Striking-distance keywords: the page-two queries closest to clicks

The cheapest clicks you will ever win are the ones you are already close to. A page that ranks 4th to 20th for a query with real impressions has already convinced Google it is relevant; it only needs a push. These are striking-distance keywords, and finding them takes ten minutes in Search Console.

Why positions 4 to 20 are the sweet spot#

Click-through rate falls steeply with position. The first three results take most of the clicks; page two gets almost none. So a query with 2,000 impressions a month at position 12 brings you a handful of clicks, while the same query at position 3 can bring well over a hundred. Moving one such query is often worth more than publishing a new article.

Finding them in Search Console#

1. Open Performance → Search results, select the last 3 months, tick Average position.
2. Switch to the Queries tab and filter Position greater than 3.9, then sort by Impressions.
3. Ignore brand queries and anything under ~30 impressions in the period: too little data to act on.
4. For each query that's left, click it and open the Pages tab to see which URL ranks.

Keep a short list: 10 to 20 query–page pairs, ranked by impressions.

Estimating the clicks you could win#

For each pair, a rough potential is: impressions × (expected CTR at position 3 − current CTR). You don't need precision; you need an order. Start with the largest potentials.

What to change on each page#

Work through this list, roughly in order of effort:

1. Use the query in the title and H1, naturally. Pages often rank for a query their title doesn't mention.
2. Answer the query early. A direct answer in the first paragraphs, then the details. This also makes the page easier for AI assistants to quote.
3. Cover what's missing. Look at the top three results: which sub-questions do they answer that you don't? Add a section, a table or an FAQ.
4. Add internal links to the page from your related, well-visited pages, with descriptive anchor text. This is the most underused lever on small sites.
5. Fix the basics: indexable, correct canonical, fast enough, no broken links.
6. Check for cannibalisation. If two of your pages alternate for the same query, merge them or make one clearly the target.

Re-check after 3–4 weeks. Positions move slowly and average position is noisy, so look at clicks and impressions too.

Don't forget Bing#

The same method works in Bing Webmaster Tools, and Bing often moves faster. See Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools in one dashboard.

Doing it automatically#

byanalytics runs this analysis for every site: it reads Search Console, leaves out brand queries and low-volume noise, estimates the clicks each query could win, flags queries ranking 8–15 as they appear, detects keyword cannibalisation and, in the PDF report, suggests which of your pages should link to each target. If you report to clients, it turns straight into the "what we'll do next" section of a monthly SEO report. The bigger picture is in How to monitor multiple websites from one dashboard.

FAQ#

What are striking-distance keywords?#

Search queries for which a page already ranks just outside the top results, usually positions 4 to 20, with enough impressions that moving up a few places would bring a meaningful number of clicks.

How do I find striking-distance keywords for free?#

In Google Search Console, open Performance, show average position, filter queries with position above 3.9, sort by impressions and exclude brand and low-volume queries.

How long does it take to move a page from page two to page one?#

Often 2 to 8 weeks after the changes are crawled, depending on competition. On-page changes and internal links are picked up faster than new backlinks.

Should I create a new page or improve the existing one?#

Improve the existing page if it already ranks for the query. Create a new page only when no page of yours is a good match for the search intent.