The Google top 20 is the list of the 20 pages that rank on Google for a keyword, shown in RankDots as a row of site icons in ranking order. It is what Google actually showed for that keyword in your project’s country and language, recorded rather than estimated. It is also the evidence behind how RankDots groups your keywords and spots your openings.
Where you’ll see it
- Keywords screen and a page’s details: the Google Top 20 column. Each icon is one result, in ranking order from first to twentieth. Point at an icon to see the exact URL.
- A highlighted frame around an icon marks a weak page - a result your site may realistically outrank with better content.
- Pages screen and a page’s details: Competitors. It shows up to ten of the URLs that come up most often in the results for the page’s keywords - the pages you would compete with across the whole page. Some pages show only a few, others ten.
Why RankDots shows it
It is the evidence for grouping. RankDots puts keywords on the same page when Google ranks largely the same results for them in its top 10. Compare the first ten icons of two keywords on one page, and you can see the overlap for yourself.
It is the evidence for Weak spots. The framed icons are the positions behind a page’s Weak spots count, so you can see exactly which results you would be contesting.
It lets you check the numbers. Keyword difficulty scores the strength of these pages. When a score surprises you, the row shows who it is describing.
How to read it
Look for frames first. A row full of large, familiar sites with no frames means content alone is unlikely to win a place today. One or two frames mean there is room for you.
Look at the kinds of sites. Shops, publishers, forums and video sites usually rank for different needs. The mix hints at what kind of page Google rewards for the keyword, alongside its search intent.
Compare rows, not single icons. Keywords whose first ten icons look alike can be served by one page. Reading the Google top 20 [link is coming] walks through the column in detail.
How we get it
RankDots reads Google’s results for each keyword for your project’s country and language - or for the location you set under Advanced location options. It reads them once, when your project is created, and does not refresh them.
Nothing here is modelled: it is what Google showed when the results were read. That makes it observed data, a snapshot that is accurate for its day. What is measured and what is estimated explains the difference.
What it doesn’t tell you
- Today’s results. Rankings move; the row shows them as they were when your project was created.
- Rankings anywhere else. The list is for your project’s country and language, or its set location.
- How much traffic each site gets. A position is not a visit count.
- Whether you can beat a site without a frame. Only framed icons are assessed as weak, and only in the top 10.