Understanding a Keyword Position Report

By Gordon Smith on 25-Jun-2019

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	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	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	If the domain has star ratings which are recognised by Google, this will appear under your search results and this icon will show.
	AMP	Accelerated Mobile Pages are lightweight versions of your pages that are served by Google.
	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	If video listings are presented in response to a search for this keyword, this icon will appear.
	Featured video	If a single featured video is presented in response to a search for this keyword, this icon will appear.
	Top stories	If a search for this keywords results in news stories being presented, this icon will appear.
	People also ask	Addition questions presented by Google in response to your question
	Images	If Google presents image results for your search, this icon will appear.
	Twitter	If Google presents tweets in response to a search for this keyword, this icon will appear.
	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	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	If Google presents ads from the Google Shopping Network in response to a search for this keyword, this icon will appear.
	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.