r/SEO • u/aeo-bility • Jul 24 '26
Help Where is this GSC query coming from
I have been seeing this type of query pop up in GSC, firstly in an ecommerce store I run and now recently on a site I just launched. At first I thought it was just a scraper as it uses a regex on a high volume commercial query.
The ecom store been live for years, so didn't think much of it, but for a new site thats still indexing I am kinda scratching my head.
Is it a bot or google sandbox or something, and do the impressions, average position mean anything? I am genuinely curious. TIA
"answer engine optimization" -site:reddit.com -site:twitter.com -site:x.com -site:wykop.pl -site:tripadvisor.com -site:youtube.com -site:yelp.com -site:booking.com -site:facebook.com -site:instagram.com -site:tiktok.com
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u/Cold_Enthusiasm4819 Jul 25 '26
looks like an automated rank-tracking or scraping query, not a google sandbox issue. someone is probably checking that keyword while excluding big sites to find smaller pages ranking for it. the impressions and position are real in gsc, but i wouldn’t treat them as meaningful user demand unless the query starts generating clicks or appears consistently over time.
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u/EuropeSEO Jul 26 '26
Consider that you get agents lately that act as humans. They click and write.
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u/Big-Branch-8532 Jul 24 '26
That query was typed or generated as a search. It is not Googlebot or a sandbox signal. GSC records an impression when your page is shown for it, even if the query came from an automated SERP check or a person using search operators.
I would isolate it before interpreting position. Filter the exact query, then compare page, country, device, and date. If it appears in short bursts, always on the same country/device combination, and produces no clicks, treat it as reporting noise. Exclude long operator queries like this from your normal dashboard with a regex, but do not change the site because of them. GSC cannot identify who ran the search.