Documentation
Rank Changes
See which queries moved up or down between two periods and by how many places, with their click impact, a distribution chart and click thresholds.
Rank Changes compares each query's average position in your date range with its position in the comparison period. It sorts every query into improved, worsened or unchanged, shows how far it moved and how many clicks and impressions came or went with the move, and draws the spread of all moves in one chart. It needs a comparison period.
How it is calculated
- Every query with impressions in either period is included. A query missing from one period counts as position 100 there, so newly ranking and lost queries show up as large moves.
- Change is the earlier position minus the later one, so a positive change means the query moved up, towards position 1.
- A query is Improved when it gained more than half a position, Worsened when it lost more than half a position, and Unchanged otherwise.
- Clicks Impact and Impressions Impact are the differences between the two periods.
Reading the report
The cards count Total Keywords, Improved, Worsened and Unchanged. Under Thresholds, Min. clicks and Min. impressions drop the smallest queries; a query stays in when it reaches the thresholds in either period. Raising them clears out the many tiny queries whose positions jump about on a few impressions.
Keyword Ranking Changes is a histogram of the moves, from more than 20 places up to more than 20 places down, with gains in green and losses in red. A broad shift to one side after a Google update reads very differently from a few large moves on single queries.
The table lists Keyword, Position Before, Position After, Change, Clicks Impact and Impressions Impact, biggest gains first, with All, Improved and Worsened tabs. Click a keyword to open its query detail.
Measured positions from the rank tracker
If the property tracks keywords in Research → Rank Tracking, the Measured position column shows where the tracker last saw each one: on desktop when it has a desktop reading, otherwise on mobile. Search Console's figure is an average over every time your result was shown, across countries and devices (Google's definitions), while the tracker reads one results page at one moment. Expect the two to differ.
Using it well
- Sort by Clicks Impact rather than Change. A two-place drop on a query worth hundreds of clicks matters more than a twenty-place drop on one that never brought any.
- Worsened queries that still bring clicks are good candidates for a refresh. The content engine refreshes the articles it manages when their clicks fall away (keeping articles fresh).
- Improved queries now sitting between positions 4 and 20 are worth a push, and Page Poaching estimates what moving them higher would bring.
Save to keyword library stores the listed keywords, and the table and chart export like any other (Exporting data).