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Metrics type: Supporting Metrics • Category: AI Search Trends

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At a glance

Informational Queries lists the search terms in the “know” intent bucket (how, what, why, guides, definitions) that bring your site impressions and clicks, broken down row by row from Search Console’s Performance, Search results report. These are the top-of-funnel, research-stage searches that increasingly feed AI Overviews and assistant answers rather than classic blue-link clicks.

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What it tracks

Each row is a query Vortex IQ has classified as informational, shown with its impressions, clicks, CTR, and average position from the Search Analytics API. Informational queries behave differently from transactional ones: they typically carry high impressions with lower CTR, because the searcher is reading rather than buying, and they are the queries most exposed to zero-click answers in AI search surfaces. Tracking this row breakdown tells SEO and content teams where their guides, FAQs, and explainer pages earn organic visibility, and where an AI Overview may be absorbing the click. Pair it with Question Queries and Query Intent Classification for the full intent picture, and with Zero-Click Indicators to gauge answer-box leakage. A healthy informational footprint means your content is discoverable at the research stage. A falling click count against steady impressions on these rows is the classic fingerprint of AI Overviews answering the query in place.

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Reconciling against the source

Recreate this in Search Console, Performance, Search results by filtering Queries and applying the same date range; the per-row impressions and clicks should match. Remember the UI caps at 1,000 rows, rare queries are anonymised, and data lags 2 to 3 days.

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Sibling cards

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Informational Queries 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 or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.