New Feature in WMT's Top Query Report

[wwconnect]

I just noticed that Google's WMT shows new data in the Search Queries area. They now show % change for Impressions, Clicks and CTR. It also shows change in average position. I'm assuming this is month over month?

Are other people seeing this?

This is my first time posting but I've been a frequent reader since a month or two before Mayday.

[AnkitMaheshwari]

< moved from another location >

Since today morning I am seeing a new addition in WMT's top query report. It has now started to show a change percentage against Impressions, Clicks, CTR and Average Ranking Position. This is really a good feature and would be helpful in analysis (if not buggy)

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 4:09 am (utc) on Oct 5, 2010]

[Robert Charlton]

This is my first time posting but I've been a frequent reader since a month or two before Mayday.

wwconnect - Welcome to WebmasterWorld and thanks for the post. You picked a very interesting time to start reading here.

This is really a good feature and would be helpful in analysis (if not buggy)

Ankit - Perhaps to be double-checked against other analytics data. Please report back on how buggy (or not buggy) it is.

[BlazenWeb]

Yes I'm also seeing this as of this morning, a great development.

[wwconnect]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld and thanks for the post.

Thanks Robert.

We started seeing some bizarre behavior on Google in one of our competitive niches in March and my investigation lead me to WebMasterWorld.

[Lost_Adonis]

noted... now how to take most advantage of this information...?

[loner]

"noted... now how to take most advantage of this information...?"

You would have to have some control, and that's not happening, but you can watch them dance.

[aakk9999]

Well, in the same time it seems they have disabled the calendar going more than 5 weeks in the past - anything past 5 weeks is unclickable.

I know it used to work as some time ago I have compared last two months of data but now you cannot.

[yaix2]

Not only percentage changes. The [+] sign next to each keyword is gone. Now with a click on a keyword it shows a seperate page with much better query details.

Great!

[dickbaker]

It's going to take a lot of work to figure out which phrases are valuable, which are not, and how to use the data. With thousands of phrases in my query report, it will be time consuming to sort through them.

It's a great feature, though.

[SEOPTI]

Nice one, but I can't research all the 175k long tail search queries for this month :)

[nickreynolds]

Interesting and hopefully helpful when i've got my head round it.
Trying to work out the percentage change and what it actually means - ie change compared to what? - the only reference I can find is that its the change compared to the "previous period". Anyone found out what the previous period is? ie if i'm looking at five days of data is it comparing with the previous 5 days or the previous month?

[ispy]

None of our listing are in the positions or even pages it says they are. I guess the they could have changed, but on all of them? Personalized search is off.

The data is completely different from what analytics is saying. I don't know how much this new feature is helping me.

[Reno]

For a real eye opener, do not use the default under "Top Queries" (which is "All" / "All Countries") ~ instead, view the stats when you fine tune those 2 drop down menus. I am only interested for now in "Web" / United States", and for me at least it presents a very different picture. As other have said, now I must determine how to use that information to help improve my position & visitor count.

.......................

[iNET_SEO]

Just about none of the stats I am seeing are correct. Positions are wrong, some of them hugely (like 100+ positions)...

Would love a little more info on what we are actually seeing here.

[aakk9999]

Well, what I have concluded is that when calculating average position, google takes into account ALL your pages that were shown for the query. So for example, if you have an entry in position 2 on page 1, and another (different) URL shows on position 14 (page 2), AND there were three impressions (two for page 1, one for page 2), then it seems that the average position would be calculated as (2+2+14) / 3 = 6

So in reality you need to "drill down" on the data and only look at URLs that you know rank well for the query and then calculate the avg. position yourself.

Another point - if you are listed in Local search, and also (lets say) as #5 on page 1, then this will count as 2 impressions, one on position 1 (local search) and one as a position 5, with the average being 3.

Of course, personalised results muddy the field, the fact that you have personalised switched off when checking means nothing as what it counts is whether the searcher has his own personalised search on.

[John_Lee]

to hell with WMT as it's nth is rightly shown..the top search queries are not right..only thing that seems right is the links, inbound or outbound....and yes i'm currently seeing what u are mentioning here.

but say if we do not use WMT or any other program to see our site's performance, it saves time...instead of seeing WMT, write good stuffs, quality stuffs, USER-FRIENDLY stuffs on your site..and in no-time u'll get amazed...hard work pays off!..=]