Search visibility is one of those metrics that sounds self-explanatory. More visibility is good. Less visibility is bad.

Right? 

Well, kind of.

If you've ever looked at your site's SEO visibility score and wondered whether it's "good," you're not alone. The truth is, most people are misinterpreting what visibility score really means, and overestimating how much it matters.

In this post, we'll unpack how SEO visibility scores actually work, what "good" looks like in context, and how to use the metric to make better decisions (without obsessing over the number just for vanity’s sake).

What is an SEO visibility score?

SEO visibility is a score that reflects how often your site appears in search results for a defined keyword set. Tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Sistrix calculate it using the rankings of your keywords, weighted by factors like search volume and position.

It’s usually expressed as a percentage from 0% to 100%, where:

• 0% means you have no visibility for the tracked keywords.

• 100% would mean you rank #1 for every keyword in the set (nearly impossible to achieve).

Here’s an example of what that looks like in Ahrefs:

Each SEO tool does it a bit differently, but the basic idea is: Visibility score = weighted average of your keyword rankings, adjusted by search volume and click-through potential.

For example:

• Ranking #1 for a high-volume keyword boosts your score a lot.

• Ranking #10 for a low-volume keyword has much less impact.

• Dropping from position #3 to #11 will tank your score more than a drop from #30 to #40.
  (Each tool has its own formula, but they share this principle.)

In other words, it’s a proxy for how visible your site is across organic search. If you're ranking in top positions for a lot of high-volume queries, your visibility score goes up. If rankings drop or keywords vanish, it goes down.

But here’s the catch: your score is only as useful as the keywords you’re tracking.

Why most visibility scores are misleading

Many people think their visibility score reflects how they’re doing overall in SEO. It doesn't. It reflects how you're doing for the keywords you're tracking.

That distinction matters.

Imagine you're tracking 20 branded keywords and a handful of low-volume long-tails. You could have a 70% visibility score. But that wouldn’t necessarily tell you how you're performing for higher-intent, competitive queries you're not tracking.

Let’s say you run an e-commerce brand called Oak & Ember, which sells premium candles. Pretend you’re tracking a small set of keywords in your SEO tool, like:

• “oak and ember”

• “oak and ember candles”

• “oak and ember reviews”

• “oak and ember coupon”

• Plus a few long-tail blog posts like “how to store candles in summer”

Because you rank #1 for most of these, your visibility score is 70%. On paper, it looks like you’re dominating.

But there are some keywords that are missing from this list. Maybe they look something like:

• “best scented candles”

• “luxury soy candles"

• “non-toxic candles for home”

• “diptyque vs le labo vs oak and ember”

What if you’re not ranking AT ALL for these other keywords? Suddenly that 70% “score” doesn’t seem super accurate, does it?

The result? You’re getting a high score that flatters your brand performance but hides your lack of reach in competitive, non-branded discovery.

Now picture a different scenario. Imagine you're tracking hundreds of keywords across the funnel. Your visibility score might be 5% and still represent strong progress. 

Let’s say in this example you run an e-commerce site called Everplate, selling premium ceramic dinnerware. Instead of just tracking brand terms, you’re doing SEO the right way and you’ve built a broad keyword set across the entire funnel, including:

TOFU (Top of Funnel):

• “how to set a modern dinner table”

• “ceramic vs porcelain plates”

• “best dinnerware materials for kids”

MOFU (Middle of Funnel):

• “best ceramic dinnerware brands”

• “non-toxic dishware sets”

• “everplate vs year & day”

BOFU (Bottom of Funnel):

• “everplate dinnerware”

• “everplate reviews”

• “buy everplate 16-piece set”

You’re tracking over 300 keywords, many in highly competitive SERPs where big brands like Crate & Barrel, Our Place, and West Elm dominate. Your current visibility score is just 5%, but here’s what’s happening under the hood:

• You’re steadily climbing from page 3 to page 1 for competitive, high-intent queries like “non-toxic dinnerware” and “ceramic plate sets”

• Organic traffic is up 40% from last quarter

• You’re capturing new customers who didn’t know your brand name last month

The result? That 5% score reflects a big footprint in tough markets, and steady upward momentum. It’s not a vanity number. It’s a signal that your content is working and your SEO engine is gaining traction.

Context is everything.

So... What’s a Good SEO Visibility Score?

There’s no universal benchmark.

Here’s a better way to think about it:

• 0-1%: Common for early-stage or newly launched sites. Room to grow.

• 1-5%: A healthy range for growing brands targeting competitive markets.

• 5-15%: Strong territory, typically showing sustained performance across mid-to-high volume keywords.

• 15%+: Rare, usually only achieved by category leaders or heavily branded sites.

But again, these numbers only mean something when you’re tracking the right keywords, and those keywords actually reflect genuine business priorities. 

Instead of asking "is this good?", ask: "Is this getting better over time for the keywords that matter to us?"

How We Use Visibility Scores at Placeholder

At Placeholder, we treat SEO visibility score as a directional signal, not a destination. It’s one of several instruments on the dashboard - a useful indicator when viewed in context, but never the full story.

We rely on it in three core ways:

1. Benchmarking Momentum

Visibility score gives us a fast way to understand how a site is trending after a strategic change, whether it’s a new content sprint, a technical fix, or a site migration. Because the metric is sensitive to movement across a wide keyword set, it’s often the first sign of impact.

It won’t tell us whether leads are up or revenue is rising, but it does tell us whether we’ve meaningfully expanded a site’s footprint in the search ecosystem. That makes it useful in the early innings, before downstream metrics fully kick in.

2. Cluster-Level Performance

Rather than looking at one blended score, we segment visibility across keyword clusters: by intent (e.g. informational vs transactional), product category, or funnel stage. That helps us pinpoint where we’re gaining traction and where we’re lagging.

For example, if visibility is surging for top-of-funnel queries around “how to choose the right mattress firmness,” but stagnant for bottom-of-funnel product terms, we know it’s time to shift focus to PDP optimization, review markup, or product schema. The cluster view makes that clear in a way aggregate metrics never could.

3. Client Communication

Not every client wants to dive into the weeds of SERP features, CTR curves, and long-tail keyword cannibalization. Visibility score, when framed properly, becomes a clean, digestible pulse metric for clients who want a high-level read on how things are moving.

We don’t oversell it. But we do use it to orient conversations, especially when visualized alongside rankings growth and traffic from high-value terms.

What to Do With Your Visibility Score

Here’s how to make visibility score actually useful:

1. Start with the keyword set

   • Are you tracking enough?

   • Are they mapped to real business goals?

   • Do they span the funnel?

2. Use it for deltas, not absolutes

   • Visibility up after a content sprint? Great.

   • Down after a site migration? Signal to investigate.

3. Compare within keyword groups

   • Visibility by topic cluster or intent type tells a better story.

4. Complement it with other metrics

   • Combine it with GSC data, organic sessions, and conversion metrics to get the full picture.

Final Thoughts

SEO visibility score IS a helpful pulse check. It’s NOT a scoreboard.

If you’re using it to gauge the effectiveness of your SEO program, make sure your inputs are clean, your context is defined, and you’re not chasing a bigger number for the sake of it.

At Placeholder, we help our clients track the right things, not just the easy things. And that starts with knowing what "good" actually means.

Need help understanding your visibility score (or improving it)? Let's talk.