Close Window

Print

Keyword Ranking Report

The Keyword Ranking Report shows you how each page ranks during a search for its Specific Keyword.

Please note this important point, before we go on...

The Keyword Ranking Report Process

Clicking on the Update It! button in the Keyword Ranking Report column of SE HQ initiates updates of both the Submit-Spider-List Report (Listing Report) and the Keyword Ranking Report.

The Listing Report runs first, followed by the Ranking Report, which could take a few hours. An email will confirm completion of the Listing Report, followed by another email when the Keyword Ranking Report is complete. A visit to SE HQ at that time will show you the current rankings for your pages.

Interpretation of Ranking Numbers

If you see a number (from 1 to 30) for a particular search engine, a search for that Specific Keyword at that specific engine found a page ranked at that spot (i.e., at #1 down to #30) for that Specific Keyword.

• If this page's number is blue, the page ranks at that number (1-30) for its Specific Keyword. Ranking anywhere in the Top 10 is great, in the Top 20 is okay, and in the Top 30 is so-so.

• If this page's number is black, it ranks at greater than 30 for a search for its Specific Keyword. However, another page on your site ranks at that number for that keyword. The black number is the best ranking that was found from all pages on your site that contain the keyword. This number will be reported for each page that uses that Specific Keyword (unless there's a blue number to report).

That means that any page, even one that doesn't focus on that keyword as its Specific Keyword, may account for the score that you see for a given page. For example, let's say that you find several "black 19s" for pages that have the Specific Keyword "anguilla villas." If you can't find a blue number for "anguilla villas," then those particular pages are not being found for that term as their Specific keyword.

If you don't find another page with the same Specific Keyword showing the blue number, a higher-tier page is the most likely "winner." The Ranking Report reports a page found in the Top 30 for a search term only if its Specific Keyword matched the search term.

The ultimate goal is to get one page in the Top 30 for a given keyword (a blue number). Other pages with the same Specific Keyword basically play a useful, supporting role. But most engines will not rank more than 1 page from the same site (2 if you really dominate!) in the Top 10.

However, even though it's rare that a search engine will give two pages from the same site two Top 10 spots, that's not a reason not to write more than one page per keyword, if each page is best served by that keyword. Think of each page on the same topic (but with different material) as "emphasis" at the engines.

Proper Interpretation of Blue vs. Black

Blue vs. black is key information. The report tells you how each page is doing for on-page criteria. And it also tells you that even if this page did not score for a given keyword (no blue number), another one did. (So don't worry about it!)

Any number that's blue is a link to Search It!'s search for that keyword at that search engine. Run that query to see your page in the results.

You may find discrepancies between SE HQ's reporting and what Search It! shows you, for a few reasons...

• This report is updated no more often than every three weeks, when you run the report in conjunction with updating the Submit-Spider-List Report. That means the actual result for any keyword may vary from what you find.

• Results can also vary from country to country.

• Results at the engines themselves can sometimes vary from search to search, since you may see results from one data center today and a different data center tomorrow.

The more you consider this report as an "overall snapshot" and the more you focus on publishing quality content, the better you'll do overall. (We'll discuss "tweaking" below.)

The Other Ranking Possibilities

The first possibility discussed (above) was a number from 1 to 30.

Other possibilities depend on whether you have up to 300 pages on your site, or more than 300 pages...

Up to 300 Pages

1. If you see a dash (-) in a box, it means this page has not been indexed yet by that search engine, or it has been dropped from the index (your page will not appear on any search results page).

   Check the Submit-Spider-List report's Date Listed for this page name. If you see a Not Yet link for that engine, click on it for advice on how to improve the page. If you see a Dropped link for that engine, click on it for advice.

2. If you see ">30" in a box, it means that a search for this page's Specific Keyword, at that search engine, ranked beyond the #30 spot. It will always be black (i.e., not bold or blue), because it was not found in the top 30. And if a keyword is not found in the top 30...

   It's invisible, basically. Not good, especially if that page is scoring badly at all three engines.

   If a keyword ranks ">30" for all three engines and for all pages that use it as a Specific Keyword, click on the A button. This triggers the Analyze It! function to pop up a report to see how well you've managed the "on-page" criteria for the Specific Keyword for that page...

   • If it doesn't meet some of the best practices, make the changes suggested to rank higher (if they affect the readability of the page, do not make the changes). Click on the E button to start editing that page.

   • If it meets all the best practices, it's best to leave it alone. Use your time to publish new content instead. Why? Because if it passes the test, you have a good chance at ranking high the next time the engine shuffles its algorithm a bit. And, as you'll see below, you have more important things to do than "chasing an ever-changing algorithm."

     Or find a high quality link from an authority site to that page. Having this high-value link will give the page a few more ranking points, and tell the engines that it's worth indexing. And link to it from related pages on your site.

More Than 300 Pages

The search engines only provide results for a maximum of 300 pages when we run this report. Since your site has more than 300 pages, there will be incomplete information available for a number of pages.

1. If you see ">>>" for an engine, this page didn't make it inside that 300 page limit. The page may rank for a blue 1-30, a black 1-30, a dash (-), or >30, but since the page wasn't one of the 300 returned, the Ranking Report has no position to offer. So it uses ">>>" instead. Use Search It!'s Indexed Pages queries (Google, Yahoo! and Bing) to see if this page is indexed.

2. If this page uses the same Specific Keyword as one or more other pages, and at least one of them has a blue rank, the report will show the highest blue number inside two angle brackets for this page.

   For example, if a page using the keyword "Anguilla condos" did not make it into the 300 pages returned by Google, and shares that keyword with another page that received a blue 5, this page will display a black ">5>" in the Google column.

   We report it this way to tell you that, although this page did not make it into the 300 pages, another page did, and it's ranked in the top 30 for the shared keyword. As discussed above in Interpretation of Ranking Numbers, as long as one page with a shared keyword is ranking well, you don't need to worry about the other pages.

   From testing, we've found that many of the pages not returned due to the 300 page limit do share a keyword. For example, there are 15 pages on anguilla-beaches.com that share the keyword "Anguilla art." Google ranks one of them at #3. The other 14 were not returned in the 300 pages.

   Why? The likely explanation is that Google would rather give information about as many pages with different topics as possible, or ones that are more important (higher priority in your sitemap, for example). Pages that share a keyword have very similar topics (all about art on Anguilla, for example) and usually have the same importance. So Google does not report on the other pages.

You can check on all of your pages by doing this query at Google. Do it in a private window (Firefox, Safari) or an incognito window (Chrome) so that your personal search history does not influence the results...

site:yourdomainname.com

It will return every page that Google has indexed.

Tips

• It's tempting to tweak a page if it does not rank well. But, assuming the page has passed the Analyze It! test (you've given the engines enough info to let them know what the page is about), you're wasting your time.

  The SBI! approach is "keep it real." Keep publishing content on your site (and in your social media accounts, your podcasting account, video account, etc.).

• Explore the Earning Inbound Links section of the TNT HQ.

• If Google has never listed any of your pages, there may be another issue. Check "Wayback Machine" to see if your domain name has ever been used before you registered it. If it has, Google may have banned your domain name, and thus your site, from the index.

  Click on the link below to check for a manual action by Google. If you see one, "Request reconsideration" to let them know that you now have the domain name and to remove any ban that they may have on the domain name. Be absolutely certain that you have a great site with no broken links before you do that, or you may waste your one chance to get listed.

  Manual Actions

  You'll be asked to select the property. Select your site in the left column. Google will tell you if there are any manual actions.

  If there are any manual actions, and you just registered the domain name, contact Google on that same page, requesting a reconsideration. List that you just bought the domain name and are starting a completely new site that has nothing to do with the one that was penalized.

© and ™ SiteSell Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Close Window