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How To Check Keyword Ranking in Google Search Console


There’s a famous quote often attributed to the ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi (AKA Lao Tzu) that translates to:

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.”

It’s good advice.

…Unless, of course, you’re a business owner or marketer and another company is stealing all the customers. Then you definitely should compare yourself to how others are doing.

How your business stacks up against others on a search engine matters a lot. That’s why SEO — search engine optimization — is so important. But how do you know if your SEO efforts are working?

Google has a tool for that.

What Is Keyword Ranking and How Do You Check It?

Many of you reading this blog know what a keyword is and are aware of its importance to SEO. But some of you may only have a vague idea and have just been pretending to know what everyone else has been talking about. (Trust me — we’ve all been there.) 

So let’s all get on the same page. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, so I’ll just explain keywords with this photograph:

Why would someone name their restaurant “Thai Food Near Me”? Well, when you want Thai food and you’re not sure where to go, what do you do? If you’re like most folks, you fire up your preferred search engine and type: 

“Thai Food Near Me” 

(Actually, you probably type “thai food near me” or maybe even “thaif ood nearme” if you’re really in a rush.)

This restaurant is in New York City — a big city with many culinary options. How does one Thai restaurant stand above the rest? By being the first one listed on a search engine results page (SERP). 

Higher ranks mean more visibility. More visibility means more people find your business and maybe become customers. That Thai restaurant is probably only trying to rank for “Thai food” in Google search results and on Google Maps. However, a business with a blog and numerous landing pages can also rank high for related searches, capturing the attention of more curious parties.

How Do You Check Your Keyword Ranking?

Google and other search engines are always refining their algorithms. And your competitors are always publishing new material that might get them ranked ahead of you on certain SERPs. That’s why it’s important to check your Google ranking so you know where you stand. 

One way you can find your keyword ranking is to check it manually. Use a private browser (Incognito mode, Private Browsing, etc.) and search for the keyword you want to know about. The private browser yields unbiased search results that aren’t affected by your browsing history.

Just type your keyword into the search bar and see where you rank on the SERP. This method might work for somebody who’s only interested in a few keywords, like that Thai restaurant. However many businesses care about multiple keywords. 

When tracking multiple keywords through massive search volume, this manual method can be time-consuming, messy and not all that insightful. But Google Search Console is a great solution.

What Is Google Search Console (GSC)?

Google Search Console is an SEO tool. It’s ideal for rank tracking and measuring. You can use it to measure your site traffic and discover how people are coming to your site. GSC can help you answer questions about your current and potential customers. These questions might include:

  • What are they looking for?
  • What else do they see when your site pops up?
  • What related search queries bring your site up?
  • How easy is it to find your site?

GSC can help you figure out the answers to these questions and enable you to optimize your keyword performance. It can provide valuable insights into factors such as search intent and keyword performance — and it’s free to use! You just have to verify your site by linking to your Google Analytics dashboard or by uploading an HTML file.

You can gather a mountain of data with GSC, including important information about the keywords your website ranks for, click-through rates, average positions and impressions. GSC can provide great insights into your website’s visibility, which keywords are driving traffic to you or to your competitors’ sites and, ultimately, how to rank on Google. And GSC doesn’t just help you check keyword ranking — it can help you detect crawl errors and security issues, as well as offer recommendations to improve your site’s performance.

Why Is it Beneficial To Check Keyword Ranking?

Checking your keyword ranking is pretty much an essential part of any half-decent SEO strategy. If you just guess what some popular keywords might be and then try to use them in your content, you’re unlikely to succeed.

However, when you use Google Search Console, you can see a clear picture of where your site stands and what your competitors are doing. It’s good to know who’s ranking high in searches so you know how to compete. 

How To Add and Track Keywords in Google Search Console

Let’s go over the basic functions of GSC.

How Do You Find Keyword Rankings on Google Search Console?

  1. Click the “Performance” tab on GSC’s main menu. This shows you the search performance report, detailing your site’s existing ranking keywords and associated metrics. The default search setting is “Web”, but you can change it to “Image”, “Video” or “News”.
  2. Set your date range, such as 12–16 months (16 months is the maximum). Then you can export keyword data.
  3. Click “Export” in the top right corner of the search performance report and choose your preferred format: Google Sheets, Excel or a CSV file.
  4. Now it’s time to sort and filter your keyword data. 

How Do You See Keywords in Google Search Console?

Open your exported spreadsheet and the “Queries” tab will appear automatically. It will show you a table of your website’s top queries. These are the keywords your site is currently ranking for. You can create a filter for this data to narrow down your insights.

How Do You Measure Keyword Ranking in Google Search Console?

The best way to measure your search results depends on your goal. Is your primary objective to rank higher? If so, pay close attention to your website’s total impressions and average position.

If you want to focus on traffic and get more visitors to your site, then look at clicks and click-through rates and the changes in their averages. 

5 Tips for Using Google Search Console Effectively

Here are 5 tips for upping your GSC game:

  1. Set up a sitemap (maybe): You don’t need a sitemap. If your website is well-organized and pages logically link to each other, Google’s web crawlers will find most of your pages. A sitemap can be helpful in some situations, though. If your site is very large or has isolated pages, the sitemap will help. It’s also helpful for new sites that have few backlinks.
  2. Use filters effectively: You can filter by date, time range, device and, of course, keyword. Layering your filters can help you narrow your search and reveal detailed information.
  3. Compare performance across devices: It’s the 2020s — just about everyone carries a tiny computer in their pocket more powerful than the ones NASA used to send astronauts to the moon. And people use these tiny computers to search all the time. They also use their big computers (laptops and desktops) and their medium-sized computers (tablets). It’s valuable to know how your site performs in searches on each of them.
  4. Learn about page indexing: The index coverage report displays the status of every page Google has tried to index on your website. This can show you indexing issues. “Error” means Google couldn’t index the page. “Warning” means Google could index the page, but there’s a problem. “Excluded” means there’s another page with duplicate content, so Google excluded it from indexing.
  5. Identify which sites link to you the most: Knowing how many sites backlink to yours and what they are can tell you about your site’s — and business’s — authority. If you’re popular and trusted, more sites will link to you.

The Wonderful World of SEO

Let’s face it: Poring over Google keyword ranking results and studying SERPs are hardly the most creatively fulfilling aspects of marketing or business management. Ensuring effective keyword performance is necessary, but it doesn’t have to be a chore for marketers and writers. It’s a challenge, yes, but it can also add structure to content.

Sometimes it’s the parameters and limitations around an artist that prompt them to innovate something bold and outstanding. Just as you can give an experienced improv artist a topic and watch them riff on it, you can give an experienced copywriter keywords and a target keyword rank, and they can give you back an engaging piece of copy that seamlessly sprinkles in the necessary keyword. The result is engaging content and a positive SEO ranking.

Google Search Console is an excellent keyword rank tracking tool to learn because it allows you to see how your SEO efforts affect your website’s ranking position. Writing with search traffic in mind opens up new avenues to increase brand awareness, generate new leads and create more interesting and relevant content. So give it a try — you might even have fun!





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