Ranking Eligibility: how Visqio decides

Last updated: 2026-08-25

Interpretation note

Not ranking is not the same as being banned or penalised. Visqio reports observable signals (index status, impressions, SERP presence, regional differences) and classifies them by likelihood. Google does not expose penalty or suppression data; absence of ranking can result from competition, relevance, low quality, crawl budget, recency, or measurement gaps. Treat every status as a hypothesis to investigate, not a verdict.

1.What does "ranking eligibility" mean?

Ranking Eligibility is Visqio's evidence-based answer to one question: is there evidence that Google can rank this URL for this keyword? The output is one of four statuses — CONFIRMED, NOT_YET_CONFIRMED, INSUFFICIENT_DATA or TEST_INVALID — plus a confidence between 0 and 1. It is computed per keyword × target URL, daily and on demand, by a deterministic rule engine that lists every rule it fired.

2.Inputs and minimum data

The engine reads the latest URL Inspection snapshot (≤ 14 days: verdict, coverage state, Google canonical versus user canonical, fetch state, last crawl), Search Console query and page metrics for the current 28 days and the prior 28 days, the last 7 licensed SERP snapshots for the keyword's default location and device, and the keyword's intent, target URL and language.

Minimum data, otherwise INSUFFICIENT_DATA: at least one index snapshot within 14 days or at least 14 days of Search Console data; and at least 3 SERP snapshots in the last 7 days.

3.Validity gates

Gates run first, in order, and stop evaluation when they match. They exist so that a broken measurement is never reported as a ranking problem.

Gate	Condition	Result
G1	No target URL and no page in Search Console matched the domain for this query	INSUFFICIENT_DATA
G2	Latest SERP snapshot is FAILED/PARTIAL or older than 7 days	INSUFFICIENT_DATA
G3	Fetch state not SUCCESSFUL and the project marked the URL as intentionally blocked	TEST_INVALID
G4	Target is on a TEST domain that is unpublished or archived during the window	TEST_INVALID
G5	Keyword intent is TEST and the test page was published less than 3 days ago	INSUFFICIENT_DATA ("too early")
G6	Google-selected canonical points to a different host	TEST_INVALID

4.Evidence rules and confidence

Any of rules E1–E4 makes the status CONFIRMED; E5 only supports. Confidence is the sum of the weights of the rules fired, capped at 1. Bands: ≥ 0.8 high, 0.5–0.79 medium, below 0.5 low.

Rule	Evidence	Weight
E1 SERP presence	Target URL (or same host when no target) appears in ≥ 1 of the last 7 SERP snapshots at rank ≤ 100	0.6 (0.8 when in ≥ 3 snapshots)
E2 Query impressions on page	Search Console impressions ≥ 5 in 28 days for the query on the target URL	0.5 (0.7 when ≥ 30)
E3 Query impressions on domain	Same as E2 on any page of the domain	0.35
E4 Clicks	≥ 1 click on query + page in 28 days	0.3
E5 Indexed	Latest inspection verdict PASS and coverage INDEXED	0.2 (supporting only)

5.NOT_YET_CONFIRMED sub-evidence

When minimum data is present but no E1–E4 rule fires, the status is NOT_YET_CONFIRMED and the engine attaches the signals that explain it: N1 URL not indexed (state shown); N2 indexed but zero impressions for the query; N3 the page receives impressions for other queries, so relevance or competition is likely; N4 page younger than 14 days — allow 2–4 weeks; N5 competitive query — target absent from the top 100 in all 7 snapshots.

6.Statuses and next steps

Status	Meaning	Next step
CONFIRMED	Direct evidence that Google ranks or surfaces the URL for the keyword	Optimise; watch the confidence band
NOT_YET_CONFIRMED	Minimum data present, no direct evidence yet	Read the N-signals: fix indexing, wait, or improve relevance
INSUFFICIENT_DATA	Not enough snapshots or Search Console history to judge	Wait for the next runs or check the connection
TEST_INVALID	The measurement setup prevents any conclusion	Fix canonical, robots or publishing state, then re-run

A transition from CONFIRMED (confidence ≥ 0.8) to NOT_YET_CONFIRMED raises an INFO alert whose text includes the disclaimer above.

7.Limits

Visqio never knows Google's internal state. Outputs never use the words penalty, ban or sandbox. SERP snapshots come from a licensed provider sampling from data-centre IPs and may not match every user; Search Console data lags about two days. Rule parameters are versioned so historical events remain interpretable after tuning. TEST domains use relaxed impression thresholds because their volumes are tiny.

Frequently asked questions

Does NOT_YET_CONFIRMED mean my page is penalised?

No. NOT_YET_CONFIRMED means Visqio found no evidence yet (no SERP presence, no impressions, no clicks) while minimum data was present. The attached sub-evidence tells you whether the URL is not indexed, too new, or simply losing to competition. It is never a penalty verdict.

Why is my keyword INSUFFICIENT_DATA?

One of the minimum data requirements is not met: no index snapshot within 14 days and fewer than 14 days of Search Console data, fewer than 3 SERP snapshots in the last 7 days, a stale or failed latest snapshot, or a test page younger than 3 days.

What makes a test TEST_INVALID?

The measurement itself is impossible: the URL was deliberately blocked from indexing, the test domain was unpublished during the window, or Google chose a canonical on a different host. Fix the setup and re-run.

Can indexing alone make a URL CONFIRMED?

No. Being indexed (rule E5) only adds 0.2 supporting confidence. CONFIRMED requires at least one of the direct evidence rules E1–E4: SERP presence, query impressions on the page or domain, or clicks.

Sources: Google's URL Inspection API, Search Console Search Analytics API and spam policies documentation.