Understanding a Keyword Position Report

By Gordon Smith

If you’ve received a keyword position report from Dotwise or anybody else, you may wondering how to interpret it. Here’s how:

Position tracking report

 

Let’s look at the columns in this report, one by one.

Keyword This column shows the keywords we're monitoring for you. These will have been researched by us and agreed with you as being the most important keywords for your business.
SERP Features SERPs are the Search Engine Results Pages. These are the pages you see in your search engine when you carry out a search. We only check the first 10 pages of the search results. For details of these icons, see below.
Your positions This column shows you your current position at the end date of the report (shown in blue) and the difference (rise or fall) between the report date and the report end date. In this column if your keyword has risen in search rankings it will be shown in green and if it has fallen, in red.
Your competitor's positions There can be up to 5 further columns showing the current search positions and change since the report start date of your chosen competitors.
CPC This column shows you the average Cost Per Click you would expect to pay if you were advertising on this keyword. This is useful for reference purposes as it shows how economical SEO can be in comparison with paid search (PPC).
Volume This column shows the approximate number of monthly searches on this keyword in your preferred territory.

SERPs icons

In the second column of your report you will see various icons. These represent the special features which Google shows on the Search Engine Results Pages. These can include ads, shopping ads, Tweets, images and featured videos. Here’s an explanation of what each icon means.

Icon
Feature Explanation
Featured snippets Featured snippets These are snippets that appear at the top of the search results, and are usually in the form of a response to a question-like search such as "When was the Eiffel tower built"
Local pack Local pack If the search is deemed by Google to be a search for a local business or facility, Google will show a map and a limited number (usually three) featured businesses on the map. This is called the "Local pack". If the search for your keywords shows a local pack, this icon will appear (even if your site is not in the local pack).
Reviews Reviews If the domain has star ratings which are recognised by Google, this will appear under your search results and this icon will show.
AMP pages AMP Accelerated Mobile Pages are lightweight versions of your pages that are served by Google.
Sitelinks Sitelinks Sitelinks appear below your search result. If Google thinks that additional links to your site will be useful, it will show these under your main search result.
Video Video If video listings are presented in response to a search for this keyword, this icon will appear.
Featured video Featured video If a single featured video is presented in response to a search for this keyword, this icon will appear.
Top stories Top stories If a search for this keywords results in news stories being presented, this icon will appear.
People also ask People also ask Addition questions presented by Google in response to your question
Images Images If Google presents image results for your search, this icon will appear.
Twitter Twitter If Google presents tweets in response to a search for this keyword, this icon will appear.
Instant answer Instant answer If Google immediately knows the answer to your question (such as what is 2+2) an instant answer panel is shown and this icon will appear.
Knowledge panel Knowledge panel If further background information about your search is found by Google, this is presented in the knowledge panel and this icon is shown.
Shopping ads Shopping ads If Google presents ads from the Google Shopping Network in response to a search for this keyword, this icon will appear.
Google Ads at top of page Google Ads top If Google presents ads at the top of the page in response to a search for this keyword, this icon will appear.
Google Ads bottom If Google presents ads at the bottom of the page in response to your search, this icon will appear.