Find striking-distance keywords

"Striking distance" keywords already rank, already get impressions, and sit just below the click cliff. Moving one from position 12 to position 6 typically multiplies its clicks several times over, far cheaper than ranking something new.

Steps

1. Pull query-level performance. Call google_search_console.query with dimensions: ["query", "page"], a 28-day window ending 3 days ago, rowLimit: 1000.

2. Filter to the striking-distance band. Keep rows where average position is between 8 and 20 AND impressions are meaningful (a sensible floor is 100 impressions over 28 days; state the threshold you used). Rank the survivors by impressions descending. Low-impression rows in this band aren't opportunities, they're noise.

3. Flag low CTR for the position. Within the band, a query whose CTR is well below its peers at a similar position usually has a title/meta problem rather than a ranking problem. Note these separately. They're the fastest wins because they need a copy edit, not a content project.

4. Add difficulty (if Ahrefs is connected). Pass the shortlisted terms to ahrefs.keywords_overview in batches to get keyword difficulty, volume, and CPC. Drop anything with difficulty far above what the site already ranks for. High CPC is a useful proxy for commercial intent.

5. Report. A table sorted by opportunity: keyword, current position, impressions, clicks, CTR, the page currently ranking, difficulty, and CPC. Group into "fix the snippet" (low CTR for position) and "strengthen the page" (position 11–20). Say what to do for the top 5, not all of them.

Gotchas

• One page per keyword. If two URLs both rank for a term, that's cannibalization, not opportunity. Flag it and hand it to keyword-cannibalization-check rather than recommending more content.
• Position 11 vs 8 matters enormously. Position 11 is top-of-page-two and gets almost nothing; position 8 is already on page one. Don't treat the band as uniform.
• Search Console averages positions across devices and countries. If the site is international, add dimensions: ["query", "page", "country"] and check whether one market is dragging the average.
• Branded queries pollute the list. Strip queries containing the brand name before ranking. They already convert and can't be improved much.