The short answer
Open Performance and then Search results, turn on all four metrics, and look for four things: pages with many impressions but a low CTR for their position (rewrite the title and opening paragraph); queries with an average position of roughly 8 to 20 (strengthen the page that ranks); queries where two or more of your pages appear (merge or differentiate them); and important pages listed as "Not indexed" in the Page indexing report (fix the stated reason). Record a baseline and the change date before you change anything.
Before you start: four settings that change what you see
Search Console's Performance report (Search results) shows four metrics: Clicks, Impressions, CTR (clicks divided by impressions) and Average position, the average of your topmost result's position¹. Below the chart, a table breaks the data down by Queries, Pages, Countries, Devices, Search appearance and Dates¹. Get these right first:
- Turn on all four metrics. Click each metric box above the chart so that Clicks, Impressions, CTR and Average position all appear as columns in the table.
- Pick a long enough date range. The report defaults to the past three months¹. For a low-traffic B2B site, three months is a sensible minimum; the date filter lets you go back up to 16 months².
- Check the search type. Most marketers want web search. Search Console now splits web data into "Web: text-based" and "Web: multimodal" (searches made with images, such as Google Lens), alongside Image, Video and News¹. Keep the same search type throughout your analysis.
- Check for known data problems. Google lists data anomalies on a help page. For example, it reports that a logging error affected impressions, CTR and average position (but not clicks) from 13 May 2025 to 27 April 2026³. If your date range crosses that period, impression-based comparisons need care.
Two limits are worth knowing. The table shows at most 1,000 rows, and rare queries are anonymised: they are left out of the table but counted in the chart totals, unless you apply a query filter⁴. So the rows will not add up to the totals, and that is expected. For larger sites, the Export option at the top of the report sends the visible rows to a spreadsheet, which makes the filtering below easier.
Filtering works the same way throughout. Click + Add filter in the filter row, choose Queries or Pages, pick a match type (such as "Queries containing" or "Custom (regex)") and click Apply. Clicking any row in the table also filters the report to that row⁵.
Quick win 1: pages with high impressions and low CTR
A page with many impressions and few clicks is being shown to searchers who choose someone else. The usual cause is the search result itself: a vague title, a snippet that does not match the query, or a result that looks less relevant than its neighbours. This is often the fastest fix because the page already ranks.
Steps
- In the Performance report, open the Pages tab.
- Sort by Impressions, highest first (click the column heading).
- Look down the CTR and Average position columns together. Google's own help suggests sorting by CTR to find low-CTR pages⁶; sorting by impressions first keeps the focus on pages where a change could matter.
- Shortlist pages whose CTR is noticeably lower than your other pages at a similar average position.
- Click one shortlisted page to filter the report to it, then open the Queries tab to see which searches it appears for.
- Search for the top two or three of those queries yourself and look at the results around yours.
How to judge "low"
CTR depends heavily on position and on what else appears in the results, such as ads, AI Overviews and other features. Compare a page against your own pages at a similar position for similar kinds of queries, not against an industry average. A page at position 3 with a lower CTR than your pages at position 6 is a strong candidate. A page at position 15 with a low CTR is normal; it belongs in quick win 2.
Check whether the impressions come from your brand name. Search Console offers a Branded and Non-branded option in the Query filter, though not for sub-properties or sites with very few impressions⁶. Branded and non-branded searches behave very differently, so analyse them separately.
What to change
- The title. Make it describe the page specifically, in the searcher's words. Google asks for descriptive, concise, distinct titles and warns against boilerplate and repeated keywords⁷.
- The opening paragraph. Google builds snippets mainly from page content, and uses the meta description when it describes the page more accurately⁸. Make the first paragraph answer the main query directly, and write an accurate meta description too.
- The match between query and page. If the page is shown for a query it does not really answer, a better title will not fix it. Either add the answer or accept that the impressions are not valuable.
An illustrative example (not a real client): a services page titled "Solutions | Example Ltd" appears for "managed IT support for law firms". A title such as "Managed IT Support for Law Firms | Example Ltd" describes the page in the searcher's own words, provided the page genuinely covers that service.
Quick win 2: queries ranking in positions 8 to 20
Queries with an average position of roughly 8 to 20 are sometimes called "striking distance" queries: Google already considers your page relevant, but not yet one of the best answers. A focused improvement to the page can move it up, while a query at position 60 usually needs much more work.
Steps
- Open the Queries tab with all four metrics turned on.
- Use Export to send the rows to a spreadsheet, so that you can filter by position precisely.
- Keep rows with an average position from 8 to 20, then sort by impressions, highest first.
- Remove branded queries and queries that do not match anything you sell.
- For each remaining query, go back to the report, click the query to filter by it, and open the Pages tab to see which page ranks.
- Group the queries by page. A page with several striking distance queries is a stronger candidate than one with a single query.
What to change
- Add or expand the section of the page that answers the query, with the specific detail a buyer would need.
- Use the query's wording naturally in a heading where it fits the content.
- Add internal links to the page from related pages, with descriptive anchor text.
- Check the title still describes the page once the content has changed.
Two cautions
First, average position is an average. A query with few impressions can show an unstable position that swings from week to week, so give more weight to queries with enough impressions to be consistent over your date range. Second, AI features affect the numbers: Google reports AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic within the "Web" search type in this report⁹, so a position on a query that triggers an AI Overview may not mean what it used to.
Quick win 3: pages competing for the same query (cannibalisation)
Keyword cannibalisation is when two or more of your pages target the same query with the same intent, so neither performs as well as one strong page would. On B2B sites it is common: an old blog post and a newer service page, or two service pages that describe overlapping offers.
Steps
- Open the Queries tab and pick an important non-branded query.
- Click the query to filter the report by it.
- Open the Pages tab. Every URL listed has appeared in results for that query in your date range.
- If two or more pages appear with meaningful impressions, select Dates and check whether they take turns: one page's impressions fall when the other's rise.
- For a family of related queries, use + Add filter, Queries, then Custom (regex). Search Console uses RE2 syntax and matches case-insensitively by default⁵. For example,
(crm integration|integrate crm)matches both phrasings.
Decide what it means
Two URLs appearing for one query is not automatically a problem. A homepage and a service page can both appear for a broad term, and an article and a service page can serve different intents. It is a problem when the pages serve the same purpose and both perform weakly.
| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| Same intent, one page clearly stronger | Merge the useful content into the stronger page and permanently redirect the weaker URL |
| Same content at several URLs | Choose a canonical URL and signal it with a redirect or rel="canonical"¹⁰ |
| Different intents (learning versus buying) | Keep both, sharpen each page's title and focus, and link between them |
| One page appears only occasionally | Usually no action needed |
The URL Inspection tool shows the canonical Google selected for a page¹¹. If Google has chosen a different canonical from the one you declared, the Page indexing report lists it under "Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user"¹².
Quick win 4: important pages that are not indexed
A page that is not indexed cannot rank at all. On a small B2B site, a single service page stuck outside the index is a bigger problem than any title.
Steps
- Open Indexing and then Pages to reach the Page indexing report. The chart shows Not indexed and Indexed pages¹².
- Use the sitemap filter above the chart and choose "All submitted pages" to focus on the URLs you told Google about¹².
- Scroll to the "Why pages aren't indexed" table. Each row is a reason with a count of affected pages.
- Click a reason to see example URLs. Look for your pipeline pages: services, solutions, pricing, case studies and contact.
- For any important URL, run URL Inspection (the search bar at the top of Search Console) to see its current status, and use "Test live URL" to check the live version¹¹.
Reasons that matter on B2B sites
- URL marked 'noindex': often left over from a staging site or a page builder setting. Remove the tag if the page should rank.
- Crawled - currently not indexed and Discovered - currently not indexed: Google knows the page but has not indexed it. Thin or near-duplicate pages often end up here; improve the content and link to the page from relevant pages.
- Duplicate without user-selected canonical: Google sees the page as a duplicate and you have not said which version to prefer. Declare a canonical.
- Not found (404) and Soft 404: check whether any of these URLs had links or traffic; if so, redirect them to the most relevant live page.
- Page with redirect and Alternate page with proper canonical tag: usually expected, and no action needed.
After fixing an issue, use Validate Fix on that reason so Google rechecks the affected URLs, and use Request indexing in URL Inspection for a single important page¹².
Prioritise: which quick win first?
Most teams find more candidates than they can work on. Score each one quickly:
| Question | Higher priority when |
|---|---|
| Is it a pipeline page? | It is a service, solution, pricing, proof or contact page |
| Does the query match what you sell? | A buyer using it could become a customer |
| How many impressions? | Enough for a change in clicks to be visible over a few weeks |
| How much effort? | A title rewrite or indexing fix, rather than new content |
| Is anything blocking it? | Indexing problems come before everything else |
Record the change, then wait
Quick wins are only wins if you can show what happened. Before each change:
- Export the page's clicks, impressions, CTR and position for a fixed period, such as the last 8 or 12 weeks.
- Note what you changed and when. Search Console lets you add an annotation of up to 120 characters by right-clicking the Performance chart on a date¹³. Annotations are visible to everyone with access to the property, so leave out personal details.
- Change one thing per page at a time, so you can tell which change mattered.
Then wait. Search Console data usually arrives within 2 to 3 days⁴, but Google has to recrawl the page and rankings take time to settle. Compare the same length of period before and after, on the same days of the week, and expect some results to be inconclusive on a low-traffic site. Our guide to measuring the impact of a website change explains how to read the result honestly, and measuring website changes covers seasonality and external events.
Common mistakes
- Optimising for impressions that will never convert. A query that matches nothing you sell is not a quick win, however many impressions it has.
- Reading too much into one week. Small numbers move a lot on their own.
- Changing many pages and the navigation together. You lose the ability to attribute any result.
- Forgetting anonymised data. Filtered views leave out rare queries, so totals will not match the unfiltered chart⁴.
Back to the hub: B2B website SEO for the site you already have.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a quick win in Google Search Console?
A quick win is a change that is small to make and likely to matter: usually a page that already appears in search with many impressions but few clicks, a query ranking around positions 8 to 20, two pages competing for one query, or an important page that is not indexed.
What is a good CTR in Search Console?
There is no single good CTR, because it depends on position, the type of query and what else appears in the results. Compare each page with your own pages at a similar average position rather than with a published average.
How do I filter Search Console by position?
Turn on the Average position metric, then export the Queries or Pages table to a spreadsheet and filter the position column there. Keep in mind that the table shows at most 1,000 rows and leaves out anonymised queries.
How long after a change should I check the results?
Search Console data usually appears within 2 to 3 days, but rankings take longer to settle after Google recrawls a page. Wait several weeks, then compare equal periods before and after the change.
Sources
- Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results) (accessed November 2026)
- Google Search Central: Debugging drops in Google Search traffic (accessed November 2026)
- Search Console Help: Data anomalies in Search Console, entry dated 3 April 2026 (accessed November 2026)
- Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results): Troubleshooting data discrepancies (accessed November 2026)
- Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results): Advanced filtering and comparison (accessed November 2026)
- Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results): Common tasks and use cases (accessed November 2026)
- Google Search Central: Influencing your title links in search results (accessed November 2026)
- Google Search Central: Control your snippets in search results (accessed November 2026)
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website (accessed November 2026)
- Google Search Central: How to specify a canonical URL with rel="canonical" and other methods (accessed November 2026)
- Search Console Help: URL Inspection tool (accessed November 2026)
- Search Console Help: Page indexing report (accessed November 2026)
- Search Console Help: Search Console annotations (accessed November 2026)
Turn Search Console evidence into approved changes.
Artiweave reads your Search Console data, proposes specific changes such as rewritten titles, and publishes only what your team approves, with automatic rollback. It is in private beta.