> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Position Histogram, Google Search Console

> Shows how your ranking queries are distributed across position buckets for the selected period. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it.

**Card class:** [Non-Hero](/nerve-centre/overview#card-classes-explained)  •  **Category:** [Ranking Analysis](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type)

## At a glance

> **Position Histogram** buckets every query your site ranks for by its average Google position and shows how many fall into each band over the selected period. It answers a question a single average cannot: are your rankings concentrated at the top of page one, spread thinly across page two, or piled up in the long tail? A healthy organic profile shows mass in the 1 to 10 buckets and a manageable tail.

## What it tracks

The card reads the **average position** for each query from Google Search Console Search Analytics and groups those queries into position buckets, then draws a histogram of the counts. Source `detail`: *"Position Histogram for the selected period."* Where the [Position Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-search-console/position-trend) card shows a moving average over time, the histogram shows the shape of your ranking spread at a glance, so you can see whether an average of, say, 12 comes from a tight cluster at position 12 or from a barbell of strong page-one terms plus a heavy page-three tail. Watch the top buckets (1 to 3 and 4 to 10): growth there is genuine page-one strength, while mass building only in the 11+ bands signals queries that earn impressions but rarely clicks. Pair with [Position Distribution](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-search-console/position-distribution) and [Ranking Distribution](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-search-console/ranking-distribution) for the grouped view, and with [Position Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-search-console/position-trend) to see how the shape changes over time.

## Reconciling against the source

Rebuild this in Google Search Console by opening **Performance on Search results**, adding the **Average position** metric, and reading the **Queries** table. Remember the UI caps tables at 1,000 rows and drops rare anonymised queries, so a hand-built histogram will undercount the long tail; data is also 2 to 3 days delayed.

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### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

*Position Histogram* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Google Search Console and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English.

[Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.