Search Visibility

What is Search Visibility?

Search visibility refers to the estimated percentage of total clicks a website receives from its organic search rankings for various keywords. It provides insight into how often your website appears in search results and how well it performs relative to competitors.

For instance, if a keyword gets 100 searches and your site receives 5 clicks from those searches, your search visibility for that keyword is 5%.

How to Check and Track Search Visibility

1. Checking Visibility for a Single Keyword

• Tools: Use tools like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer.
• Steps:

1. Enter the keyword into the Keywords Explorer.
2. Navigate to the Traffic Share by Domains report.
3. The “Share” column indicates your estimated search visibility for that keyword.

Example: For the keyword “affiliate marketing,” if your traffic share is 3%, it means you’re getting 3% of the clicks related to that keyword.

2. Tracking Visibility for Multiple Keywords

• Tools: Use rank tracking tools like Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker.
• Steps:

1. Set up a project in Ahrefs.
2. Add your keywords.
3. Choose your country and language settings.
4. Monitor the Overview report for search visibility.

Example: If the search visibility for Ahrefs’ blog is 3.11%, this means 3.11% of clicks for tracked keywords are directed to Ahrefs.com.

3. How Search Visibility is Calculated

• Total Clicks: The total number of clicks on search results for your tracked keywords.
• Clicks to Your Site: How many of those clicks go to your website.
• Percentage: Displayed as a percentage of all clicks.

Example: If there are 1,000 total clicks for a keyword and your site receives 100 of those, your search visibility is 10%.

Best Practices for Improving Search Visibility

1. Optimize for Search Intent

• Understanding Search Intent: Determine the purpose behind a search query (informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial investigation).
• Align Content: Create content that matches the search intent to improve rankings.

Example: For “steak marinade,” users likely want recipes. Therefore, a recipe page will perform better than a product page selling steak marinade.

2. Get More Backlinks

• Backlink Importance: Backlinks are a key ranking factor and correlate strongly with organic traffic.
• Strategy: Use techniques like the Skyscraper Technique:
• Find inferior content with many backlinks.
• Create superior content.
• Reach out to sites linking to the inferior content to replace links with yours.

Example: If an outdated “affiliate marketing statistics” page has many backlinks, update your content with the latest data and request backlinks from sites linking to the outdated page.

3. Build More Internal Links

• Internal Linking: Links from one page on your site to another. They help distribute page authority and improve visibility.
• Finding Opportunities: Use tools like Ahrefs’ Site Audit:
• Run a site crawl.
• Check the Link Opportunities report.
• Add internal links where relevant.

Example: If you have a blog post about “SEO tips” and another about “content marketing strategies,” link from one to the other to enhance the visibility of both pages.

FAQs

Can I get 100% search visibility?

• No, 100% search visibility is not achievable. Even if you rank top for every targeted keyword, users might click on different results, and competitors will also receive clicks.

What search visibility should I aim for?

• As high as possible. Higher search visibility generally leads to more traffic, which can result in more leads and sales.

By understanding and applying these practices, you can improve your search visibility, making your site more accessible and appealing to users searching for relevant content.