What a WYN score measures
A WYN score sizes the prize on a keyword: how many more visits a month you could get by moving from where you rank today into the top 3. It ranks your keywords by what improving them is worth, so the work goes where it pays back most.
It combines three inputs: the keyword’s monthly search volume, your current position, and an average click through rate for each position on the page.
Why position alone misleads
Clicks fall steeply down the page. In Sistrix’s study of mobile results, the first organic result got 28.5% of clicks on average, the second 15.7%, the third 11% and the tenth 2.5%, and each result on page two got well under 1%.
So equal moves are not worth equal amounts. Climbing from 11th to 5th brings a keyword onto page one and into real clicks; climbing from 30th to 24th changes almost nothing. An average position treats the two the same, and a WYN score tells them apart.
How the estimate is worked out
Rank.ai works out two numbers for each keyword with a known search volume:
- Estimated traffic: the search volume times the average click rate at your current position.
- Upside: the search volume times the average click rate of positions 1 to 3, minus your estimated traffic today. This is the WYN score.
The click rates come from a fixed industry average curve: 28% for first place, 15% for second, 11% for third, falling to 1.5% for tenth and 0.5% on page two. For a keyword with 5,000 searches a month where you rank 8th, that means about 125 visits today and about 900 in the top 3, an upside of roughly 775 visits a month.
Where the estimate falls short
The curve is an average. Real click rates change with the searcher’s intent, the device, how well known your brand is and what else is on the page: Sistrix found the first result’s share fell to 13.7% when Google Shopping results sat on top, and to about 16.7% with a knowledge panel.
Use the score to rank keywords against each other. The absolute number of visits is an estimate.
WYN score and keyword difficulty
Many SEO tools show a keyword difficulty score, an estimate of how hard a keyword is to rank for, usually based on the strength of the pages already ranking. Difficulty sizes the effort. A WYN score sizes the reward.
They often disagree. A big head term where you rank 30th can have a high difficulty and little near term reward, while a smaller keyword sitting 11th can be easy to move and worth a lot. Look at both: start with a large upside and a difficulty your site can handle.
Where to find it in Rank.ai
In Rank.ai’s Google rank tracker, each keyword with a known volume and rank shows its estimated traffic and its upside. The top of the tab totals the traffic your tracked keywords bring today and lists your five biggest quick wins: keywords ranked 4 to 10 with the most upside.