# Position 55 to the 20s, Held 11 Weeks | Khadija Zaman

> A property sat flat around position 55 for two months. A mid-September step change moved it into the 20s within days, and it held there for eleven weeks.

Source: https://khadijazaman.com/work/ranking-breakthrough/  ·  Last modified: 2026-10-21

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Content Strategy

# Stuck near position 55 for two months, into the 20s in days

Confidential · July – November 2025 · Source: Google Search Console

By [Khadija Zaman](/about/), AI Search Manager at Wellows · Updated 21 Oct 2026

## How did a property stuck at position 55 move into the 20s?

A property flat near position 55 from July to early September 2025 moved into the 20s within days of a mid-September step change and held there for eleven weeks, reading 28.8 on 29 November 2025 (Search Console). Holding for eleven weeks is what separates a re-rating from volatility.

50–58 → 20–30

Avg. position band

28.8

Position, 29 Nov 2025

11 weeks

Held after the step change

## The problem

The property was flat near position 55 from July into early September. It was not declining, which is its own kind of problem. Steady mid-page ranking means the content is considered relevant enough to index and not relevant enough to rank, and month-to-month averages hide whether anything is actually moving.

## The outcome

The band moved from 50–58 to 20–30 within days of mid-September and stayed there for eleven weeks, reading 28.8 on 29 November. Holding matters more than the jump: a step change that decays over a fortnight is volatility, while one that holds for eleven weeks is a re-rating.

## Before and after the step change

| Metric | Jul – early Sep 2025 | Mid-Sep – Nov 2025 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Avg. position | 50 – 58 | 20 – 30 |
| Position on 29 Nov | n/a | 28.8 |

Search Console, July – November 2025. Reported as position bands rather than a period average, because a single average across both windows would flatten the step change into a middling number that describes neither.

## Frequently asked questions

### Why is a flat mid-page ranking a problem?

A steady ranking near position 55 means the content is relevant enough to index but not relevant enough to rank, and month-to-month averages hide whether anything is actually moving.

### How do you tell a re-rating from volatility?

By whether it holds. A step change that decays over a fortnight is volatility; one that holds for eleven weeks, as this one did, is a re-rating.

### Why report position bands instead of a single average?

A single average across both windows would flatten the step change into a middling number that describes neither period, so the result is reported as a 50 to 58 band before and a 20 to 30 band after.

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