Ranking Opportunities
Ranking opportunities in the context of search engine optimization (SEO) describe the potential of a website to rank in search engines for certain keywords.
The potential of websites and domains is influenced by many factors. These are, for example, the accessibility/indexability of the website, the quality and relevance of the content and the recommendation by visitors to the domain, such as by social signals.
Instrument for SEO optimization
In the Searchmetrics Content Experience , the software for creating and optimizing content, the term means an instrument for topic research for the creation of a briefing. A briefing can be created in the Briefing Creator for URLs that are to be optimized for specific topics. After the entry of the corresponding URL, the software leads the user on towards the view of ranking opportunities.
SEO-relevant insights
The ranking opportunities lists topics that you or your competitor URL’s ranks for. The precise ranking position of a website is also shown in the search result. In addition, the search volume for the corresponding keyword is given, i.e. how often users begin a corresponding search query. As further SEO-relevant information the CPC (cost-per-click in Google Adwords), the traffic index (estimated monthly organic visits) and the traffic value (estimated monetary value of the organic visits) are given for each keyword. Additional values can, if necessary, be manually added. This allows the user to leverage millions of retrieved items of data to select topics and add to those items to their briefing.
The ranking opportunities are described in four categories:
- Top ranking topics
- Quick win topics
- Seasonal topics
- New topics
Top rankings and quick wins
The top ranking topics show the keywords for which a URL ranks. These topics exist to optimize the current presence in the search engine and to push that presence upwards. The quick win topics show threshold keywords, i.e. those with which your website is on the threshold page 1 of the SERP (positions 6 to 20). Even a small optimization can lead to a significant result here: A better position in the search engines. The “quick wins” are therefore an ideal opportunity to improve the Google ranking relatively easily and quickly and to generate more traffic.
Seasonal relevance and competitors
Topics that have a higher search volume at certain times of the year are listed under seasonal topics, i.e. are more often searched for on Google or other search engines. These could be obvious seasonal topics, such as swimwear in the summer or Christmas markets in December. But it could also be a keyword for which a seasonal characteristic is not immediately apparent. This information helps to perfect content strategy and publication time periods. Content can then be published when demand is at its greatest and held back when the number of search queries is low – as long as the text offered meets the largest possible search volume for the keyword. The new topics section displays topics that have a Google ranking for competitors, but for which your domain does not. Here the competitiveness of your own content can be improved.
This data and information used for the analysis is based on the longtail database of the Searchmetrics Research Cloud . These have generally been determined in the previous month.
The extract of the ranking opportunities in the Briefing Creator fulfills an important function: It not only serves as a ranking check for your content, but also as an instrument to improve the current presence of your website in the search engine. As content relevance has become a central factor of search engine optimization, this is more and more important. Achieving a good search engine ranking is therefore no longer only possible for SEO experts.
