Having a website isn’t enough for your target audience to find you. The real challenge is building strong search visibility, not just ranking on Google, but also appearing in key SERP features like AI Overview, featured snippets, People Also Ask, and top-ranking results. That’s where your SEO visibility score comes in.
You’ve probably opened an SEO tool to track your visibility score and wondered: “Is this actually good?”, “Is 20% bad?”, “Is 40% impressive?”, etc.
In this guide, we’ll break down what a good SEO visibility score really looks like, then walk through six simple, practical steps you can use to improve yours.
What Is a Good SEO Visibility Score
Before jumping into the difference between a good and bad SEO visibility score, let’s first quickly define what a visibility score actually is.
A visibility score is the percentage that tells you how many times your website appears in search engine results for a specific query. It is also a relative metric calculated differently by each SEO tool. Some express it as a percentage, while others calculate it as a numeric index based on estimated clicks.
Simply put, the higher the search visibility score, the better. Several factors play a crucial role in determining SERP rankings, including on-page SEO, user behaviour signals, mobile responsiveness, AI-optimized content, and more.
So, a good SEO visibility score means that your target audience can easily discover your website when they search for relevant terms. This shows you’re ahead of your competitors.
Figuring out what makes a good SEO visibility score isn’t one-size-fits-all because it depends on your niche, keywords, and competition. But general benchmarks can help you see how your site is performing in search results.
SEO Visibility Score
Performance Level
Meaning
0-10
Low
Your site is barely visible in search results.
11-30
Fair
Some visibility, but many competitors outrank you.
31-50
Good
Your site is performing reasonably well; you appear for many target keywords.
51-70
Very Good
Strong presence; you rank for the most important keywords and are ahead of many competitors.
71-100
Excellent
Dominant visibility; top-ranking site for most of your relevant keywords.
For example, this #1 organic result has higher SEO visibility than other positions.
Why Visible SEO Matters
Now that you know what a good visibility score looks like, let’s explore why it actually matters for business growth. A good SEO visibility score increases the chance of user clicks and engagement, which directly impacts increased brand recognition.
Therefore, a strong SEO visibility score will help you in:
Increased organic traffic.
Greater brand exposure in search results.
Stronger presence in AI-powered search results.
More qualified leads and conversions.
Find opportunities for improvement.
Spot trends quickly.
Increased ROI.
6 Practical Steps to Improve SEO Visibility
Let’s focus now on the most important part. Learn how to improve your Google visibility score in just six proven steps.
Step 1: Write Content for User Intent
When you start writing, you need to target the right keyword for your industry. But not every keyword will bring value. Analyze how users search for your product.
For example, let’s say you are a SaaS agency offering software tools. Instead of targeting broader keywords like “software tools” or “SaaS tools”, focus on how actually your target audience search for these queries.
Tools like Ahrefs can help you target these keywords based on user’s search intent.
These filters can help you choose the right keywords, since users search for them in different ways depending on where they are in the buying journey.
Based on this, write for:
Informational Intent: Include keywords like what, why, how-to, guides, etc, such as “What Are Software Tools for Small Businesses?”, “How Software Tools Work?”, and similar.
Commercial Intent: Best keywords to include here are best, top, vs, where people can compare different products before going to the next stage of the SEO funnel, including “Best Time Tracking Software”, “Full Guide on SaaS Tools for Remote Teams”, etc.
Transactional Intent: Keywords such as shop, purchase, buy, sales, and similar can help you turn potential leads into customers. For example, “Buy Project Management Tool”, “CRM Software Pricing”, or “CRM Tool Free Trial”.
Tip: If you want to find the perfect keyword for your SaaS business, read our comprehensive, step-by-step guide on SaaS keyword research.
Step 2: Optimize for SERP Features
Since Google changed the search results with the AI Overview and featured snippet introduction, you need to optimize your page to rank higher in this zero-click search world.
Another way to optimize for AI Overview is by targeting long-tail keywords. They are ideal for SEO because they capture highly specific searches from users who already know what they’re looking for. You can use them in your heading structure and within your content, in your own style, to sound natural.
Let’s take a look at the example.
Based on our keyword research, we used a long-tail keyword – a specific question rather than a broad term. And the outcome was exactly what we aimed for.
Here’s how we achieved this result:
We wrote in-depth content in a language a 6-year-old could understand.
We used H2/H3 to simplify the content into shorter paragraphs.
Question-style keywords are an inevitable part of this content strategy because users most often search for questions.
Adding a listicle format is a great way to keep readers’ attention, as it is more skimmable and easier to understand the content.
We provided images from our experience to add knowledge and expertise in the niche.
When your content clearly and concisely answers user questions, it’s more likely to be mentioned in SERP features, including AI Overview, featured snippet, knowledge panel, and PAA. This is one of the most effective ways to increase SEO visibility.
Step 3: Fix Technical Issues
Even the best content won’t perform well if search engines can’t properly crawl or understand your website. Technical SEO issues can hurt your visibility without you realizing it.
Focus on fixing:
Broken links, incorrect redirects, and missing pages.
Low-loading pages.
Bad mobile design and responsiveness.
Duplicate content and canonical errors.
Missing or incorrectly structured data.
Step 4: Build Quality Links
Another way to boost keyword ranking is to build quality links. This includes both backlinks and internal links within your website.
Backlinks are links from other websites pointing to your site. They act as a vote of confidence, telling search engines your content is trustworthy and valuable.
Quality Over Quantity: One link from a relevant and authoritative site is worth more than many low-quality links.
Earn Links Naturally: Create content people want to reference, such as guides, case studies, or original research.
Partnerships: Collaborate with industry-related blogs to earn high-quality backlinks.
Internal links connect pages within your own website, guiding users and search engines to your most important content.
Focus on:
Using Descriptive Anchor Text: Make it clear what the linked page is about.
Avoid Excessive Linking: Link only where it adds value to users and SEO.
Internal links distribute authority, enhance user experience, and improve crawlability, ensuring search engines and users can easily find, relate to, and engage longer with your content.
To find which pages need more internal linking, go to Google Search Console (GSC). From the left-side menu, under Links, you can find the pages showing how many links from your own pages point to each page.
If you click More, you can find pages with a low number of internal links. If a page has few internal links, it usually means Google sees it as less important and may not rank well, even if the content is strong.
Pages with only a few internal links often struggle not because of the number itself, but because they aren’t properly connected to high-authority, topically relevant pages.
In practice:
Pages with 0-3 internal links – likely underlinked and need improvement.
Pages with 10+ high-quality links – usually fine, unless they’re still not performing.
Step 5: Build Topical Authority, Not Just Keyword Rankings
Besides targeting the right keywords, Google prioritizes depth and expertise on a topic. This means that if you cover the topic comprehensively, providing flow, explanations, and examples from your perspective, Google will favor you over competitors.
To build topical authority:
Create Content Clusters: Start with a pillar page as the main topic, and create supporting articles that connect around it, guiding both readers and search engines.
Cover All Aspects of the Topic: Don’t just scratch the surface. Include the basics, why it matters, practical tips and strategies, and real-world usage examples.
Link Related Content: As we mentioned earlier, proper internal linking boosts engagement and reduces bounce rates.
Show Expertise: Build trust by showcasing your experience, case studies, and examples that prove your points.
Step 6: Track, Adjust, Improve
SEO and online visibility require ongoing attention. Once you’ve optimized your content, you need to continuously monitor performance and identify what’s working and where your strategy needs improvement.
Using SEO tools like GSC, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can help you monitor keyword rankings, analyze traffic scores, fix issues, and more. You can’t check the score every day because ranking takes time and can change daily. But tracking metrics weekly or monthly can give you a clearer picture. Keep reading to find the most common metrics to track to boost SEO visibility.
It’s important to know that sometimes a small drop isn’t a scary thing to obsess over. You need to focus on the bigger picture so you won’t miss trends and opportunities to grow.
Common SEO Visibility Search Metrics
Tracking SEO visibility requires understanding the key metrics that reflect your website’s performance in search results. Here are the most important ones:
Impressions
Click-Through Rates (CTR)
Average Position
Organic Traffic
Referring Domains
Top Performing Pages and Keywords
Core Web Vitals
One quick way to assess whether your website is on the right track is by reviewing its SEO health indicators.
As shown in the image, a 92 SEO score indicates that the page follows most core search engine optimization best practices. While this score alone doesn’t represent your full SEO visibility, it’s a strong signal that your technical foundation is solid.
How to Calculate SEO Visibility Score
There is no specific formula to calculate SEO visibility, but there are common tools you can use, like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, or others, to track it effectively.
Here’s an example:
From the tool you chose, analyze:
Target keyword
Search Volume
Ranking position
Estimated CTR (click-through rate, e.g position #1 will get more clicks, compared to position #2)
Keyword
Search Volume
Rank
Est. CTR
Visibility Score
Project management software
12,000
3
12%
1,440
CRM tool
20,000
6
4%
800
Time tracking app
8,000
9
2%
160
Visibility Score = Search Volume × Estimated CTR
Project management software: 12,000 × 12% = 1,440
CRM tool: 20,000 × 4% = 800
Time tracking app: 8,000 × 2% = 160
The total SEO visibility score here is 2,400.
Search Visibility Loss: What It Looks Like
Losing visibility doesn’t happen overnight. Tracking the metrics we’ve mentioned helps you identify which pages are losing impressions, clicks, or other key indicators that affect your online visibility.
Here’s an example of how to notice if you are losing visibility in GSC.
You can see from the example that although the impressions remain almost the same, there is a visible drop in clicks and average position.
How to Fix It Fast
At some point, rankings can vary, and it’s not always your fault. Search trends evolve fast, and user behavior can shift overnight. However, some of the quick actions we took to get back on track are:
Check which pages are losing rankings.
Check technical issues for a quick fix.
Analyze if there is proper internal linking.
Check for outdated years and content.
Remove low-quality posts.
Check and fix cannibalization.
Create a new content strategy if needed.
And the results were excellent. We’ve noticed a significant increase in clicks and impressions.
Boost Your SEO Visibility Score with SmartClick
Although we’ve mentioned some numbers, a good SEO visibility score isn’t about chasing them; it’s about creating content that aligns with user intent, building authority, and continuously tracking performance for improvement.
With SmartClick, you can get full insights about your current rankings, content, and how to stay ahead of competitors. We develop a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to ensure your website stays visible in SERP features.
Let SmartClick guide your SEO strategy and help your site rise to the top.
Let’s Solve Your SEO Challenges and Bring You Traffic That Converts
Book a free consultation today to learn how we can help you attract more of the right traffic and turn it into qualified leads for steady growth.