Trend Engine: AI-Powered News & Trends

Here’s why:

𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 ≠ 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥: GSC’s “Average Position” isn’t a fixed rank… it’s an aggregate of all searches over time.

If one user saw you at 2 and another at 8, GSC might show an average like 5.0.

That number blurs reality. You never actually sat at 5; it’s just maths. Real rank trackers show you the exact position at a given time.

No averaging fuzziness.

𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐏 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐤𝐞𝐰 𝐈𝐭: GSC counts all search features as “positions.”

If your page shows in a local 3-pack or a Featured Snippet, Search Console might report you at Position 1… even if your actual organic listing was lower.

So your site might average at 1.1 because of a maps listing, while the organic result sits around 8th.

GSC basically treats a fancy box (maps, AI answer, PAA, etc.) as taking up a rank slot.

Rank trackers, on the other hand, let you see true organic rank (and whether you’re in those features separately).

𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Your “rank” can vary by location and user.

GSC lumps data across countries or devices unless you filter deeply. It’s country-level at best. No city or post/zip code precision. If you’re big in local SEO, GSC won’t tell you how you rank in your city versus elsewhere.

A dedicated tracker can check from a specific location, so you know where you really stand.

𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐢𝐚𝐬: GSC only records a position when someone actually sees your result.

If you quietly sit at page 5 but nobody goes that far, GSC shows nothing. Or it looks like your average rank is higher than it truly is.

In other words, no impressions ≠ no ranking. Third-party trackers catch those unseen rankings too, so you’re aware of every keyword, not just the ones that get clicks.

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐀𝐈 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬: With Google’s new AI-powered answers, things get crazier. If your site is cited in an AI answer, Search Console counts that…

But it shoves all those AI citations into one position. It’s recorded as a top spot impression, even though it’s not a traditional blue-link ranking.

This makes the ‘average position’ murkier than ever.

Google Search Console is awesome for trend analysis and click data, but it was never built to be a precise rank tracking tool.

Its data is aggregated, delayed and affected by features that distort what “rank” really means. If you need to truly know where you stand in the SERPs, by location, in plain organic, right now, you’ll want a dedicated rank tracker (yes, the kind built for that job).

GSC’s useful. Just not for this.