Advice and answers from the Advanced Web Ranking Team
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Unlock the Full Potential of the Top Sites Report: Key Metrics and SERP Snapshot Explained
Discover how Top Sites metrics and insights can help you identify key competitors and gain a clearer understanding of your true visibility in the SERPs.
The Top Sites report provides a detailed breakdown of the SERP for each keyword, retrieved by AWR with every ranking update, helping you identify the top competitors for your tracked keywords. It offers a clear view of the SERP structure, displaying the URLs that rank for a keyword along with the type of search result owned by each listing, such as organic, featured snippets, people also ask, local pack results, and more.
You can see a detailed breakdown of the SERP for each tracked keyword and search engine added to your project across all completed ranking updates.
Additionally, you can customize the report to display the top 10 or 20 ranking sites, or all URLs (based on the selected search depth).
Breakdown of the Top Sites report KPIs
The KPIs are designed to give you a deeper understanding of the search landscape, allowing you to track ranking patterns, evaluate brand presence, and optimize your strategies with precision.
Let's explore how each one can help you make more informed, data-driven decisions.
Volatility
The Volatility metric tracks how much the SERPs fluctuate over time for a specific keyword and search engine.
A high volatility score indicates frequent ranking shifts, suggesting a competitive or unstable search landscape, while a lower score reflects more stable and predictable rankings:
High volatility (Score 9-10) – Major ranking change
Medium volatility (Score 6-9) – Noticeable ranking fluctuations
Low volatility (Score 0-6) – Minimal movement, with stable rankings
Brand Ownership
The Brand Ownership metric measures the percentage of the SERP, in pixels, that is occupied by your brand’s (the main website of the project) listings.
The Brand Ownership percentage is determined by measuring the total pixel height of all ranking URLs associated with the keyword on the selected search engine, in relation to the full height of the SERP (from top to bottom).
The Brand Ownership percentage ranges from 0% to 100%, providing insight into your brand’s visibility in the SERPs:
Low (0% or close to 0%) – Your brand has little to no presence for the keyword, which is common for highly competitive, non-branded searches.
Moderate (20-50%) – Your brand has a noticeable share of the SERP but competes with other websites, typically seen in industry-related searches.
High (close to 100%) – Your brand dominates the SERP, occupying most of the visible space. This is typical for branded keywords, where your homepage, product pages, and related content rank prominently.
This metric is calculated for both branded and non-branded keywords. To make identification easier, branded terms are marked with a dedicated icon next to the percentage value.
Main Website Overview & Pixel Position
The Main Website Overview and Pixel Position Trend KPI offers valuable insights by displaying:
The ranking position from the latest update within the report’s date range, allowing you to see your website's position in the search results.
The type of result you own, enabling you to quickly determine whether your ranking is organic, a featured snippet, or a SERP feature.
Keyword Difficulty
The Keyword Difficulty KPI helps assess how difficult it is to rank for a selected keyword by analyzing the link profiles and content relevance of the top 10 search results from Google. This KPI includes four key metrics:
Domain Difficulty Score: Measures the backlink quality and authority of the domains in the top 10 search results.
URL Difficulty Score: Assesses the backlink quality and authority of each of the URLs in the top 10 results.
Content Score: Evaluates how well-optimized the top 10 results are for the keyword, based on on-page factors.
Each metric is rated on a scale of 0-100:
A low score (0-29) indicates that ranking for the keyword is attainable with moderate SEO effort.
A medium score (30-69) suggests that achieving a top ranking will require strong SEO tactics.
A high score (70-100) reflects highly competitive keywords that demand substantial authority and resources to rank effectively.
Search Intent
The Search Intent KPI reveals the primary purpose(s) behind a keyword, determined by the top 10 search results from Google, and monitors how the intent evolves with each update.
Estimated Visits
The Estimated Visits KPI calculates the potential organic traffic your website could receive in a month for a specific keyword if it ranks in the top 20 positions on Google. This estimate is based on the keyword's Click Share and Search Volume.
Traffic Cost
The Traffic Cost metric estimates the amount you would need to invest in paid advertising to generate the same amount of traffic that you receive organically for a given keyword. It’s calculated using the Estimated Visits generated by the keyword and its CPC at the country level.
Click Share
This KPI displays the Click Share values and the types of SERP features associated with each result in the top 20 ranking positions on Google for the selected keyword.
To view these metrics, make sure the dedicated KPIs button is switched on. To hide all KPIs, simply toggle the button off.
Do you have any other questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will keep building the FAQ.
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