Rank tracking checks where your website appears in Google for the keywords you choose, and keeps every check so you can see a keyword move over time. It lives on each website's Rankings page, under Measure.
Nothing is checked on its own. You decide when your keywords are checked, and the price is always shown before you are charged.
When to use this
Use it for the searches you care about most: the ones your pages target, the ones a client asks about, the ones you are working to win. For what your site already gets from Google as a whole, real clicks and impressions, use Website Performance instead.
How it works
- Save keywords. Saving is free. A saved keyword shows
Not trackinguntil you start it. - Start tracking. This checks your keywords for the first time and includes 4 refreshes for each keyword. The price is on the button, and you confirm it before anything is charged.
- Refresh now. Checks your tracked keywords again whenever you want. While a keyword still has included refreshes, its refresh is free. Once its 4 refreshes are used, each refresh costs credits, and the page asks you to confirm the price first.
You pick the device (desktop, mobile, or both) and where the search happens: the whole country, or one city or region in it. A city costs the same as the country.
A position is your site's first organic result for that keyword, counting your subdomains. Ads, maps and other Google boxes are not counted. When your site is not in the first 100 results, the page shows >100.
New positions usually appear within the hour.
Steps
- Open your website, then
Rankingsunder Measure. - Select
Add keywords. If your strategy chose keywords, the box already holds the ones you have not saved yet, and an empty Rankings page names them: selectReview and saveto start from that list. - Keep, remove or add keywords, one per line (up to 200 at a time).
- Choose the device, the country and, if you want, a city, then select
Save(it names the count, for exampleSave 100 keywords). Nothing is charged. - Select
Start tracking, check the price, then selectYes, start tracking. - Later, select
Refresh nowto check them again. Each keyword's row shows how many of its included refreshes are left.
To stop tracking a keyword, select the x on its row, then Stop tracking. It is not checked again, and its history stays.
Understand the results
- Position: the latest check. A keyword tracked on both devices shows mobile underneath.
- Change: the move since the check before.
Newmeans it entered the top 100;Outmeans it dropped out. - Best: the best position in the history shown.
- Refreshes left: under each keyword, how many included refreshes it has left.
Refreshes used: next one is chargedmeans its next refresh costs credits. - History: opens a chart of the last 180 days. Higher on the chart is a better position.
- Biggest movers: the five largest moves up and down since each keyword's last check.
Limits and usage
| What | Credits per 100 keywords |
|---|---|
| Save keywords | Free |
| Start tracking: the first check and 4 refreshes | 40 |
| Each refresh after the 4 included ones | 8 |
Tracking on desktop and mobile doubles the price. Each total is rounded up once and is at least 1 credit, so starting 10 keywords costs 4 credits.
- A refresh never charges for a keyword that still has included refreshes, or for one already being checked.
- A website can track up to 500 keywords.
- Keywords paid for by the old monthly charge keep their scheduled checks until the end of that month. Nothing renews after it.
Troubleshooting
My keywords say Not tracking
They are saved but not tracked yet. Select Start tracking to check them.
The page says First check pending
Tracking has started and the keyword is waiting for its first check, usually within the hour.
Refresh now shows a price
Some keywords have used their 4 included refreshes, so their refresh is charged. The page tells you how many are free and how many are paid before you confirm.
I added a keyword that is already saved
It is skipped.