Summary:
Pixel Ranking refers to the number of pixels between a site’s ranking on the result’s page, and the top of the page. The higher your Pixel Ranking, the less visibile your site is from the top of the page. Being visibile immediately on the results page has a significant impact on click thru rates – the more visible you are, the more likely users are to click thru to your site and meet your business goals.
What is the Value of Pixel Ranking?
By knowing how far down you are on the results page and which SERP Features (Images, Videos, Top Stories, Featured Snippets etc.) are triggered by your keywords, you can adapt the format of your SEO content to ensure your site ranks in those blocks. Ranking in Universal Search often times means a site is ranking above the fold, and hence you get the best online visibility.
You’ve all heard about Google’s Pixel 4 smartphone and DXOMark rankings, but have you heard of a Pixel Ranking? …No? Well, it’s not the latest Google Pixel Smartphone, it’s a metric to help you fully understand your TRUE organic ranking on the Search Engine Results Page.
Pixel Ranking is a unique feature formulated by the Myposeo platform to make sure you get a clear and accurate understanding of your organic ranking on the search engine. Let’s look deeper into this:
What is Pixel Ranking?
Pixel ranking refers to the number of pixels between the position of your website on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and the top of the page. The goal is to have the lowest possible pixel position i.e. the minimum distance between the top of the page and your website position as this ensures that you are closer to the top of the page, and therefore will have better visibility on the SERP.
The standard number of pixels that make up the fold on desktop and mobile is 800 pixels as depicted in the images below. In this article, we will use a desktop device to explain Pixel Ranking.
How do I Read my Pixel Ranking?
The above screenshot from the Myposeo platform interface shows you the Keywords collected alongside their Pixel Position (px) on the search engine results page.
We’re going to compare the Pixel Rank/ Position of the second keyword expression ‘tailored suits’ with the third expression ‘check suit’ that was collected from a desktop results page.
Since 800px is the fold, anything higher than 800px means that the keyword ranks for a URL that is positioned below the fold i.e. users will have to scroll to find the specific URL or choose a competitor URL that’s higher than it on the search engine.
With this in mind, it is evident that ‘tailored suits’ with a Pixel Ranking of 4,917px is way below the fold and is therefore worse off in comparison to ‘check suits’ that has a Pixel Ranking of 770px.
Simply put, this means that the distance between the top of the page and the URL that ranks for ‘check suits’ is only 770 pixels, well above the fold and therefore much more visible than the URL that ranks for ‘tailored suits’.
Why is Pixel Ranking Important?
Being an SEO winner and ranking in positions 1-3 is not synonymous with good visibility.
As you can see, although “3 piece suits” ranks in Position 1, it’s Pixel Ranking of 925px tells us that the URL for which this keyword expression ranks for, is in fact, below the fold.
Analytics generally show your organic position on the SERP but not your physical position, which could be below the fold (a few scrolls down) drastically affecting your online visibility.
You may rank as number 1 in organic search (SEO/ organic results) but physically on the SERP your website is not the first result to appear, in fact, there are other results such as PPC ads, Featured Snippets and Universal Search etc. that appear in different Google SERP feature Blocks before you.
This results in your physical position actually being further down the page, meaning users will have to scroll to find your website and you could lose a potential customer to another ad appearing before you.
Pixel Rankings Depend on the Number of Pixels that Makeup your Screen
“The fold” is generally the first 800 pixels on a desktop, and between 400 pixels on mobile.
If your Pixel Ranking is below or equal to 800px on desktop or on mobile, you are considered to rank ‘above the fold’ and therefore, have the highest visibility.
Why is having a larger Pixel Ranking a Disadvantage?
Mainly because users want answers immediately and don’t want to put in the effort to scroll down results pages to look for the perfect answer, they want the search engine to do that for them.
Google recognises this need from its users, and finds the best answers to search queries and places them at the top of the page.
If you are not therefore, placed at the top of the page (above the fold) you will have a larger number of pixels between your position on the search engine and the top of the page i.e. a larger Pixel Ranking. This means users have to scroll to find you which is not ideal.
What affects my Pixel Ranking?
1. The SERP Features & Environment
Google is constantly striving to provide the best user experience ensuring the potential user intent is satisfied in multiple ways. Providing the most relevant answers to user intent means Google will serve easy to consume formats, PPC ads, Images, Maps, questions People Always Ask and so on. These formats tend to affect organic websites’ pixel rankings as the results tend to take up a significant part of the top of the page.
2. Screen Size
While the standard size of the “fold” (the visible portion of the screen) on desktop is 800px, you know that the best Pixel Ranking to have would obviously be under 800px as that means that you are above the fold.
However, “the fold” is made up of either less or more pixels on different devices like tablets. Your Pixel Ranking therefore, is affected by the number of pixels that make up the screen. You need to make sure that your Pixel Ranking is good for the device that you are tracking your ranking on.
While a large Pixel Ranking is never ideal irrespective of the number of pixels on the screen, it is important that you read and understand your Pixel Ranking depending on the device you are tracking.
Find out your TRUE ranking! Test out Myposeo’s unique Pixel Ranking feature by starting your free trial or contact us for more information.
