What this check inspects
When a search property is connected with read-only access, Shipwork reads the queries and the pages they rank for over the last 28 days, then keeps the queries sitting just past page one: an average position above 10 and at or below 20. Each query is attributed to the URL that actually carries it, and when one query ranks on more than one page the row with the most impressions wins, so the work list names the page to improve rather than the phrase alone. The list is ranked by impressions and the top five are spelled out. It also compares the run against a saved snapshot of the previous run and reports any query that lost ground: an average position that slid by three or more, or clicks that fell by a fifth with at least two clicks lost.
What a failure means
This check reads your own search data, so with no property connected it says so plainly and produces no list rather than guessing. A property with no query impressions in 28 days is itself the finding. A query inside the band is a warning, because it has proved demand through real impressions and only needs to move. A query flagged as decayed is the one to rework first, since it was in reach and is heading the wrong way. On a healthy site there is no error state here: a site whose queries all sit on page one or far down gets an informational note, not a failure.
How to fix it
- Work the highest-impression query in the band first. It is the largest prize the page already qualifies for.
- Improve the exact page the query is attributed to, rather than writing a new one.
- Treat a decay line as urgent: a query that slid three positions or lost a fifth of its clicks is moving away from page one.
- Re-run after the change. Each run is saved as a baseline, so the next one shows whether the query moved.
A typical failure, worked through
The setupA store connects its search property. Over 28 days a collection page keeps appearing for "waterproof hiking boots" at position 13, with tens of thousands of impressions and a handful of clicks, while another query has slipped from position 6 to 9.
What the check reportsThe check lists the query against that exact page at position 13, with its impressions and clicks, and adds a decay line naming the query that fell from 6 to 9 since the last run.
The pointThe demand is already proven by the impressions, so the work is to move an existing page rather than to find a new topic. That is why this is a rework list, and why it is worth more than a list of errors.