Check your keyword rankings

Tracked keywords shows where each tracked keyword ranks in Google for one of your sites, next to your Search Console queries. Open Performance in the sidebar, select the Search tab, then select the Tracked keywords tab in the table under the chart. The number in brackets is how many keywords you track.

Opening Performance shows positions from checks that already ran. Only Run now and Weekly rank checks start a new check.

Before you start

Mark only checks keywords you track. Every keyword you save on Research > Keywords is tracked on your main site right away, and tracking alone starts no check. Excluding a keyword stops tracking it. Until a keyword is tracked, the Tracked keywords tab shows one line: "No keywords are tracked for example.com yet. Track keywords in Research › Keywords to see where they rank." With more than one site, the site picker stays above that line, so you can check another site.

Pick a site and locale

The tab opens on your main site, the same site Search Console reads. If you have more than one site, choose another in the site picker at the top of the tab. If a site is tracked in more than one locale, pick the locale from the row of buttons beside it. Your choice changes only this tab, and the rest of Performance keeps its dates and market. Each locale shows as its country and language, like "🇺🇸 US (English)".

With a market picked in Market, the tab opens on that market's country when the site tracks a locale there, so ranks and Search clicks come from the same country. If the country has more than one locale, it opens the one in the market's language. Changing the market resets a locale you picked.

Above the table, a status line says how the last check went. Under it, the line reads "Last checked" with the date and time, then "Next check" and its date with weekly checks, or "Runs when you click Run now." with manual ones.

Check positions now

1. Next to Run now, read how many keywords it checks, like "12 keywords = 12 checks": one check per tracked keyword, in the tracker's location and language. Point at the info icon to see what the check fetches. When no keyword is tracked, the line reads "Nothing to check. Track a keyword first." and Run now is turned off until you track one from Keywords.
2. Select Run now. The button changes to Checking… and stays disabled until the check ends.
3. Watch the progress line and bar, like "Checking 12 keywords: 5 done, 1 failed." Results can take 20 minutes or more. Each keyword still waiting shows Checking… in the table. The tab refreshes on its own, and you can leave the page: results fill in either way.
4. Read the result line when it finishes:
   • "Last check finished for all 12 keywords." Every keyword got a new result.
   • "Last check finished with 2 of 12 keywords failed." The failed keywords show Check failed in the table. Run the check again to retry them.
   • "Last check failed. No new positions were recorded." Every keyword shows Check failed. Earlier positions stay in each keyword's history. Run the check again later.

Each check also saves the People Also Ask questions Google showed for your tracked keywords. They appear under Suggested on Research > Buyer questions. Nothing joins your buyer questions until you select Add on a suggestion. See Add buyer questions from People Also Ask.

When Search Console is connected, Suggested also lists searches phrased as questions, like "how much is a prefab ADU", that showed your site on Google in the last 28 days, with their impressions and clicks. Reading them needs no rank check. Select Add to make one a buyer question.

Set checks to weekly

The schedule lives on Research > Keywords. Change schedule, next to Run now, takes you there for the same site.

1. Open Research > Keywords. Pick the site in Tracking ranks for if you have more than one.
2. Under Rank checks, pick one. It saves as soon as you pick.
   • Manual: only when you click Run now
   • Weekly: checks rankings once a week

A site tracked in more than one locale has one Rank checks control for all of them; its info icon lists the locales it sets. If the locales were set apart before, it reads Differs by market until you pick. With Weekly, Tracked keywords shows the date and time of the next check. Changing the schedule doesn't start a check.

Read the table

Each tracked keyword has one row:

• Keyword: select it to see its history.
• Position is where your site ranked in Google on the last check, like #4. An arrow beside it shows the move since the check before: a green up arrow with the places gained, a red down arrow with the places lost, or a gray right arrow for no change. Hover the arrow to read it, like "Up 3". There's no arrow unless both checks found your site.
• Ranking URL is the page on your site that ranked, shown as its path, like /pricing. Hover it to see the full URL. Select it to open the page view for that page, with the same dates, Compare, and market. The keyword's history links its URLs the same way.

Position can also show one of these:

• Not checked yet: this keyword has never been checked.
• Not in top 100: the check ran, and your site wasn't in the first 100 Google results.
• Check failed: the latest check couldn't get a result for this keyword.

The table opens sorted by Position, best first. Select the Keyword or Position heading to sort by it. Use the search box to find a keyword. The table shows 10 keywords at a time; pick more under Rows per page, and use the page numbers for the rest. On a phone, each keyword is a card, and Sort by sorts them.

See a keyword's history

Select a keyword's name to open its history under the table. Once the keyword has ranked in at least two checks, a chart shows its position over time, with #1 at the top. The Checked list shows every check with its position and ranking URL. Select Close to hide it.