How keyword rankings work

A ranking keyword is a search phrase your store appears for in Google’s results, and your position is where you appear — position 1 is the top result, positions 1–10 are the first page. This page explains what the numbers mean and which ones deserve your attention.

Positions and pages, in plain English

• Positions 1–3 collect the large majority of all clicks for a search. This is where a keyword starts producing real traffic.
• Positions 4–10 (the rest of page one) still earn clicks, but far fewer.
• Positions 11–20 (page two) earn almost nothing — most searchers never leave page one.

A keyword moving from position 15 to position 8 can matter more than one moving from 3 to 2: crossing onto page one turns an invisible keyword into a working one.

Page two is your opportunity list

Keywords ranking at positions 11–20 are often called striking distance keywords: Google already considers your page relevant enough to almost make page one. These are usually the cheapest wins available — improving the page’s title, description, and copy for that specific search is often enough to push it over.

Branded vs non-branded keywords

Ranking #1 for your own store name is expected — Google strongly favors the site a brand name belongs to. It matters (people who hear about you can find you), but it isn’t evidence of SEO strength. The keywords that measure progress are non-branded: searches by shoppers who don’t know your store exists yet.

Are ranking counts real, or counting junk?

Keyword counts always include a long tail of low-value entries — obscure phrase variations, position-90 appearances, searches with a handful of monthly lookups. That’s normal and true for every site. When judging progress, weight the count of keywords on page one (and their search volume) over the raw total. A store with 80 keywords ranking and 15 on page one is doing better than one with 300 keywords all on page five.

How many keywords should a store rank for?

There’s no universal benchmark — it scales with catalog size, how long the store has existed, and the niche’s search demand. A 50-product store and a 5,000-product store aren’t comparable. The useful comparisons are your own trend (is the count growing month over month?) and direct competitors of similar size.

Two of my pages rank for the same keyword. Is that bad?

Sometimes. When a product page and a category page both rank for the same search, they can split Google’s confidence about which to show — called keyword cannibalization. It’s only a problem when neither page ranks well as a result. The usual fix is differentiation: point the category page at the broad search (“hiking socks”) and each product page at its specific searches (“merino wool hiking socks men’s”).

FAQ

Are keyword rankings from Google, or an estimate? SEO tools (Moz, Ahrefs, Semrush) measure rankings by running searches at scale and recording what appears — accurate but a sample, and it can differ slightly from what you see. Your own Google Search Console reports what Google actually showed your site; use it as ground truth.

Why do rankings look different when I search myself? Google personalizes results by location, search history, and device. Your own store often ranks higher for you than for a stranger. Rank trackers and Search Console remove that bias.

How do I find keywords I’m close to ranking well for? In Google Search Console, filter for queries where your average position is 11–20. Those striking-distance keywords are the best candidates for your next round of optimization.

Can a store rank for searches it doesn’t sell anything for? Yes — blog posts, guides, and even policy pages can rank for tangential searches. Harmless, and occasionally useful for traffic, but weight your effort toward keywords with buying intent.