What is Search Score?
Checking individual keyword rankings is useful, but it's hard to get a quick answer to "how is my site doing overall in search?" That's what Search Score solves.
Search Score is a daily composite metric that combines your keyword positions, traffic, and keyword value into one number. When your score goes up, your overall search presence is getting stronger. When it goes down, something needs attention.
How is it calculated?
Each day, we look at every tracked keyword that has Keywords Everywhere data (CPC and volume). For each keyword, we calculate a contribution score based on four factors:
Keyword contribution =
(1 + ln(1 + clicks))
× (1 + CPC)
× ln(1 + impressions)
× Expected CTR at position
Let's break down what each part does:
| Factor | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks | Log-dampened: (1 + ln(1 + clicks)) | Rewards keywords that drive real traffic, but dampens the effect so a single high-traffic keyword doesn't dominate your entire score |
| CPC | Value weight: (1 + CPC) | Higher CPC keywords reflect buyer intent and real dollar value. A keyword with $15 CPC matters more than one with $0.10 CPC |
| Impressions | Importance weight: ln(1 + impressions) | Keywords with more impressions have higher search demand. Log-dampened so extremely high-volume keywords don't overwhelm everything else |
| Position | Weighted by Expected CTR | Position 1 contributes far more than position 50. Uses an Expected CTR curve based on real click-through rate data (see table below) |
Expected CTR by position
The position factor uses an Expected CTR curve. Keywords ranking higher contribute more because they're more likely to get clicks:
| Position | Expected CTR |
|---|---|
| 1 | 25.0% |
| 2 | 15.0% |
| 3 | 10.0% |
| 4 | 5.0% |
| 5 | 3.0% |
| 6 | 2.0% |
| 7 | 1.5% |
| 8 | 1.0% |
| 9 | 0.8% |
| 10 | 0.6% |
| 11-20 | 0.3% |
| 21-50 | 0.05% |
| 51+ | 0.01% |
A real example
Let's say you have a keyword "best project management tools" with these stats today:
Position: 3 | Clicks: 12 | CPC: $8.50 | Impressions: 850
Contribution calculation:
- Clicks factor: (1 + ln(1 + 12)) = 1 + 2.565 = 3.565
- CPC factor: (1 + 8.50) = 9.50
- Impressions factor: ln(1 + 850) = 6.747
- Position factor (position 3): Expected CTR = 0.10 (10%)
Keyword contribution = 3.565 × 9.50 × 6.747 × 0.10 = 22.84
Your total Search Score is the sum of these contributions across all eligible keywords. With 500 tracked keywords, your score might be anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands, depending on your rankings, traffic, and keyword values.
What's a "good" score?
There's no universal benchmark because Search Score depends on how many keywords you track and their characteristics. Instead, focus on the trend. Your score going up means your search presence is strengthening. It going down means you're losing ground.
The dashboard shows your score change over 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days so you can spot trends quickly.
Why log-dampening?
Without dampening, a single keyword getting 10,000 clicks would dominate your entire score and hide drops in other keywords. The logarithmic scaling means that going from 0 to 100 clicks makes a meaningful difference, but going from 10,000 to 10,100 barely moves the needle. This keeps your score sensitive to real changes across your full keyword portfolio.
CPC floor
Keywords with zero CPC use a floor value of $0.10 in the Search Score calculation. This prevents zero-CPC keywords from being completely invisible in your score, while still weighting them much lower than keywords with real commercial value. The $0.10 floor only applies to score calculations and does not affect the CPC displayed in your keyword tables.
Data retention
Search Score history is stored for 1 year. The dashboard chart shows the last 30 days by default, but you can switch to 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or the full year view.