SEO tip · Advanced
How to find your fastest SEO wins in Google Search Console
By the SEO Using AI Editorial Team · · 23-second video
Quick answer
Your fastest SEO wins are searches where you already rank on page two, positions 8 to 20, with lots of impressions. Google already sees the page as relevant, so small changes can lift it onto page one: add the exact search as a heading, answer it in the first two sentences, and link to the page from your strongest pages.
Step 1. Find searches ranking 8 to 20
In Google Search Console, open Performance, then Search results. Turn on Average position, open the Queries tab and sort by position, or export the table to a spreadsheet and filter it to positions 8 to 20. Keep the searches with the most impressions: people already see you there, they just are not clicking. Click a search, then the Pages tab, to see which page ranks for it.
Step 2. Add the exact question as a heading and answer it first
Open that page and add the search, phrased the way people ask it, as a subheading (an H2). Put a direct answer in the first one or two sentences under it, with the specific fact people want, such as a price range, a time, or a yes or no. Then add the detail. Google and AI tools lift short, self-contained answers like this into results and summaries.
Step 3. Link to it from your strongest pages
In Search Console, open Links and check Top linked pages. Your homepage and your most-linked guides carry the most authority. Add a link from each of them to the page you are lifting, using the search phrase, or a close variation, as the link text instead of words like click here.
Why it works
Pages on page two already pass Google's relevance test for that search. They usually fall short on how directly they answer it, or on how much authority points at them. The heading and the answer fix the first; internal links fix the second. Both are changes you control, unlike links from other websites.
Common mistakes
- Chasing searches at position 40 or 50, where the page is not really relevant yet
- Changing the title and the URL at the same time, so you cannot tell what worked
- Repeating the phrase in every paragraph instead of answering it once, clearly
- Judging after two days. Give it two to four weeks, then compare in Search Console
Questions
What is a striking distance keyword?
A search where your page already ranks just off page one, usually positions 8 to 20. It is called striking distance because a small improvement can move it onto page one, where most clicks happen.
How long does it take to see a change?
Google has to recrawl the page first, which you can request with the URL Inspection tool in Search Console. Then compare the page's average position over the next two to four weeks with the weeks before.
Video transcript
Your fastest SEO win is hiding on page two. Here's how to dig it up.
One. In Search Console, filter for searches ranking eight to twenty, with lots of impressions.
Two. Add that exact question as a heading, and answer it in the first two sentences.
Three. Link to that page from your strongest pages, using the search as the link text.
Small edits that can move page two onto page one.
