Sistrix

Sistrix is a provider of SEO software based in Bonn, Germany. Its founder and managing director is Johannes Beus; the company gives 2008 as its founding year. Its main product, the Sistrix Toolbox, analyzes Google search results and makes them comparable for websites and their competitors. The visibility index is widely known.

What the visibility index is

The visibility index bundles a domain's Google rankings into a single number. Sistrix describes three steps:

• Collecting data: The search results are collected for one million search queries that form a representative cross-section of a country's search volume. The organic results are counted, usually 100 per keyword. This yields 100 million data points.
• Weighting: Each data point is weighted by the keyword's search volume and the expected click probability of the measured position.
• Summing: The weighted values of all of a domain's rankings make up the index.

Sistrix offers visibility values for more than 50 countries; for Germany, data is available since 2008. In countries with separate mobile and desktop data, the index is recalculated daily; in mobile-only countries, the full update of all search results is carried out during the week and published at the end of the weekend.

The modules of the Toolbox

On its product page, Sistrix lists these features, among others:

• Visibility index and competitor analysis (which keywords do competitors rank for?)
• Keyword research with search volume
• Rank tracking with daily position checks
• Onpage audit, that is, technical checks of your own website
• Backlink analysis
• Content optimization and content discovery
• Google Ads analysis, technology analysis and reports
• API interface

According to Sistrix, the data history covers over 100 million domains since 2008.

How to read the index correctly

• Compare rather than interpret absolute values. Sistrix itself writes that to put a value in context, you have to compare yourself with competitors.
• Watch the trends. Sistrix recommends looking at long-term developments rather than daily fluctuations.
• Compare like with like. Domains or domain sections that compete in the same market make sense.
• When you see breaks, look for the cause systematically, for example in one section of the site or in a keyword group.

Limits and typical misinterpretations

• The index is not traffic. It is based on a fixed keyword set with expected click probabilities, not on actual visits. How many people reach a page via search is shown by Google Search Console for your own website.
• Do not reverse cause and effect. According to Sistrix, a higher index does not lead to better rankings; rather, more and better rankings lead to a higher index.
• The keyword set reflects the average of search behavior. Broadly positioned websites, such as large shops, therefore appear stronger than specialized offerings. A direct comparison can be misleading.
• Country comparisons: The index is comparable across countries but leads to a different number of organic visitors in each market.

Costs and access

The Toolbox is a paid subscription. As of October 2026, Sistrix lists on its pricing page the plans Start (119 euros per month net plus VAT, one user account, three projects), Plus (239 euros), Professional (419 euros) and Premium (799 euros), as well as an Enterprise plan on request. The plans differ in, among other things, number of users, projects, results per analysis and data history. There is a 14-day free trial; prices may change, and the manufacturer's page is authoritative.

Sources

• Sistrix: Calculation of the visibility index
• Sistrix: SEO work with the visibility index
• Sistrix: Toolbox
• Sistrix: Pricing
• Sistrix: Johannes Beus