Keyword Research & Watchlist
Find the terms worth chasing and track where you rank.
What this tool is
Keyword Research and Watchlist turns your real Google Search Console data into a set of plain-English opportunity lists. Instead of guessing which keywords to chase or paying a third-party tool for made-up "search volume" numbers, this tool reads the queries your site is already showing up for, then sorts them into the moves most likely to earn traffic. Everything you see is your own data, pulled live from your Search Console property. Vibe SEO never stores it beyond a short cache.
Because it reads Search Console, you need Google Search Console connected first. If it is not connected, the dashboard shows a "Connect Google Search Console" prompt instead of data. You connect it once in Site Settings and the tabs fill in within a few minutes.
Where it lives
The keyword panels are the main Vibe SEO Dashboard. Open the Vibe SEO menu in your WordPress admin and you land on a row of tabs. At the top is a Range picker (Last 7, 28, 90, 180, or 365 days) that every tab respects, and your choice is remembered in your browser. Each tab loads its data when you click it and caches for an hour, so pages stay fast. There is a Refresh button on each card if you want fresh numbers now.
The tabs and what each one does
- Overview is your at-a-glance screen. It shows a daily traffic chart (current period versus the prior period), a position-history chart built from daily snapshots Vibe captures automatically, a position-distribution bar chart (how many queries sit in positions 1 to 3, 4 to 10, 11 to 20, and so on), a click-share donut for your top 10 queries, and small summary cards for Topline totals, Striking-distance picks, Low-CTR pages, Watchlist, and Trending gainers.
- Striking distance lists queries you rank between positions 5 and 20 with at least 25 impressions. These are the highest-value moves: you are close to page-one clicks, so small content and internal-link tweaks tend to pay off most here. Each row shows the query and the page that ranks for it.
- Low CTR flags queries with lots of impressions but a weak click-through rate (2% or lower, 50-plus impressions, ranking in the top 10). The fix is almost always rewriting that page's title tag and meta description.
- Wrong page finds multi-word queries where your homepage is taking the clicks instead of a focused page. For each one it suggests the best-matching landing page already on your site, based on title wording, so you have a one-click candidate to strengthen or a signal to build a dedicated page.
- Trending compares your selected range against the prior period of the same length and splits the results into top gainers and top decliners, with the change in clicks, impressions, and average position.
- Decay surfaces landing pages whose clicks have dropped meaningfully (the prior window had at least 10 clicks and the drop is 20% or more). This is stale content that used to rank. Refresh, expand, or republish it to recover.
- By area filters your queries to those containing any city or neighborhood from your saved Service Areas batches. It is your geographic-intent slice. If you have not built a Service Areas batch yet, this tab tells you so.
- Pages lists your top 100 landing pages by clicks, with impressions, CTR, and average position.
- Watchlist is where you pin specific keywords (up to 50) and track each one over a rolling 90-day window. See the latest position, latest date, 90-day clicks and impressions, a mini position trend line, and a Remove button. Vibe also shows Suggested keywords drawn from your Search Console data, ranked by volume and how close each is to earning clicks. Click a suggestion chip to add it instantly. The watchlist raises alerts when a keyword's average rank slips (a warning at 3 positions, a critical alert at 5) or when it falls off page one.
There is also a GBP Performance tab for Google Business Profile metrics and a Content Creator tab, which works even before Search Console is connected.
Why it helps
This tool tells you where the wins are hiding in data you already own. Striking distance points you at the pages worth an hour of work. Low CTR points you at titles worth a rewrite. Wrong page and Decay catch problems before they quietly cost you traffic. The Watchlist gives you an early-warning system for the keywords that actually matter to your business.
The smartest way to use it
This tool is read-only by design. It finds opportunities; you act on them with the other Vibe tools. The efficient loop:
- Scan Overview to see the shape of your traffic.
- Work Striking distance first, since it has the best effort-to-reward ratio. Send those queries into Content Creator or Revamp.
- Clear Low CTR by rewriting titles and meta descriptions with Revamp.
- Use Wrong page to strengthen the suggested landing page or build a focused one.
- Pin your money keywords to the Watchlist (use the suggestion chips as a shortcut) and check back for alerts.
Build a Service Areas batch so the By area tab lights up, and revisit Decay monthly to catch fading pages early.