Opportunities
The Google Search Console Opportunities page finds searches where a small change can win more clicks, including competing pages (cannibalization) and AI answers.
The Opportunities page of the Google Search Console module lists searches you already show up for, where a small change can win many more clicks. It has four tabs, one for each kind of opportunity: weak CTR, searches just below the top 3, competing pages and AI answers.
Before you start
- Link a Google Search Console property to the domain. See Connect Google Search Console.
- Select Google Search Console > Opportunities in the sidebar.
- All members can see the lists. Only owners and admins can mark a row Not a problem or watch a page in Page Monitoring.
Each tab uses its own fixed analysis window, so the dock has no date range. The CTR vs expected, Almost in the top 3 and Competing pages tabs use the last 28 days of Google data. The AI answers tab looks at the last 90 days. The lists update automatically after each new data pull from Google.
The old Cannibalization page is now the Competing pages tab. Old links to Cannibalization open this tab.
Opportunity tiles
The four tiles at the top of Opportunities are also the tabs. Select a tile to open its list. The tiles always count the whole site.
| Tile | What it counts |
|---|---|
| CTR vs expected | Clicks missed against the expected CTR, for example "≈1,240" |
| Almost in the top 3 | Queries just below the top results |
| Competing pages | Queries split between your pages |
| AI answers | Queries with a click drop at a steady ranking |
A tile shows "Nothing found" or "None found" when its analysis found nothing. It shows "Couldn't load" when the numbers could not be read. A banner above the tiles links to the matching issues in Site Health Monitoring.
Filters on Opportunities
The dock has two filter fields: Query and Page. The filters narrow the ranked lists, but not the tiles. The page says, for example, "The filters narrow the ranked lists below. The tiles count the whole site." On the AI answers tab, the filters narrow nothing.
Not a problem: dismiss a row
On the CTR vs expected and Competing pages tabs, owners and admins can hide a row that they checked and are happy with. An example is a page that you keep on purpose.
- Find the row in the list.
- Click the Not a problem button (an eye icon with a line through it). On Competing pages, open the row first, then click Not a problem in the panel.
The row leaves the list, its totals and the tile numbers at the top. To see hidden rows, select Not a problem in the Listed / Not a problem switch in the card header. To show a row again, click Put back (or Put back in the list in the panel). The row then counts in the totals again.
CTR vs expected tab
The CTR vs expected tab lists searches where your page gets fewer clicks than its position normally earns. A clearer page title or description often fixes this. The card is named Pages and their CTR against the expected CTR. Fix the rows with the most missed clicks first.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Query | The search |
| Page | The page that ranks for it, with icons from other modules |
| Device | Desktop or Phone |
| Position | Average ranking position over the report window. 1 is the top of page one |
| CTR | The share of people who saw this result and clicked it. The hover shows the likely range |
| Typical CTR | What a result at this position normally gets on your site |
| Missed clicks | About how many more clicks this search would have sent if its CTR matched the typical CTR |
The typical CTR comes from your own history. If your history is too thin, the page uses an industry average, and the "?" icon names the source. Missed clicks are an upper limit, not a forecast.
Not re-crawled yet
If Server Log Monitoring is set up, the switch has a third view: Not re-crawled yet. It lists pages that earn fewer clicks than their position should and that verified Googlebot has not fetched recently. Without a new fetch, Google can still show the old title and description.
This view has the columns Page, Position, CTR, Typical CTR, Missed clicks and Last crawl. The Listed view also gets a Re-crawled column. If all pages were fetched again, the view says "Googlebot has re-crawled every under-performing page". The dock filters do not narrow this view.
Every query by CTR and position
Under the list of the CTR vs expected tab, Opportunities shows the chart Every query by CTR and position. Each dot is a query on one device. A bigger dot gets more clicks. CTR runs across (log scale) and position runs up, with position 1 at the top.
Two dashed lines show Your average CTR and Your average position. They split the chart into four corners:
| Corner | What to do |
|---|---|
| Doing well | Keep them there |
| Weak titles | Rewrite the title |
| Worth pushing up | Add depth or links |
| Low on both | Off-topic or needs new content |
Drag to zoom, then drag to pan. Use Zoom in, Zoom out and Reset zoom in the card header. The chart shows the 1,000 biggest queries in view. Zoom in to see smaller queries. Queries with no clicks, or with a CTR under 0.05%, are left out. Queries below position 50 sit on the bottom edge.
Almost in the top 3 tab
The Almost in the top 3 tab lists queries where you rank just below the top results. Moving up one or two places can win many more clicks. The card is named Queries just below the top results, and the highest score is first.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Query, Page, Device | The search, the page that ranks for it and the device |
| Position | The average position over the last 28 days and the target, for example "6.4 → 3" |
| Gain | About how many more clicks the query would earn at position 3, if impressions stay the same |
| Effort | Easy, Medium or Hard: how many places the page must climb |
| CTR gap to top 3 | How many percentage points of CTR the query would gain at position 3 |
| Score | How much the query is worth working on. 100 is the biggest opportunity on this list |
Gain shows "Under +1" for a gain of less than one click. It shows Above typical when the query already earns clicks at or above the usual rate for position 3. The gain is an upper limit, not a forecast.
Score and effort on Almost in the top 3
The Score has three bands: 70 or more is Big opportunity, 40 to 69 is Worth doing, and below 40 is Smaller. Reach (impressions) counts most, then the CTR gap and the distance to position 3. A query that slips gets a bonus.
The Effort limits start with default values. After 90 days of ranking history, they tune themselves to your own history. The "?" icon of the column shows the current limits.
Query details panel
Click a row to open the query details. The panel shows the period, the device and the page. It has the tiles Reach, CTR now, CTR at position 3, CTR gap to top 3, Score and Momentum.
Momentum is Rising, Slipping or Steady, against your own baseline. Chips can also mark the query:
- Split query: more than one of your pages answers this query.
- Losing clicks: the query earns fewer clicks than it did before.
- AI answer: Google shows an AI answer for this query, which can take clicks away.
If no query qualifies, the tab says "No query is just below the top results".
Competing pages tab
The Competing pages tab lists queries where more than one of your pages ranks, so Google splits the clicks between them. This is also called keyword cannibalization. Merge the pages, or make one page clearly the best answer.
The verdict says "Some queries are answered by more than one of your pages". The line under it says, for example, "The other pages earn 320 clicks a month between them".
The card Queries with competing pages has two filter chips:
- Leave out paginated pages (on by default). Pages like /page/2/ always sit next to page 1, so they are left out as competitors.
- Leave out brand queries. Searches that contain one of your brand terms. Owners and admins can click Edit brand terms to open the brand terms.
If no query has competing pages, the tab says "No query has competing pages".
Columns of the Competing pages list
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Query | The search. A Page switched chip shows when Google moved the query to another of your pages |
| Page Google shows most | The primary page for this query |
| Position | Average position of the primary page over the report window |
| Competing | How many pages ranked for this query, for example "3 pages" |
| Split clicks | Clicks the other pages earn for this query today |
| Split impressions | Impressions earned by the other pages. They are not lost, but split between pages |
A page counts as competing when it earned at least 10% of the top page's impressions. A high count means Google has not settled on one answer from your site.
Competing pages panel
Click a row to open the Competing pages panel. It lists every page that ranked for the query, with Position, Impressions, Clicks and CTR. The page that Google shows most has the Primary chip.
If Google switched the page, the panel shows Google switched page with the date, the From and To pages and the CTR before and after. Google switched page means that Google moved 70% or more of the impressions to another page and kept them there for at least 14 days.
The panel has the buttons See this query in the overview and Not a problem.
AI answers tab
The AI answers tab finds queries where clicks fell while your ranking held. An AI answer, for example a Google AI Overview, or another zero-click result above your page may take the click. Google Search Console does not say when an AI Overview appears. The page infers it from click patterns, and Google does not confirm it.
If the tab finds drops, the verdict says "Some queries lost clicks while the ranking stayed the same", with the clicks lost a month. If it finds nothing, the tab says "No sign of AI answers".
CTR at the top positions
The chart CTR at the top positions shows the monthly CTR at one ranking position, by device and by brand or non-brand searches. Use Position 1, Position 2 or Position 3 to change the position. A line that goes down means searchers in that slot click less than before. Above the chart, a line for each device and search group shows the drop, for example "Phone · non-brand -18% at position 1 over 12 months".
Sudden click drops at a steady ranking
This table lists each query whose clicks fell in the last 90 days while its ranking held. Make your answer clear and easy to quote.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Detected | The day the clicks started to fall |
| Query, Page, Device | The search, its page and the device |
| Likely cause | What changed in Google's results around that day. A best guess |
| Position | The average position before and after the drop |
| Lost clicks/day | About how many clicks a day the query lost after the drop |
The likely cause can be "AI Overview likely added", "Featured snippet lost", "Rich result lost" or "Unknown SERP shift".
Troubleshooting
Why does an Opportunities tile say "Nothing found"?
The analysis ran and found no rows of that kind. This is good news. Small sites often have no competing pages or AI answer drops.
Where is a row that I marked Not a problem?
Opportunities hides the row from the list, its totals and the tiles. Select Not a problem in the switch in the card header to see it. To show it in the list again, click Put back.
Why do the filters not change the tiles?
The tiles always count the whole site. The Query and Page filters narrow only the ranked lists. The AI answers tab and the query chart always show the whole site.
Why is the Not re-crawled yet view missing?
The view needs Server Log Monitoring. Set up server logs to see which pages Googlebot has not fetched again. See Server logs.
Related
- Overview - the Google Search Console KPIs and filters
- Clusters - topics spread over several pages
- Internationalization - searches that rank differently by country
- Server Log Monitoring - Googlebot visits to your pages
- Site Health overview - opportunities listed under Worth winning
New pages
The Google Search Console New pages page shows if Google crawls, indexes and shows the pages you publish, how long it takes and which are stuck.
Clusters
The Google Search Console Clusters page groups your searches by topic and compares the sections of your site, so you see which subjects win or lose clicks.
