How to Find Keywords You Are Close to Ranking For

Finding Striking Distance Keywords in Search Console

Open Google Search Console's Performance report. Click on Average Position to enable it, then sort queries by position in ascending order and look for keywords where your average position falls between 5 and 20. These are your striking distance keywords. Google already ranks you on page one or the top of page two, which means the relevance signal is there, you just need to strengthen other factors to climb higher.

Filter for queries with a high number of impressions to prioritize the keywords that would drive the most traffic if you improved your position. A keyword at position 12 with 5,000 monthly impressions is a much bigger opportunity than one at position 8 with 50 impressions.

Why Striking Distance Keywords Are Your Best Opportunity

Moving from position 15 to position 5 is far easier than ranking a brand new page from scratch. Google has already crawled, indexed, and evaluated your page for these keywords. It has determined that your content is relevant. The gap between your current position and the top results is usually a matter of content depth, authority, or technical performance rather than a fundamental relevance problem.

The click-through rate difference between positions makes this even more compelling. Position 1 gets roughly 30% of clicks. Position 5 gets about 5%. Position 10 gets about 2%. Position 15 gets almost nothing. Moving from position 15 to position 5 can multiply your traffic for that keyword by ten or more, and it is achievable with targeted improvements rather than a ground-up effort.

How to Improve Your Position

Improve the content. Compare your page against the pages that currently rank in positions 1 through 3 for the keyword. What do they cover that you do not? What questions do they answer that your page misses? Add the missing depth, update any outdated information, and make sure your page provides a more complete answer than the competition.

Strengthen internal links. Find your highest-authority pages (the ones with the most backlinks and traffic) and add contextual links from those pages to the page you are trying to boost. Internal links pass authority within your site, and a strong internal link from a high-traffic page can meaningfully improve the ranking of a linked page.

Improve the title tag and meta description. A more compelling title can improve your click-through rate, which sends positive signals to Google. Make sure the title clearly communicates the value of your page and includes the primary keyword naturally.

Fix technical issues. Check if the page has any speed problems, mobile usability issues, or missing schema markup. Technical improvements are quick wins that can provide the incremental boost needed to climb a few positions.

Prioritizing Your Opportunities

Rank your striking distance keywords by the combination of search volume and how close you are to the top positions. A keyword at position 6 with moderate volume is a better use of time than a keyword at position 18 with high volume, because the effort to climb from 6 to 3 is much less than climbing from 18 to 3. See how to prioritize which pages to optimize first for a structured approach.