- The number of queries ranked in positions 1 to 3 measures truly productive visibility.
- It's a counter, so additive and legible, unlike average position.
- Its growth is the best indicator of SEO work producing traffic in the short term.
Definition
Top-3 queries count the expressions for which the site appears, on average, in the first three results.
Worked example
A site counts 42 top-3 queries and 310 top-10. Over three months, the top 3 rises to 58 and organic traffic grows 34%: it's those sixteen queries gained that carry the rise, not the hundreds of distant queries.
Orders of magnitude
The click gap between first and third place is considerable, and between third and sixth even more so. That's what makes the top-3 counter far more telling than an average.
The most common mistakes
- Counting brand queries in it. They're there by design and mask the real progress.
- Comparing to a competitor. The query scopes have nothing in common.
- Ignoring the volume behind each query. Twenty top-3 queries with no search are worth less than one well chosen.
Where to find the metric
In Search Console, the Performance report filtered on a position below 3.5, counting the rows. The metric doesn't exist as such: it's built by filtering or export.
Frequently asked questions
The Adwise team connects Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, GA4 and Search Console so agencies and freelancers can run their campaigns from a single place.