Visibility and rank spread
The exact definitions behind the visibility score, top-10 share, rank spread, group average position and change values.
The rank tracker sums up a group of keywords in a few figures. This page gives the definition of each one as implemented, so you can explain a number or rebuild it from an export.
Visibility score
Visibility answers one question: of the clicks your keywords could earn if every one ranked first, what share do their current positions earn? It is labelled impression-weighted in the app.
visibility = Σ(impressions × expected CTR at the position)
÷ Σ(impressions × expected CTR at position 1)In the rank tracker the sums run over every keyword of the group and every day of the period, using each day's own position. Search Console has no search volume, so impressions stand in for demand.
| Position | Expected CTR |
|---|---|
| 1 | 28.5% |
| 2 | 15.7% |
| 3 | 10.6% |
| 4 | 7.4% |
| 5 | 5.4% |
| 6 | 4.1% |
| 7 | 3.2% |
| 8 | 2.6% |
| 9 | 2.2% |
| 10 | 1.9% |
- Between whole positions the value is interpolated in a straight line.
- Beyond position 10 it falls by a factor of e^(−0.13) for each further position, starting from 1.9%, and never below 0.05%.
- Above position 100 it is 0.
- Days without impressions add nothing to either sum, so a keyword with no impressions does not lower the score.
The curve is the same for every project. A score of 100% would mean every impression came at position 1.
Top-10 share
The Top 10 column of the projects dashboard is the share of a project's tracked keywords whose impression-weighted average position over the last 28 days with keyword data is 10 or better. The denominator is all tracked keywords, including those without impressions.
In the rank tracker, the Top 3 and Top 10 tabs list keywords by their rank at the end of the selected period.
Rank at the start and end of a period
The table's Rank, the Change column, the rank spread and the movers lists all use a keyword's rank at the two ends of the period. Each end is the impression-weighted average position over a short window: the first and the last 7 days of the period, a quarter of the period when it is shorter than 28 days, and a single day for a 7-day period. Without impressions in a window, the keyword has no rank at that end.
Ranking spread
Ranking spread counts the keywords of the group per position bucket at the start and at the end of the period, with the difference.
| Bucket | Rank at that end of the period |
|---|---|
| Positions 1–3 | up to 3.0 |
| Positions 4–10 | above 3, up to 10 |
| Positions 11–20 | above 10, up to 20 |
| Positions 21–50 | above 20, up to 50 |
| Positions 51–100 | above 50, up to 100 |
| No impressions | no impressions in the window, or an average position above 100 |
Ranking spread over time shows the same week by week. Weeks are seven days counted back from the end of the period, so the first one may be shorter. A keyword's position for a week is its impression-weighted average over that week. The last position bucket there is Positions 51+: a keyword with impressions always falls in a position bucket, and No impressions holds only keywords with none that week.
No impressions is not the same as not ranking. The page may rank where nobody scrolled, or Google may hide the query as rare.
Average position of a group
The Avg. position card is the impression-weighted average over the keywords of the group that had impressions in the period:
Σ(position × impressions) ÷ Σ(impressions), over all keywords and days of the periodThe card says how many keywords it covers. The change next to it is like-for-like: it compares only keywords that had impressions in both periods, so a keyword that drops out of the results cannot make the average look better.
How changes are computed
| Metric | Change shown | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility | Difference in percentage points: period minus comparison | +2.2 pt |
| CTR | Difference in percentage points | −0.35 pt |
| Clicks, impressions | Relative change in percent | +12.4% |
| Average position | Positions gained or lost: comparison minus period, so up means better | up 1.3 (↑1.3 in the sidebar) |
- The comparison period is the one chosen under compared with: the previous period of the same length, the same period last year (364 days earlier) or a custom period. With nothing selected, changes are still shown against the previous period.
- Both periods end on final days. Provisional days are left out.
- When the comparison period reaches before your first day of keyword data, the KPI cards show no change. The groups sidebar then falls back to the longest equal split that fits, the last k days against the k days before, and says so above the list.
The Change column of the keywords table is different on purpose: it is the keyword's rank at the end of the period against its rank at the start, not against the comparison period.
Biggest gains and losses
A keyword counts as a mover, and for the Improved and Declined tabs, when it had at least 10 impressions at both ends of the period and its rank changed by at least 0.5 positions. The lists are sorted by estimated click impact, largest first:
click impact = impressions × (expected CTR at the new rank − expected CTR at the old rank)Keywords that started or stopped getting impressions are listed apart as New and Lost. They are never counted as a position gain or loss.
Read next
- How the data worksWhere the numbers come from, what average position means, how fresh the data is and how much history you get.
- Keyword groupsFolders, manual groups, rule-based groups and AI grouping: how they work and every rule field and operator.
- KeywordsAdd keywords from Search Console, a pasted list or a CSV file, understand the keyword limit, and work with the rank tracker table.
- ForecastHow the Forecast screen projects clicks: the site model, the keyword baseline, the ranking scenario, the 80% range and the limits of the method.