Visibility index

The Visibility index is a standard reference when it comes to mapping the position and value of a website. The higher the value, the better the visibility of the page. Numerous SEO tools, including Sistrix, Xovi and Seolytics, map this value, but use different calculation bases, so there is no one Visibility index gives.

How is the visibility index determined?

Even if the SEO tools have the Visibility index calculate differently, there are basic aspects that are the same for all calculations:

1. It will be a very large Keyword-pool, from which the 100 highest rankings are regularly determined. The topics of these keywords are very broad in order to obtain a meaningful amount of data.
2. The following values are used to Ranking of these keywords is added:

- the Trafficwhich can be expected with the position of this keyword

- the Traffic, which is due to the Keyword itself can be expected

For example, Sistrix uses 250,000 keywords for the calculation, of which about 10 percent are current keywords, i.e. terms that are current due to certain events such as the World Cup, the Olympic Games or holidays.

If you want to compare the visibility of 2 websites, you must use only the data of the same tool, because the exact values differ depending on the SEO tool. For example, the comparison of Sistrix and Xovi shows that Sistrix has significantly lower numerical values, which of course does not mean that the Sistrix website has a lower Visibility index has.

Example for the Visibility index at Sistrix:

Example for the Visibility index at Xovi:

Both sections are based on the same domain - so you can easily see how different the visibility scores of the two tools are.

Details about the functioning of the Sistrix-Visibility index: What is the Visibility index?

Data actuality in the visibility index

Most tools update their visibility index data only once a week. At Sistrix, for example, the new values are always visible on Sundays. So the value does not have to match the reality of the current day. A Keyword may be placed quite differently, e.g. due to the impact of a Google update.

How meaningful is the visibility index?

According to topbbacolleges.com. Visibility index only one of many metrics for checking the results of SEO measures. Thus, an increase in the index is not automatically associated with an increase in organic traffic. The Traffic may as well lose weight while the Index of the page increases. Accordingly, conversion rates cannot be unambiguously derived from the Visibility index derive.

There are also problems with niche sites. These sites often deal with special topics that are only partially or not at all related to the "Keyword-collections" of the tools are covered. And if fewer keywords are considered for the page, this naturally affects the calculation of its visibility. Theoretically, niche sites could never have good visibility in the tools.

Application in search engine optimization

Since the Visibility index uses only a limited number of keywords for the calculation and these only with a Traffic-probability are linked, it does not make any unambiguous statements, but is only an approximate value, especially when considered on its own and only in a short period of time. Unambiguous results can only be read in conjunction with other values, e.g. in comparison with the competition, with a view to seasonal factors or in conjunction with certain traffic values from the Web analytics.

The Index however, shows a good picture for the historical development of a website, i.e. the development over a long period of time. At Sistrix, this can be traced back to the year 2008. You can use this history to understand the impact of a relaunch or a Google update, for example.