Google shows how it measures performance data for pages in the People Also Ask section of Search Console – such as clicks, impressions, and positions.
This topic was discussed during a recent Business Hours Hangout at Google Search Central SEO.
Someone named Aakash Singh joins the livestream to ask how Google Search Console tracks data for pages that appear in People Also Ask snippets.
Google Search Attorney John Mueller answers the question by explaining how Search Console tracks page performance data when a URL is shown in the phrase “people also ask”.
If you rank in one of these search snippets, here’s how to track performance data in Search Console reports.
Measure People Also Ask performance data in Search Console
Mueller begins his response by saying that impressions count All URLs appear in Google search, including the “people also ask” excerpt.
When a searcher clicks on the “People also ask” suggestion, and a link to a web page appears below, an impression is counted for that page.
The short answer is when a URL appears in search results, we try to show that in Search Console.
So with the “people also ask” sections, I think if you expand it it will show a link to your site with that question and snippet in there. This means that when someone expands the “People also ask” section and sees your site’s URL, it will be counted as an impression.
And it doesn’t matter if you’re the “people ask too” type, or if people click like 15 different people and all of a sudden it shows up. That will count as an impression.”
Mueller goes on to say that clicks are counted when a page link is clicked.
When it comes to measuring ranking position, Search Console tracks where the People Also Ask section appears in a given set of search results.
If displayed in the second position, for example, all URLs displayed in the People Also Ask box will count as ranking in the second position.
Mueller continues:
Also, when a click occurs, it counts as a click. I think the rank, the position, depends on the overall position of that set of items. At least, as far as I know, it doesn’t count in the ‘people also ask’ about your position section.”
URLs can appear twice in the same SERP
Singh follows this up by asking Mueller whether web pages can appear in both the normal set of organic search results And People also ask.
Ranking in both places in the same SERP is possible, Mueller says.
When that happens, Search Console calculates the highest ranking position.
“Absolutely. The only thing to watch out for – the Search Console performance report shows which items rank highest. So, if different URLs are listed multiple times on the search results page, the position of the first one will be tracked.”
Hear the full discussion in the video below:
Featured image: Screenshot from YouTube.com/GoogleSearchCentral, March 2022.
