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Striking Distance Keywords: How to Find Low-Hanging Fruit

Kong Metrics Team · · 3 min read

When planning an SEO strategy, most teams make the mistake of focusing entirely on net-new content to target keywords where they currently have zero presence. While acquiring new real estate is important, it is also the slowest, most resource-intensive way to grow traffic.

The smartest, highest-ROI tactic in SEO is optimizing for Striking Distance Keywords.

What Are Striking Distance Keywords?

Striking distance keywords are search queries for which your website is already ranking on Google, but just outside the high-traffic zones—typically on Page 2 or early Page 3 (Positions 11 through 25).

These keywords represent massive untapped potential. Google already views your site as relevant for the topic; it just needs a slight “push” to cross the threshold onto Page 1.

Moving a keyword from Position 12 to Position 6 requires significantly less effort than moving a brand-new page from nowhere to Position 10, yet the traffic increase can be exponential.

Finding Them Manually in GSC

You can find these keywords in the native Google Search Console, but it requires some spreadsheet gymnastics:

  1. Export your Performance data to a CSV.
  2. Filter the “Position” column to only show rows between 11.0 and 20.0.
  3. Sort by “Impressions” from highest to lowest.

The problem? GSC averages positions over the selected date range. A query might show an average position of 12, but in reality, it ranked #5 for a week and dropped to #50, or it’s highly volatile. Furthermore, determining which of those hundreds of Page 2 keywords is actually worth your time is difficult without additional context.

Prioritizing Opportunities with Kong Metrics

To make this process seamless, Kong Metrics developed the Striking Distance and Opportunity Scoring features.

Instead of wrestling with CSV exports, Kong Metrics automatically identifies and isolates your striking distance keywords. But more importantly, it helps you prioritize them.

The Opportunity Score

Not all Page 2 keywords are created equal. Kong Metrics calculates a proprietary Opportunity Score that factors in:

  • Search Volume / Impressions: How big is the prize?
  • Current Rank Proximity: How close are you to the top 3?
  • Expected CTR: What is the realistic traffic gain if you hit position #3?

This score instantly highlights the “low-hanging fruit.” You immediately know exactly which 5 or 10 pages will yield the biggest traffic increases with the least amount of effort.

How to Push Pages from Page 2 to Page 1

Once Kong Metrics has identified your top striking distance opportunities, apply these optimization tactics to push them onto Page 1:

  1. Improve Internal Linking: Find relevant, high-authority pages on your own site and add exact-match anchor text links pointing to your striking distance page. This passes crucial PageRank.
  2. Optimize Title Tags & CTR: Sometimes, the content is great, but the title is boring. Look at the current Page 1 results and write a more compelling meta title.
  3. Expand Content Depth: Compare your page against the top 3 ranking articles. Are you missing key subtopics, FAQs, or media? Refresh the content to comprehensively answer the search intent.
  4. Improve Core Web Vitals: If the content quality is tied, site speed and user experience become the tiebreakers.

By focusing your monthly optimization sprints on striking distance keywords identified by Kong Metrics, you can achieve rapid, measurable organic growth.