How to Track Search Engine Rankings

When you search on a search engine like Google, you get a list of websites. The position of a website in that list is its search ranking. That ranking can change depending on the keyword you use. A website may rank high for one keyword and lower for another.

Monitoring your keyword rankings is important to know how visible your website is in search results. By monitoring those rankings you can see how your SEO is working and make informed decisions to increase your website’s visibility.

In this article we will show you how to find a website position in a search engine. We will discuss why to track keyword rankings, how to use rank tracking tools and what to do with the results.

What is a website position?

A website position is the position in the list of results that search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. give when a user types in a certain word or phrase. Same site can rank different for different keywords. For example a site that sells kids products may rank third for the query “buy shoes for a boy in New York” but fifteenth for the search phrase “cheap kids shoes”.

So for the first query the content on the page is optimized (i.e. has information about the product, properties, selection etc.) and for the second the texts need to be adjusted and made more relevant to the target audience.

Why monitor website position on Google?

Users search for products or services using a wide range of queries. Queries are based on combinations of words that include the name or characteristics of the product and the location they live in. A query often includes commercial keywords like “buy”, “order”, “price” etc. To make sure the search robot includes your page in the search results when a user searches for a product you are promoting, you need to create content that is most relevant to the key phrase. That is, texts (product descriptions, thematic articles, business news) should include the queries that your target audience uses to look for the product.

Why monitor keyword rankings of a site or online store?

Because:

• You need to know the real position of your site for high and medium frequency (HF, MF) keywords compared to your main competitors in the niche.
• You can do keyword research, correct texts and improve search engine rankings. This can be done after analyzing the content of top 5 search results.

Knowing which page a resource is on for the main keywords you can optimize texts and on-page SEO and get targeted traffic (visits). By monitoring website page positions you can improve content and keyword strategy and increase organic traffic and conversion rates without any additional investment in online advertising.

This is very important for promoting a commercial website whose main goals are:

• high sales;
• brand awareness;
• new markets;
• profit and business growth.

How to find a website position in a search engine

Special services like rank tracking tools are used to monitor positions of web resources in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, etc.

To determine the position of a website in a search engine, you can follow these steps:

1. Identify target keywords: Start by selecting the keywords that are relevant to your website and the ones you want to rank for. These are the words or phrases people use when searching for information related to your website.
2. Conduct a search: Go to a search engine like Google and enter the chosen keywords. Take note of where your website appears in the search results. The position of your website on the search results page is its search engine ranking.
3. Use rank tracking tools: To track your website position more effectively you can use rank tracking tools. These tools monitor your website search engine rankings for specific keywords over time. They give you valuable insights into your website performance and visibility in search engines.
4. Analyze the results: Regularly review the data from the rank tracking tools to see how your website position is changing. Look for patterns or trends in the rankings.
5. Assess SEO efforts: Compare your SEO efforts with the changes in your website search engine rankings. If you have implemented SEO strategies like improving your website content, optimizing keywords and website structure, analyze if these efforts have improved your rankings.

Paid tools and services can be used to screen competitive websites, either manually or automatically. They can also be used to track keywords, provide you with an effective keyword grouping, and check for external and internal links, errors, and indexing problems. Rush Analytics Google rank tracker offers competitor monitoring and analyzes the current positions based on the geo-dependence of the keywords.

How to set up keywords rankings with Rush Analytics Rank Tracking Tool

Rush Analytics provides you with the Rank Tracker tool which allows you to track your keywords for free during the 7 day trial period. Let’s see how to do it step by step.

Step 1. Create a task

To create a task go to the Rank Tracker tab and click on “Create New Task”.

Here you need to enter the task name (required field). You can enter any name; it’s often convenient to enter the website name so that in the future you can find the right task easily.

Next enter the site URL for which you want to collect the positions; positions will be taken for the whole site. If you want to collect positions for one specific URL (e.g. for a group in social networks or your page on YouTube) choose the “Exact URL” option under expert options.

Step 2. Set up keyword rank tracker

Here you need to select the device for which you want to check the positions and the search engine to use to collect them. For Google all regions and all languages are available and unlimited number of regions can be added to the task.

Step 3. Add keywords and groups

Here you can add keywords in the interface field as well as via file.

Using a file you can add not only specific keywords but also groups and relevant URLs for them. You can download a sample file to upload.

Step 4. Get the results

After a few minutes you will see:

• position in Google SERP
• competitors’ ranking
• results overview for the previous period
• and much more other metrics

How much it costs to check website position?

The price depends on the list of features. You can choose the best plan by considering the type of website and the depth of analysis by positions.

In Rush Analytics Rank tracker tool the plans include service to compile optimal keywords and search suggestions and then group them (arrange them by certain parameters). It also checks page indexing and other indicators to improve website position.

Website position in ranking list factors

When ranking an online resource hundreds of different factors are taken into account. Content quality, link count, behavioral factors, mobile adaptive design and many more affect search engine ranking results. Search engines use such complex algorithms because there are many similar sites in competitive industries and they want to show users the best and most relevant search results.

What factors affect your website position?

• High quality content on all pages of the site for high volume, middle volume and low volume queries. The content of the resource should not only be product descriptions; you should also publish product reviews, thematic articles, videos etc.
• High quality product images (more than one image)
• Wide range of products
• Clearly shown product prices
• Mobile adaptive design
• Convenient services: payment on the site, online order form, online consultant etc.
• Quick “Share” buttons with links to social media accounts and groups
• Quality external links. Check the donor sites and domains that link to your site. Donors should be related to the same or similar topics and should not have many outbound links. To increase the correlation (dependency) of the site positions, keywords or queries should be added in the link text
• High volume and middle volume keywords in meta tags etc.

How to improve website positioning

A number of actions should be done regularly to improve website position. Increasing positions allows website to get to the top of organic search results, attract new customers and increase sales.

What you need to do to get your website up in the results:

• Create unique and useful content and optimize the existing texts. Monitor competitors’ resources that are on top, survey users: what exactly do they want to know about a product? Texts should answer your target audience’s questions, solve their problems. And update your texts regularly!
• Think about design and navigation. Usability (resource friendliness) plays a big role for visitors. Attractive but not too flashy design, clear search and checkout forms keep visitors on the site, increasing the conversion rate (percentage of desired actions).

• Gradually build up the number of quality links. Check donor sites. Buy permanent and temporary links on thematic resources with high attendance and similar themes. Set up logical internal linking on your domain.
• Connect analytics services. Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools not only give you detailed analysis of your SEO effectiveness but also affect the ranking.

Website position in search engine is an indicator of your SEO. You should get your website to top 10 for popular keywords as this is what determines the sales and profitability of your online business. To do that you need to monitor its position, create unique content, improve usability and add new services to boost UX.