Why is my Google ranking position going down while impressions increase?
I'm trying to understand something I keep seeing in Google Search Console.
My impressions have been going up almost every day, but my average position has been getting worse. A few weeks ago I was around position 12–15. Now I'm seeing something closer to 20.
At first I thought Google was simply pushing my pages down, but then I noticed that my impressions were actually increasing quite a lot at the same time. So I'm confused.
If I'm ranking worse, why is Google showing my pages more often?
The only explanation I can think of is that I'm starting to appear for more keywords where I'm ranking much lower, which is pulling the average position down.
For example, maybe I used to get most of my impressions from a handful of keywords around position 10, and now I'm appearing for hundreds of additional searches around positions 30–60.
That would technically make the average position worse while the site's overall search visibility is improving.
But I'm not sure if that's actually how Search Console calculates it. Has anyone here watched this happen with a relatively new website? Did your average position fall while impressions increased, and did the position eventually recover as Google gathered more data and your pages moved higher?
I'm trying to figure out whether this is normal growth or something I should actually investigate.
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Your explanation is right, and Google's own help documentation for the report backs it up. The average position metric is defined as the average of the topmost position your site holds across all the queries it appears for — an average over everything, not just your best queries. So when your pages start surfacing for lots of new searches where they rank low, every one of those adds impressions while also dragging the average down. More appearances at lower positions is exactly what produces the pattern in your chart.
The one thing the site-wide chart can't tell you is whether this is new queries joining the mix or your old queries slipping. The real check is inside the report itself: switch the table dimension to Queries and compare impressions against position per query. If the growth is coming from queries you've never appeared for before, sitting well below your old positions, then it's expansion rather than a demotion.
One more angle worth noting: if those new queries skew long-tail or question-style, that often means your content is starting to match a wider spread of search intent, which is usually good news wearing a scary-looking metric.
Are the queries driving your impression growth ones you recognize from before, or mostly new ones you haven't seen?
This actually reminds me of something I worked with during my ML internship 😭 I think the new queries might be the key here.
If you're suddenly getting impressions for a bunch of queries where you rank much lower, they can pull the overall average position down even if your original top queries haven't really moved.
I'd probably check the older top queries separately and see if their positions actually changed. If they didn't, then the drop might look worse than it actually is.
Thanks Samiya, i gave claude this same export and claude said the same thing i am ranking for much lower keywords coupled with the fact that my site is just 3month old and i am starting to cover more indepth articles where claude detects possible low hanging fruit keywords and it starting to yield results thanks for your piece man i appreciate
i am glad it helped 😭 and btw not a man 😂 but good luck with the site, sounds like you're already figuring it out!
Hi Floris
Your situation is actually quite common. Increasing impressions with a lower average position does not necessarily mean your rankings are getting worse. Google may be showing your pages for many new keywords at lower positions, which brings down the overall average.
From an engineering perspective, I can help investigate the technical side, including website performance, indexing, site structure, internal linking, and crawlability. By analyzing your Google Search Console data, we can identify whether this is normal growth or an actual ranking issue.
I would be interested in helping improve the website's technical SEO and search performance.
Thanks this pretty beautiful do you do one on one consultation or you have an auditing website where i can audit to see this errors, besides i have started using claude as my co-pilot anf it doing pretty much for me fixing, auditing, detecting and creating articles to outrank
I went through the exact same panic with one of my sites lol. Your theory is actually right, when Google starts showing you for way more searches (even random long tail ones you're not optimized for) it pulls your average down because now you've got a ton of queries sitting at position 40+ instead of just your solid position 10 ones. It looks scary on the graph but it's honestly a sign the site is gaining traction. Mine did this for almost 6 weeks before things started climbing back up. Just don't obsess over the average, look at your actual target keywords individually.
Thanks man SEO is super crazy but yield good results i hope one day i get to position 1
Yeah this happened to me too. New pages start ranking for tons of long tail stuff around position 40-60 before they settle, which drags your average down even though visibility is actually growing. Give it 4-6 weeks, it usually corrects itself once Google figures out where your pages belong.
Thanks Glen am sure keeping an eye on the chart see you in 6 weeks
Hey Floris! Yes, maybe you've changed your website or published some new content and you're now appearing for a broader set of keywords. It might also be worth checking whether search volumes for your keywords have increased. This wouldn't necessarily change your ranking but it would increase your impressions.
Thanks OJ my site is just 3 month old and i think am panicking way too much but am going one step at a time now playing by the SEO game whatever it takes buddy thanks for the piece.