Average position has been a cornerstone metric in SEO reporting for years. It provides a simple, at-a-glance sense of where a site typically ranks in Google’s search results.
That sense is growing increasingly misleading as Google layers generative AI features, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, on top of traditional blue link results.
Search Console then counts all these placements under the same metric. This merging of disparate result types means average position can be decreased by low-impact features or artificially boosted by high-visibility…
