Everything Rankbench looks for

This is the reference. Every finding Rankbench can raise, what it means, and roughly what fixing it involves. You do not need to read it end to end. It is here for the moment a finding appears on your list and you want more than the one line the card gives you.

Findings appear in the Fixes tab alongside structural problems, and the three worth the most appear on the overview.

How to read these tables

The name is what appears on the card. The explanation is why it matters. Some findings need Google Search Console connected before they can appear at all, because they are measured from your own click and impression data. Connecting it is covered in connecting Google Search Console.

A few need your authority to have been read, which happens on every audit.

Titles and descriptions

What Google prints in the results page. The cheapest work on any site, because the ranking is already there and only the invitation to click is missing.

Finding	What it means
No title	These pages lack a descriptive title. A clear title helps readers understand the page when it appears in search or a browser tab.
Titles too short	These titles give readers little information about the page. Add enough detail to make its purpose clear.
Titles get cut off	These titles may be shortened or rewritten in search results. Put the page topic first and remove words that do not help readers.
Pages sharing one title	Several pages use the same title, making them harder to distinguish in search results. Give distinct pages titles that describe their own purpose.
Titles that only say your company name	These page titles only name the company. Descriptive titles help people distinguish the pages and understand what each offers.
Title and heading promise different things	The title and main heading describe different things. Align them so visitors can recognise that they reached the page they expected.
No description	The description is half your pitch in the results. Without one, Google clips whatever sentence contains the search words — sometimes a cookie notice.
No main heading	The main heading tells a reader they landed in the right place, and tells Google what the page covers.
More than one main heading	Several main headings muddle what a page is about, for readers and for Google.
Descriptions too short	These descriptions provide little context about the page. Add useful detail, knowing Google may choose other page text for some searches.
Descriptions get cut off	These descriptions may be shortened in search results. Put the most useful information first; the visible length varies by device and search.
Pages sharing one description	Identical descriptions make different pages look like copies, to searchers and to Google.
Homepage listing doesn't say what you do	Your homepage listing is the most-seen snippet you own. It should say what you do and for whom, not repeat your name.
Shown often, rarely clicked	This page appears in search but receives relatively few clicks. Review its title and description, and check whether the page matches what people want.
Top-three position, but few clicks	This page has a high average position but relatively few clicks. Check the results for ads, answer features and competing listings before choosing a fix.

Rankings within reach

Pages already ranking somewhere worth improving. Nothing here needs to reach number one; moving from twelfth to eighth is the whole job.

Finding	What it means
On page one, but not in the top three	This page already appears among the top ten average positions. Improve its relevance and internal links to support further progress.
On page one, but few links to it	This page ranks in the top ten but has few incoming internal links. Link from relevant pages to make it easier to find and understand.
Stuck on page two	Page two earns almost no clicks, but ranking 11–20 means Google already sees the page as a serious candidate. It usually needs substance, not a tweak.
Close to the top three for this search	Your page already appears near the top results for this search. Check that its title and content directly address what people want.
Shown a lot, ranking poorly	This page appears in search but usually ranks below the leading results. Compare its content with those results to find useful gaps to address.
Climbing in search	This page improved in position or clicks compared with the previous period. Check what changed and keep the information useful and current.
Slipping in search	Rankings decay quietly as competitors publish and facts age. A page still earning clicks is far easier to defend now than to win back later.
Buried deep, still getting traffic	This page gets search traffic but takes several clicks to reach from the homepage. Relevant links can make it easier for visitors and crawlers to find.
Searches you stopped appearing for	Disappearing from a search you earned clicks from usually means the page changed, broke, or was beaten outright. This is traffic you had.
A new search shows your site	Your site appeared for a search that was absent from the previous period. Check whether the matching page answers what people need.
Google clicks are growing	Your site received more Google clicks than in the previous period. Review which pages improved before deciding what to repeat.
Reached page one	This page moved into the top ten average positions. Check whether the improved visibility also brings more clicks.
Reached the top three	This page reached the top three average positions. Keep its content current and check whether clicks improve too.
Most traffic already knew your name	Most search clicks come from searches for your name. Relevant searches that do not include your brand are an opportunity to reach new people.

Internal links and structure

How your own pages point at each other. The one ranking lever you fully control.

Finding	What it means
Nothing links to this page	No page on the site points here, so visitors can't find it and Google may not know it exists.
Getting traffic, but nothing links to it	This page receives search traffic but has no incoming internal links in the crawl. Link to it from related pages so visitors can find it while browsing.
Search traffic reaches pages with no internal links	These pages earn search traffic, yet nothing on your site links to them — old campaigns, forgotten sections. Free traffic is landing where your site doesn't point.
Only linked from the menu	This page appears in search but only has navigation links within your site. A relevant link in the body of another page can add useful context.
Only linked from the footer	This page is only linked from the footer. Add a link in relevant content if visitors would benefit from finding it there.
A top page with few links to it	This is one of your best-performing pages and one of your least linked. Your site is pointing its strength at the wrong places.
Related pages don't link to their main page	Pages on one subject work best when they all point at one thorough page. Without those links, Google sees scattered pages, not a body of work.
Links to too many pages	A page splits its strength across everything it links to. Hundreds of links pass each one almost nothing.
Links that say “click here”	Link text tells Google and screen readers what is at the other end. “Click here” tells neither anything.
Links to dead pages	Visitors who click these hit an error, and Google follows the same dead end. Among the cheapest fixes on any list.
Links that redirect before arriving	These links take an extra step before reaching the destination. Linking directly avoids unnecessary redirects and makes maintenance easier.

Content

Whether the page answers the search it is getting.

Finding	What it means
Too little on the page	Pages this light rarely rank — Google has almost nothing to judge. In quantity they dilute the whole site.
Shown in search, but the page is thin	Google keeps showing this page because the demand is real, and ranks it low because there is almost nothing on it. The audience is already there.
Wrong kind of page for this search	The pages ranking above yours may serve a different need or format. Compare the results with your page before deciding what to change.
People ask a question this page doesn't answer	People find this page through a question it does not clearly answer. Add a useful answer if the question belongs on this page.
Two of your pages compete for one search	More than one of your pages appears for the same search. Check whether they serve different needs before merging them or choosing a main page.
A search you have no page for	Search data suggests demand for a topic without a closely matching page on your site. Check the search intent before creating a new page.
A topic with no main page	Several of your pages circle one subject, but none claims it. Their strength has nowhere to pool, and they compete with each other.
Pages Google never shows	No search appearances were recorded for these pages in the measured period. Check indexing, relevance and demand before changing or removing them.

Technical health

Things that stop a page being read, indexed or shown properly.

Finding	What it means
Pages pointing Google at the wrong page	A canonical tag identifies the preferred version of a page. Check unexpected targets so search engines can identify the version you want shown.
Earning traffic, but told Google to drop it	This page receives Google clicks but has a tag asking search engines not to index it. Check the tag before that traffic is affected.
Linking to pages you hide from Google	Your site links to pages marked to stay out of search results. Check whether that is intentional before changing the tag or the links.
Sitemap lists pages that don't load	Your sitemap lists these addresses, and they answer with an error. Search engines keep asking for them and trust the sitemap less.
No structured data	Structured data can help search engines understand a page and make it eligible for supported rich results. It does not guarantee a special appearance.
Shared links show as bare URLs	These pages are missing information used to build social sharing previews. Add a title, description and image so shared links are easier to recognise.
Images with no description	Missing descriptions make informative images harder to understand with a screen reader. Useful alt text also helps search engines understand an image.

Authority and other sites

The half of ranking that does not come from your own pages.

Finding	What it means
No sites link to yours	The available link data reports no other sites linking to yours. Relevant mentions and useful resources can help more people discover your site.
Sites stopped linking to you	Fewer sites link to you than at the last reading, and links are how search engines judge whether others find a site worth citing. Most losses have one cause and are recoverable while it is recent.
Lower authority than similar sites	Your site has a lower authority score than the comparison sites. Relevant links can help, alongside useful content and a technically sound site.
Higher-authority sites rank above you	The sites ranking above you have higher authority scores. Review their links and content to understand which gaps you can realistically address.
Many links come from low-quality sites	A large share of the sites linking to you score poorly on the link-quality measure we read. This is a description, not a penalty: effort spent building more links like these returns nothing.

Wins

Some findings report something going right rather than something to fix: clicks growing, a page reaching page one, a page reaching the top three, a search starting to show your site for the first time. They carry a Win badge and no steps, because there is nothing to do.

They are worth reading anyway. A win beside a change you shipped last month is the closest thing to proof that the change worked.

Which findings need what

Most of the rankings family, and everything about clicks, needs Google Search Console. Without it those findings simply do not appear, and the ones that remain are the structural ones the crawl can see on its own.

The authority family needs your authority to have been read, which the audit does every time.

Everything in the titles, structure, content and technical families comes from the crawl alone, so a brand-new site with no Google connection still gets a useful list on its first audit.

Where to go next

Findings, and how to read one covers the anatomy of a single card. The kinds of fix explains the four categories the list filters by.