Open dataGoogle Search ConsoleSnapshot October 1, 2026

The median Outrank site doubles its Google traffic in 7 months

Name: Outrank customer results: Google Search Console clicks and impressions around the day each site joined
Creator: Outrank

We lined up Outrank customer sites with Search Console connected on the day each one joined, and followed their Google clicks 28 days at a time. In the 6 months before Outrank, clicks rose 11%. 7 months after joining, they were 2.04× the starting level.

Published by the Outrank team · Data as of October 1, 2026 · Every chart is downloadable

2.04×

Median Google clicks at month 7

vs the 28 days before joining

2.37×

Median Google clicks at month 11

about 11 months after joining

3.84×

Median Google impressions

at month 11, the signal AI assistants draw from

74.5%

Of sites gained clicks

latest 28 days vs the 28 days before joining

Summary

Key findings

The median Outrank site reaches 2.04× its pre-Outrank Google clicks 7 months after joining, and 2.37× after about 11 months.
In the 6 months before joining, the same sites grew their clicks by 11%.
Median Google impressions reach 3.84× their pre-Outrank level after about 11 months.
Tracking only sites with data in every month, with no site entering or leaving, the median still reaches 2.17× by month 7.
Median growth per 28 days rises from +1.8% before joining to +7.5% after.
In the same calendar weeks, sites on Outrank grew +6.3% per 28 days against +0.1% for sites that had not joined yet, and grew faster in 14 of 16 windows.
Median growth rises with time on Outrank, from 1.38× at 1–2 months to 2.10× at 12+ months. 74.5% of sites get more Google clicks than before they joined.
Across 200 Outrank customer sites, Google impressions were the strongest predictor of how often AI assistants cite a site (Spearman 0.80), and sites with 150+ verified backlinks were cited 16× more.

The curve

Flat before Outrank, then Google traffic compounds

Each site is indexed to its own 28 days before joining (1×). The solid line is the median for Google clicks, the dashed line for impressions. Switch to “Same sites every month” to see the result with no site entering or leaving.

All sites, indexed to their own 28 days before joining Outrank.

Median Google clicks and impressions for Outrank sites, indexed to the 28 days before joining, from 6 periods before to 11 after
Period	Google clicks (median)	Google impressions (median)
−6	0.90×	0.84×
−5	0.90×	0.82×
−4	0.91×	0.85×
−3	0.92×	0.90×
−2	0.94×	0.94×
−1	1.00×	1.00×
0	1.07×	1.15×
+1	1.16×	1.39×
+2	1.28×	1.68×
+3	1.43×	2.02×
+4	1.60×	2.50×
+5	1.77×	3.01×
+6	1.92×	3.83×
+7	2.04×	4.01×
+8	2.07×	4.11×
+9	2.19×	3.73×
+10	2.25×	3.68×
+11	2.37×	3.84×

Bars: share of sites with data in that period, relative to the 28 days before joining. Later periods rest on fewer sites because fewer have used Outrank that long.

28-day periods relative to the day each site joined Outrank. Hover or use the arrow keys to read each period.

Source: Google Search Console, via Outrank. Sites with at least 30 clicks in the 28 days before joining. The curve stops once fewer than 7% of the starting sites have data.

Show the numbers behind the curve

Median Google clicks and impressions by period around joining Outrank
Period	Median clicks	Middle half	Sites above start	Median impressions	Coverage
168–141 days before joining	0.90×	0.53×–1.25×	41.9%	0.84×	73%
140–113 days before joining	0.90×	0.57×–1.21×	40.4%	0.82×	79%
112–85 days before joining	0.91×	0.60×–1.19×	40.5%	0.85×	83%
84–57 days before joining	0.92×	0.66×–1.14×	40.9%	0.90×	89%
56–29 days before joining	0.94×	0.74×–1.12×	40.8%	0.94×	95%
28–1 days before joining	1.00×	1.00×–1.00×	0%	1.00×	100%
Days 1–28 after joining	1.07×	0.89×–1.34×	60.6%	1.15×	84%
Days 29–56 after joining	1.16×	0.89×–1.68×	62.2%	1.39×	72%
Days 57–84 after joining	1.28×	0.90×–2.11×	67.4%	1.68×	64%
Days 85–112 after joining	1.43×	0.94×–2.68×	70.7%	2.02×	55%
Days 113–140 after joining	1.60×	0.96×–3.26×	73.2%	2.50×	46%
Days 141–168 after joining	1.77×	0.99×–3.93×	74.4%	3.01×	38%
Days 169–196 after joining	1.92×	1.01×–5.16×	75.2%	3.83×	33%
Days 197–224 after joining	2.04×	1.08×–5.46×	78.1%	4.01×	28%
Days 225–252 after joining	2.07×	1.05×–5.72×	76.3%	4.11×	23%
Days 253–280 after joining	2.19×	1.05×–6.11×	76.1%	3.73×	18%
Days 281–308 after joining	2.25×	0.97×–6.16×	74.3%	3.68×	13%
Days 309–336 after joining	2.37×	1.00×–5.48×	74.6%	3.84×	9%

Stress test

Three ways we tried to break this result

Every skeptic has the same three objections. Here is what the data says to each.

“Only the winners stayed”

Same sites, every month

2.17×

Tracking only sites with data in every period, so none enter or leave, the median still reaches 2.17× by month 7, with 79.7% above their start.

“They were already growing”

Each site against its own trend

+1.8% → +7.5%

Median growth per 28 days before vs after joining. Of the sites that were flat or falling before Outrank, 66.5% were growing after.

“Google was just generous”

Same months, same Google updates

+6.3% vs +0.1%

Median growth per 28 days in the same calendar windows. Sites on Outrank grew faster in 14 of 16 windows.

Same calendar windows: on Outrank vs not joined yet

Both groups faced the same Google updates and the same seasons. Toggle a line to compare.

Median growth in Google clicks per 28-day window, sites on Outrank versus sites that had not joined yet, in the same calendar windows
Period	Sites 3+ months into Outrank	Sites that had not joined yet
Jul ’25	+2.5%	-3.6%
Aug ’25	+20.2%	+3.4%
Sep ’25	-1.0%	-1.9%
Sep ’25	+13.8%	+2.4%
Oct ’25	+9.7%	0.0%
Nov ’25	+10.1%	+1.6%
Dec ’25	+3.7%	-7.8%
Jan ’26	+6.9%	-1.5%
Feb ’26	+20.3%	+19.8%
Mar ’26	+8.5%	0.0%
Apr ’26	+1.8%	-3.1%
May ’26	+4.3%	+0.6%
Jun ’26	+7.6%	-2.9%
Jul ’26	+3.3%	-0.2%
Aug ’26	+7.8%	+8.0%
Aug ’26	+2.4%	+6.0%

Source: Google Search Console, via Outrank. Sites 84+ days after joining vs sites before their join date, windows with 20+ clicks. Trend test uses sites with 4+ periods on each side of joining.

Grouped by time on the platform

The longer a site uses Outrank, the more it grows

Every site with fresh Search Console data, grouped by how long it has used Outrank. “Before” is the 28 days before joining, “now” the latest 28 days. Pick a metric to compare the groups.

No change

1–2 months: 1.38× · group is 28% of sites · median 74 → 146 clicks per 28 days Hover a bar for details.

Median growth in Google clicks by time on Outrank
1–2 months	1.38×
3–5 months	1.63×
6–8 months	1.98×
9–11 months	2.00×
12+ months	2.10×

Google Search Console results grouped by time on Outrank
Time on Outrank	Share of sites	Sites up	Median clicks, before → now	Median growth	Doubled	Halved	Median impressions, before → now
1–2 months	28%	72.6%	74 → 146	1.38×	21.8%	2.7%	5,611 → 14,659
3–5 months	30%	76.2%	89 → 306	1.63×	44%	7.2%	8,701 → 50,991
6–8 months	16%	76.2%	140 → 480	1.98×	48.4%	8.8%	11,373 → 98,549
9–11 months	19%	72.3%	197 → 939	2.00×	49.6%	12.4%	14,795 → 180,025
12+ months	7%	76.3%	208 → 634	2.10×	55.3%	12.8%	22,288 → 119,266

Source: Google Search Console, via Outrank. Sites whose data was refreshed after August 15, 2026. Growth multiples use sites with 30+ clicks before joining.

Usage and results

Sites that use Outrank more grow more

Median growth in Google clicks for sites with 2+ months on Outrank, grouped by how many articles they publish and how many backlinks they receive each month.

No change

under 5 articles: 1.07× · group is 12% of sites · 50% of them up Hover a bar for details.

Median growth in Google clicks by articles published per month
under 5 articles	1.07×
5–14 articles	1.38×
15–29 articles	1.92×
30+ articles	2.27×

Source: Google Search Console, via Outrank and Outrank platform data. Backlinks are exchange placements verified live on the host page.

AI search

Google visibility is what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini cite

AI assistants mostly quote pages that search engines already rank. Across 200 Outrank customer sites, the signals Outrank grows were the ones that predicted AI citations.

0.80

Impressions vs AI citations

Spearman correlation, the strongest single predictor

16×

More AI citations

sites with 150+ verified backlinks vs fewer than 10

29×

More AI citations

sites at DR 30+ vs under DR 10

3.84×

Impressions on Outrank

median at month 11 vs before joining

AIApply

aiapply.co · SaaS, job search

1,368

AI answer citations across 271 pages

Google AI Mode179
Perplexity157
AI Overviews114

Moonb

moonb.io · Creative agency

2,213

AI answer citations across 165 pages

Perplexity529
Google AI Mode368
Copilot357

Outrank

outrank.so · Our own site, grown with Outrank

1,239

AI answer citations across 73 pages

Perplexity234
Gemini80
Google AI Mode72

Source: Ahrefs AI citation data, September 2026, 200 Outrank customer sites. Full method in How to get cited by ChatGPT.

See how Outrank gets brands recommended by AI assistants

Open data

Download the data

Every chart on this page as CSV, plus one JSON file with all of it and the definitions. Free to use with a link back.

Cite this study

Outrank (October 1, 2026). Outrank customer results: Google Search Console data around the day each site joined. https://www.outrank.so/results

Journalists, researchers and bloggers are welcome to quote these numbers and screenshot the charts with a link back to this page.

Method

How we measured it

The data is the Google Search Console history that Outrank customers connected to their account, up to 16 months per site, one row per domain. A site's join date is the first day its domain was added to Outrank. Every site is compared with itself: clicks in each 28-day period divided by clicks in the 28 days before joining.

We report medians, so a few very large or very small sites cannot move the result. The curve includes every site with at least 30 clicks before joining and stops once fewer than 7% of them have data. The grouped results include sites that lost traffic, shown in the “Sites that halved” view.

This is observational data from sites that chose to connect Search Console, not a controlled experiment, and customers may do other SEO work alongside Outrank. The three stress tests above are how we checked the obvious alternative explanations. For the longer study behind this page, read Do AI SEO agents work?

FAQ

Questions about these results

Answers use the October 1, 2026 snapshot on this page.

Does Outrank work?

Yes, for most sites, on Google Search Console data. The median Outrank site reaches 2.04× its pre-Outrank Google clicks 7 months after joining, 74.5% of sites get more clicks than before they joined, and sites on Outrank grew faster than sites that had not joined yet in 14 of 16 months.

How long does Outrank take to show results?

Impressions move first. Median clicks are 2.04× the starting level after 7 months and 2.37× after about 11 months. Grouped by time on the platform, median growth goes from 1.38× at 1–2 months to 2.10× at 12+ months.

Were these sites already growing before Outrank?

A little. Their clicks rose 11% over the 6 months before joining, about +1.8% per 28 days. After joining, the median rate was +7.5% per 28 days, and 66.5% of sites that were flat or falling before joining were growing after.

Could Google updates or seasonality explain the growth?

We compared sites in the same 28-day calendar windows, so they faced the same updates and seasons. Sites three or more months into Outrank grew a median +6.3% per window against +0.1% for sites that had not joined yet.

Does Outrank help a site get mentioned by ChatGPT, Perplexity and other AI assistants?

AI assistants mostly cite pages that search engines already show. Across 200 Outrank customer sites, Google impressions were the strongest predictor of AI citations (Spearman 0.80), and sites with 150+ verified backlinks were cited 16× more often. Outrank grows both: median impressions reach 3.84× their starting level after about 11 months.

Do some sites lose traffic on Outrank?

Yes. Not every site grows: 25.5% of sites have not gained Google clicks since joining, and the share that halved is 2.7% at 1–2 months and 12.8% at 12+ months. Every group is shown on this page.

Can I use this data?

Yes. Every chart on this page can be downloaded as CSV or JSON from the data section, with definitions. Please link back to this page when you quote it.

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