Why are some of my rankings missing or blank?

Outline:

• What a “zero” result means
• Common reasons (question phrasing, insufficient AI crawl coverage)
• When to wait vs when to take action
• Tips for refining tracked questions or keywords

What a “zero” result means

If a question you’re tracking shows no ranking or a “Not Found” label in Knowatoa, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something wrong. It simply means that, at the time of the last crawl, no supported AI model returned your brand in response to that specific query.

This could be temporary or related to how the question is phrased.

Common reasons for missing results

There are a few typical causes for blank rankings:

• The phrasing of your question may be too specific or uncommon

  If a question doesn’t match how users typically interact with AI tools, your brand may not show up in generated responses

• The question hasn’t yet been surfaced by AI crawlers

  Since Knowatoa relies on how models respond to real-world queries, the system needs time to observe enough activity around that specific search

• AI crawlers may not yet fully index your site

  If your content is behind technical blockers or your domain is not easily crawlable, AI tools may have limited visibility into your content

When to wait vs when to take action

You don’t need to react immediately to every blank result. Here’s how to decide what to do next:

• Wait if:
  • You just added the question recently
  • The topic is emerging or seasonal

  • You’ve seen gradual improvements in related questions

    Take action if:

  • The question has been tracked for several weeks with no change
  • You notice the same issue across multiple high-intent questions
  • You suspect the phrasing is too niche or not natural enough

Tips for refining tracked questions or keywords

If you want to improve your odds of getting meaningful data:

• Use questions that reflect how people naturally speak to tools like ChatGPT
• Include both branded and non-branded questions to compare performance
• Avoid overly complex or technical phrasing that AI models may not understand
• Consider rephrasing questions with clear commercial or comparison-based intent

If visibility continues to stay flat, try switching to a keyword-generated question set and compare the results.