Reading Rankings
Read positions, history, and Search Console comparisons in Rank Tracking, act on ranking warnings, and find rankings elsewhere in RankNest.
Once a tracker has been checked, the Rank Tracking page shows a row of summary cards and a keyword table. This page explains each number, the warnings RankNest raises, and the other places in RankNest where tracked rankings show up. To set a tracker up first, see Trackers & Keywords.
Choose what you're looking at
Two controls sit at the right of the keyword table's toolbar:
- Device: when a tracker checks both devices, switch between Desktop and Mobile. Each keyword appears once per device, so the table and cards show one device at a time.
- Date range: Last 7 days, Last 30 days, or Last 90 days. This sets the history used for changes and trend lines.
Summary cards
- Avg. position: the average position of the keywords that were found, with how many keywords that covers. Lower is better, so a drop in the number shows as an improvement.
- Top 3 and Top 10: how many keywords rank in the first three and first ten results.
- Found in top N: how many keywords appear anywhere within the depth the tracker checks, out of how many were checked.
- Tracked vs GSC: shown when Search Console has data for the same keywords. It puts the tracked average position next to Search Console's average for those searches.
Each card compares against the start of the selected date range and draws a trend line for the period. A new tracker with only one day of checks has nothing to compare yet, so the change stays empty.
The keyword table
Each row is one keyword on the device you picked:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Keyword | The search term, with its tags underneath. |
| Target page | The page you want to rank for this keyword, or Set target. |
| Position | Where the site ranked on the latest check. |
| Change | How far the position moved over the date range. |
| Best | The best position recorded. |
| GSC pos | Search Console's average position for the keyword. |
| Clicks 30d | Clicks from Search Console over the last 30 days. |
| Trend | A small line of the position over the date range. |
| Ranking URL | The page Google showed on the latest check. Click it to open the page. |
| SERP features | Extras on the results page, such as a local pack, a featured snippet (Snippet), People Also Ask (PAA), or an AI overview. |
Some values need explaining:
- A position like 20+ means the site wasn't in the results RankNest checked. Raise the depth in the tracker's settings to look further.
- Not checked yet means the keyword hasn't had its first check.
- In Change, a green chip means the keyword moved up and a red chip means it moved down. New means it entered the checked results during the range. Dropped out means it was there at the start and isn't now.
- In Trend, days the keyword wasn't found are drawn at the bottom of the line, so a drop out of the results reads as a drop.
- GSC pos and Clicks 30d show n/a when Search Console has no data for the keyword. Hover over GSC pos to see impressions.
Click a column heading to sort by it. The search box filters by keyword, tag, or URL. To turn a keyword into a to-do item, click Create task at the end of its row. The task appears with the client's other tasks.
Tracked position and Search Console
The tracked position and Search Console's average position often differ, and both are right. A tracker records one check, from one location, on one device. Search Console averages every time the site appeared, across all locations, devices, and days, weighted by impressions. Personalized and local results pull that average around.
Use the tracked position to watch a specific keyword in a specific place over time. Use Search Console to see what searchers experienced overall and which searches bring clicks. See Google Search Console.
Ranking warnings
Ranks with another URL. This appears under the target page when a keyword has a target and Google's latest result is a different page on the site. Either strengthen the target page and link to it from the page that ranks now, or switch the target if the ranking page is the better fit.
Skipped checks. When a scheduled check doesn't run, a warning above the table says why. See the troubleshooting section of Trackers & Keywords.
Rank Tracking also adds three kinds of issue to the client's Issues, counted with the page's other problems:
- Google ranks a different page for this keyword than the one you target.
- Google keeps switching which page ranks for this keyword. Pick one page to own the keyword, and make the other clearly about something else or merge them.
- The page you target for this keyword is not in Google's index. Check the page for noindex or canonical problems, link to it from indexed pages, then request indexing in Search Console.
These issues rely on target pages, so setting targets on the keywords that matter makes them more useful.
Where rankings show up elsewhere
- Page drawer, Rankings tab. Open any page from Pages and click Rankings. It lists the tracked keywords that target the page (marked Target) and the ones Google ranked it for (marked Ranks here), with trend, change, position, and best. Type keywords under Track a keyword for this page and click Track to start tracking them with this page as the target.
- Pages list, Rank column. Once any page has tracked keywords, the Pages table gets a Rank column showing how many tracked keywords point at each page and its best position.
- SEO test cards. A running or completed test whose primary keyword is tracked shows its tracked position, the position it started from, and a short trend line. Ranks a different URL appears when Google ranked another page of the site. The test result is still decided by Search Console data. See Reading Results.
- Notification bell. When keywords move five or more positions in a week, the bell shows Big ranking moves this week with a See movers link. Skipped scheduled checks also appear there.
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Last updated 2026-09-25