What is rank tracking in SEO?
Why track rankings at all?
Search traffic depends on where your pages appear for the queries people use. Tracking positions over time shows whether a page is gaining or losing visibility, whether a change you made had an effect, and whether a drop lines up with something outside your control, such as a Google update. On its own a position is just a number; the value comes from watching how it moves and comparing it with clicks and impressions.
How does Google Search Console measure position?
Google Search Console's Performance report gives you ranking data from Google itself, at no cost. Google's help page on impressions, position and clicks explains how the position figure works:
- For each query, the position counted is the topmost position held by a link to your property.
- The figure in the report is that topmost position averaged across all the queries where your property appeared.
- Google's example: if one query shows your site at positions 2, 4 and 6, it counts as 2. If a second query shows it at 3, the average across the two queries is (2 + 3) / 2 = 2.5.
- A link must get an impression for its position to be recorded.
The same page defines the other main figures. An impression means a user has seen, or potentially seen, a link to your site in Search, Discover or News. A click is any click that sends the user to a page outside Google, and clicking the same result again after returning counts only once. Click-through rate is clicks divided by impressions.
Because position is an average, a single figure for a whole site can hide a lot. A page that ranks first for one query and twentieth for another will show somewhere in between. It is usually more useful to look at individual queries and pages.
How do you track rankings in the Performance report?
The Performance report lets you group data by Queries, Pages, Countries, Devices, Search appearance and Dates, and change the time period with the date filter. A search type filter lets you look at web, image, video or news results separately. Google notes that the newest data can be preliminary and may change in the next few hours.
A simple routine for tracking a set of queries:
- Open the Performance report and turn on the Average position metric alongside clicks and impressions.
- Filter by the query or page you care about.
- Add a device filter if you want to compare mobile and desktop results.
- Change the date range to see the trend, and compare it with an earlier period.
Google's guide to debugging traffic drops suggests setting the date range to 16 months to spot yearly patterns, and using the Compare tab to set one period against a similar earlier one, then filtering by query, page, country, device or search type to find where a change happened.
How should you read changes in position?
Positions move for many reasons, including seasonality, changes in what people search for and Google updates. Google's core updates guidance gives a useful scale: a small drop, such as from position 2 to 4, does not call for drastic action, while a large drop, such as from 4 to 29, deserves a deeper review of the affected pages. After a core update, Google suggests waiting at least a full week after the rollout completes before comparing data.
Look at position together with impressions and clicks. A higher average position with falling clicks, or a lower one with rising impressions, can both be normal when your site starts appearing for new queries.
Sources
- Search Console Help: What are impressions, position, and clicks?
- Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results)
- Google Search Central: Debugging drops in Google Search traffic
- Google Search Central: Google Search's core updates
Frequently asked questions
Why does my average position go up when traffic falls?
Average position is calculated across every query where your site got an impression. If your pages stop appearing for queries where they ranked low, the average can improve even though you are seen less often. If they start appearing for new low-ranking queries, the average can worsen while impressions rise. Looking at individual queries and pages, with clicks and impressions, gives a clearer picture.
Is Search Console position the same as what I see when I search?
Not exactly. Search Console records the topmost position your link held each time it got an impression, then averages those positions across queries. A single search you run yourself is one result at one moment, from one device and location. Search Console combines many real searches, and lets you filter by device and other categories to compare results.