Top Search Queries Table - What do they mean?

What is the meaning of the Top Search Queries Table?

Google's help says: "Top search queries are the queries on the selected search property that most often returned pages from your site" ...over the previous three weeks. Here are two possible explanations.

1. These are the highest volumes searches that returned my site in the results.

If this is true, what is the cut-off that google is using to say that my site was "returned"?

ALL THE SEARCHES ON MY TABLE HAVE AN AVERAGE POSITION OF 10 OR LOWER so I thought this was the answer. Sometimes, I see some phrases as high as 11 or 12 but never higher.....

Vanessa Fox (at SES Miami) said that this couldn't be the whole story since she said that she has seen tables where people are listed with positions as low as 40. But, the Google sites queries table for my site - Time4Learning.com - lists "homeschool curriculum" (where I'm 10th) but does not list homeschool (where I'm 53rd on a good day)

2. These are the highest volume searches where some minimum number of people actually clicked on my link.

This explanation makes some sense although its not at all what the explanation suggests. It would require Google to:
- Find searches that people have clicked on my site
- Prioritize them by volume
This explanation also makes sense because its using similiar data to whats in the second table but in a different way.

Conclusion - I return to the simplest explanation although Vanessa talked me out of it. THE TABLE SHOWS THE HIGHEST VOLUME SEARCHES WHERE MY SITE RATED IN THE TOP 10.

Anybody have any data to the contrary?

This discussion sponsored by Time4Learning - the finest homeschool resource available online. They have a comprehensive range of materials. For instance, check out the breadth of information online including: 2nd grade math worksheets, reading comprehension, and the online homeschool. And, it's not just for homeschoolers. If its Back To School time for your kids, this is a great way to get them ready for the new school year or to provide learning enrichment . If they didn't let us spin our wheels on this seo stuff, we wouldn't be able to give them any traffic for their marvellous education machine.