Why do I see an alert next to my position in the keyword research tool?

There are situations where the position column displays data which is technically correct and matches Google Search Console, but is confusing to interpret.

When this happens, we mark it with an alert icon.

The most common example of this is a situation where it appears that you are ranking in a top position for a keyword in the keyword research tool, even though you may have never written a post targeting that keyword and looking through the search results manually, you do not see any of your posts.

This happens because Google is constantly testing content to see how well it performs for different keywords, and when it is doing this testing, it may rank one of your posts in a top position for a few impressions. It means that for a few searchers, your post may have appeared in a top position, but for the vast majority of searchers, your post does not show up for that keyword.

You can tell if this is happening by taking a look at the impressions your site receives for the keyword. If the keyword research tool indicates that you are ranking for a top position, but your impressions are low (less than 100), then you can disregard the reported position since your site does not actually rank for that keyword for the vast majority of searches.

Was this article helpful?
0 out of 0 found this helpful
Have more questions? Send a message

Want to join Raptive? Apply here!