Most numbers that look wrong are right, but measured differently from the number you’re comparing them with. Find what you’re comparing below.
First: is it an estimate or a measurement?
Search volume, keyword difficulty, potential traffic and estimated impact are estimates: they model what is likely. Clicks, impressions, CTR and Rank come from your Google Search Console: they measure what happened. Estimates are for deciding; measurements are for checking. See What is measured and what is estimated.
It doesn’t match another SEO tool
Every tool uses its own sources and models, and search volume is an estimate everywhere, Google’s own tools included. RankDots takes volume from Google Keyword Planner, for Google only, in your project’s country. See Why our numbers differ from other tools.
It doesn’t match Google Search Console
- Different dates. RankDots shows the last 28 days up to your last scan, and doesn’t refresh on its own. Rescan from Opportunities to update it, and set Search Console to the same 28 days.
- Different countries. Clicks, Impressions, CTR and Rank cover all countries; the “by country” columns cover only your project’s country.
- Keyword totals. RankDots counts per keyword and adds the keywords up. Search Console leaves some rare searches out of its keyword reports, so the sum can be lower than the total Search Console shows for a page.
- Averages. A page’s CTR and Rank are simple averages of its keywords, so a keyword with few impressions counts as much as a busy one. Search Console works them out differently. See What is average position?.
It doesn’t match Google today
Search volume, trend, keyword difficulty, the Google Top 20 and SERP features are collected once, when your project is created, and not refreshed. Google may show something different now.
A page’s figures don’t add up
Some page figures are sums of their keywords (search volume, clicks, impressions) and some are averages (CPC, CTR, Rank). An average won’t match the total of the rows. CPC is always in US dollars.
Some figures are blurred
On the trial, part of the data is blurred. That is a plan limit, not wrong data.
AI Visibility figures
If your project tracks AI Visibility:
- Engines are added up, not averaged. With “All engines” selected, every engine’s answers are counted together, so the total isn’t the average of the engine rows. A topic works the same way with its prompts. See How AI Visibility figures add up [link is coming].
- An empty cell isn’t zero. It means there is no real AI answer to count yet. 0.0% means answers came back and none named you.
- Latest answer vs the period. The engine marks show each engine’s latest answer; Visibility and the other figures cover the whole period.
- Share of Voice depends on your competitor list. It counts only the brands you track, so adding or removing a competitor moves it.
- Days run on UTC. “Today” may end earlier or later than your local midnight.
Still looks wrong?
Open the chat at the bottom right of the app. Tell us the figure, where you saw it, the period or country selected, and what you compared it with.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.