Striking distance keywords: quick wins hiding in Search Console

8 min read·12 October 2026

Striking distance keywords are the searches where Google already shows your page, just not high enough to get many clicks: roughly positions 4 to 20. You find them in the Google Search Console Performance report by filtering queries by average position and sorting by impressions. Because Google has already decided your page is relevant, improving an existing page for these queries is usually quicker than writing something new. The catch is that the clicks mostly sit in the top three, so pick your targets carefully.

What "striking distance" means in plain words

Every time your page shows up in a Google result, Search Console counts an impression. It also records where you appeared. "Striking distance" is SEO shorthand for queries where you're close to the top but not there yet: bottom of page one or somewhere on page two.

There's no official definition. Some people use 11–20, some use 4–10. We use 4–20, because anything below position 3 is still missing most of the available clicks.

One thing to understand before you start. The position figure in Search Console is an average. Google says it averages the position value for all impressions, because your link sits in a different spot each time someone sees it. An average of 9 could mean you're 4th for some people and 14th for others. Treat it as a direction, not a fixed rank.

Why the top three matter more than page one

The usual pitch for striking distance keywords is "get from page two to page one". The numbers say that's only half the story.

Advanced Web Ranking's CTR study (CTR, or click-through rate, is the share of impressions that turn into clicks) shows how steep the drop is. On Google US desktop in July 2026, the average organic result earned 20.02% CTR at position 1, 10.36% at position 2 and 3.89% at position 3. By position 5 it was 1.08%. Position 11 was 0.67%.

Put simply, moving from position 11 to position 5 barely changes anything. The same study found that positions 1–3 collect roughly 92% of all clicks that reach the top ten.

So the real prize is the jump into the top three. That's why the best targets are usually queries already sitting at 4–10 with plenty of impressions. Page two queries are worth fixing too, but expect more work for a smaller first step.

A worked example (hypothetical)

Say you run a heating firm in Leeds and your post on why combi boiler pressure keeps dropping sits at an average position of 7, with 2,400 impressions over three months.

At the AWR desktop rate for position 7 (0.46%), that's about 11 clicks. At the position 3 rate (3.89%), it would be about 93. Your own numbers will differ by device, industry and what else is on the results page, but the shape holds: the same page, a few places higher, earns several times the clicks.

How to find striking distance keywords in Search Console

1. Open the Performance report. In Search Console, go to Performance, then Search results. By default it shows the past three months, which is a sensible window.
2. Turn on all four metrics. Click the Clicks, Impressions, CTR and Average position boxes above the chart so they all show in the table.
3. Stay on the Queries tab. This groups the table by what people typed.
4. Filter by position. Click the filter icon above the table, choose Position, then "Greater than" and type 3.
5. Sort by impressions, highest first. Ignore anything with an average position above 20.
6. Export if the list is long. The Export button sends the table to Google Sheets or a CSV file, which is easier to sort and annotate.

Now you have a list of searches where Google already rates you as relevant, ordered by how many people see you.

Check which page is ranking

Click a promising query, then switch to the Pages tab. This shows which URL Google is showing for it.

If you see two or more of your pages splitting the impressions, that's cannibalisation: your own pages competing for the same search, so neither ranks as well as one strong page would. The fix is usually to merge them or make one clearly the main page for that topic and link to it from the other.

Which striking distance keywords to work on first

Not every query on your list deserves attention. Shortlist the ones that pass all four of these tests:

• Enough impressions to matter. On a small business site, a query with 30 impressions in three months won't change much even at position 1.
• Intent you can serve. "Boiler pressure dropping" suits a heating firm. "Boiler pressure gauge replacement part" might be someone looking for a shop, not a service.
• The page is actually about it. If Google is showing your pricing page for a how-to question, a new, focused post may beat reworking the wrong page.
• Positions 4–10 first. For the reasons above, these are closest to meaningful clicks.

Five to ten queries is plenty for a first round. You'll learn more from fixing five properly than from tweaking fifty.

What to change on the page

Before you edit anything, search the query yourself in a private browser window. Look at what ranks above you. Are they step-by-step guides, short answers, product pages, videos? If the top results answer a different question from your page, no amount of polishing will close the gap.

Then work through these, roughly in order of effort:

Answer the query directly, near the top

Many pages rank for a query they only mention in passing. Add a short section, or rewrite the opening, so it answers that exact question in the first few lines. Use the words people search with, not your internal jargon.

Rewrite the title so it earns the click

Your title is what people see in the results. Google's own guidance is to write descriptive and concise titles and to avoid keyword stuffing, which it says can make results look spammy. If your title is "Blog post 14 – Heating news", it's costing you clicks at any position. Something like "Why your combi boiler keeps losing pressure (and when to call someone)" tells the searcher they're in the right place.

Fill the gaps the competition covers

If every page above yours covers costs, timescales or safety warnings and yours doesn't, add them. This isn't about word count. It's about answering the follow-up questions a real customer would ask you on the phone.

Add internal links

Internal links are links from your other posts to this one. They help Google understand which page on your site is the main one for a topic, and they help readers find it. Find two or three related posts on your own site and link to the target page with anchor text that describes what it covers.

Ask Google to look again

Once you've made meaningful changes, use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to request indexing. Google notes that crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, that there's a quota for individual URLs, and that requesting a recrawl does not guarantee the page will be included quickly or at all. Request it once and move on.

What this approach can't do

We'd rather be plain about the limits.

It can't guarantee a ranking. Google decides where your page goes, and competitors are editing their pages too. Some of your targets won't move.

It can't beat a results page that doesn't send clicks. AI Overviews, Google's AI-written summaries at the top of some results, appeared on 43% of sampled desktop results pages in AWR's July 2026 data. On those pages, position 1 CTR dropped to 9.69%. If your query triggers one, the prize for moving up is smaller, and your page may earn more from being a cited source than from the blue link.

And it can't rescue a page that's the wrong fit. If Google is testing your page for a search it doesn't really answer, the honest fix is a new page.

How to tell if it worked

Write down the date you changed each page. Then wait. Four weeks is a reasonable minimum, since crawling alone can take a couple of weeks.

To compare, open the Performance report, filter by the page, and use the date comparison to set the 28 days after the change against the 28 days before. Look at position, impressions and clicks for your target queries, not just the page overall. Keep in mind that seasonal demand can move impressions on its own, so a heating post in October will look better than it did in August regardless.

If a query moved into the top three, leave it alone. If it hasn't moved after two months, check intent again before making more changes.

Blog AI flags striking distance queries automatically, but the check is the same whether a tool does it or you do: find the searches where you're nearly there, and make the page the best answer to that exact search.

Your pages already ranking at positions 4–10 are the closest clicks you'll find. Open Search Console today, filter queries to positions above 3, sort by impressions, and pick three to fix this week.

Frequently asked questions

What position counts as striking distance?

There's no official range. Most people use positions 4–20 or 11–20. We suggest starting with 4–10, because that's closest to the top three, where most clicks go.

How many impressions does a query need before it's worth fixing?

There's no fixed threshold. Compare it with your other queries: on a small site, focus on the ones in the top chunk of your impressions list that also match what you sell.

Should I write a new post or update the existing page?

Update the existing page if it's genuinely about the query. If Google is showing an off-topic page, such as a pricing page for a how-to question, a new focused post is often the better fix.

How long before I see a change?

Allow at least four weeks. Google says crawling alone can take from a few days to a few weeks, and positions often move around before they settle.

Researched and drafted with Blog AI, checked against its sources, and edited before publishing. How the checks work