Analytics is still defining how analytics works. Because Analytics is ever-evolving, there have been discrepancies in how marketers and analysts read certain numbers. Luckily, as always, Google has your back. They are answering questions on Google Search Analytics with a new, evolving document.

This morning, this help document was released by Google to help marketers better define their metrics. Google put it out there with the caveat that it will continue to be updated as algorithms and other Search features are updated. 

Which metrics were needing to be clarified? We'll walk you through 3 main points of which to be aware:

1. Impressions

What counts as an impression? Does a link only receive an impression when the user scrolls over the link or is it when the link is simply on the user's page of results? Google's answer: In the image below, the blue text will be counted as an impression for simply appearing in the results page, even if the viewer didn't necessarily view the text. The green text (the visible link) is not recorded as an impression. 

They also demonstrate that impressions are counted differently based on how you're viewing the data in your analytics account. If you are looking at impressions by site, that number will likely be less than the impressions by page. In this example "example.com" is one site, therefore impressions by site is one and impressions by page is seven.

2. Search Results Positions:

How do search result positions rank numerically when there are not only the list of results, but also the carousel images and ads along the side?

Google provided this image to help clarify:

3. Clicks:

Many answers around clicks can be found with this statement: "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." They also clarify that if one user leaves a page via a link click and then comes back and re-clicks that same link, it only counts as one click. 

Remember to keep checking back on Google's Search Console's Resource page for frequent updates on how this world works or to get further explanation for each of these answers. 

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