Keyword Ranking Check: The Comprehensive Guide for 2025

Flying blind with SEO? Track your keyword rankings like a pro and watch your traffic skyrocket with these 3 free tools.

Are you curious about how your website ranks on Google? The easiest way to see your site's SEO progress is by examining your keyword rankings. I'm going to teach you how to check your positions based on your keyword rankings.

Think of it this way. You are continuously creating new content, building backlinks, and updating pages. But are you actually climbing the search results or falling down? If you aren't checking your keyword rankings, it's like you are on a long drive with your eyes closed.

The higher you rank on Google, the more visibility and clicks your website receives. Google customizes search results based on your geographical location, search including historical history, and what device you are using to access their search engine. Therefore, there is no way that simply Googling your keywords will provide you reliable data on your rankings.

The Importance of Monitoring Keyword Position

Here's the truth most people don't understand: keyword ranking is the number one metric for SEO success. It doesn't just reflect how good you are at SEO or that you're driving results; it's not a vanity number on your dashboard.

When you are tracking rankings properly, you develop a feedback loop straight from Google. You'll learn what content strategies are effective and what ones bury you seven feet under. You'll also be able to catch problems well before they become catastrophic.

Tracking your rankings will allow you to:

• Measure Actual ROI - See and speak to the connection between ranking improvement and increased traffic and revenue.
• Catch Problems Early - If you notice your rankings decline over the last two weeks or so, there's probably something going on like your backlinks were devalued.
• Identify Quick Wins - When it happens you'll find keywords that are occupying position 9, page 2 of Google that only need a nudge or two to position 5, page 1.
• Spy on Competitors - You can identify where competitors have improved to high rankings for your most valuable terms.
• Justify Your Efforts - Help to prove to bosses and stakeholders that you are indeed driving measurable organic results.

The race for spots on top of the page is highly competitive. As you fight your way to the top of the first page of Google, your click through rates (CTR) sky rocket. In multiple studies, the first 5 search results get somewhere around 70% of all clicks and where you rank matters. If you're not in the top positions, you're missing out on a lot of clicks and visibility on one of the most sought after natural search engines.

How to Track Your Keyword Ranking (The Right Way)

Let me explain what I specifically do. You can do this in different ways, a free way up to premium (and everything in between), but, it really just depends on what you are ready to pay.

Start With Google Search Console (It’s Free)

This gives you the most accurate data on your website positions. This is the "data" from the "source." The following are reasons for checking first:

Benefits:

• Shows average position for every keyword you are ranking for.
• Spot "surprise" keywords you weren't even targeting.
• Clicks, impressions, and click-through rate.
• Can be checked for free with no limits.
• Data directly came from Google itself.

To check your rankings in GSC, you just need to select the Performance report. This report should include a selection of "Average position," which is typically chosen by default. To see all the keywords you rank for, scroll down to Queries.

Here, you will often find valuable opportunities. For example, you may find that you are ranking for a high-volume keyword at position 8, and you will realize that quickly changing or updating the content could get you ranked on the first page.

The Limitation: GSC does provide an average position, but it is not updated in real time like a dedicated rank checker. GSC also does not offer easy tracking for competitors, and it does not track specific locations easily.

Use Dedicated Rank Tracking Tools

For accurate tracking, most professionals utilize dedicated rank checking tools that automate the tracking process. These tools offer a level of control that free services cannot provide.

Best Tools in 2025:

• Semrush – An all-in-one tool, combines rankings and daily updates with competitor tracking starting at $139.95/month
• Ahrefs – Tracks rankings on 10 search engines at the city level starting at $99/month
• RankTank – A rank-checking tool that works directly in Google Sheets allows for 10,000 scans/month at $9/month.

All of these tools allow you to track specific lists of keywords daily, and to track mobile vs desktop rankings. You can even filter down to a specific city or zip code for local SEO tracking.

Quick Manual Checking

From time to time you may want or need to perform a fast spot check. One option is to open an incognito mode window or a private browsing window for your search so that Google will not personalize the search results. This will give you search results much closer to what the average user sees when they search with the same keywords.

However, manual checking can become stale quickly if you're tracking dozens or even hundreds of keywords. Manually checking is also not very accurate because the search results will still vary by location and device.

Best Practices for Accurately Tracking Rankings

Now that you know how to check rankings, let's look at some best practices to track rankings intelligently. These practices will help you save time and get more useful insights from your rankings.

Establishing a Tracking Frequency

For most businesses, checking rankings weekly is the sweet spot. This is frequent enough to identify trends and not so frequent that you'll become buried in daily anomalies you won't find useful.

If you have recently made a significant push to improve your rankings via SEO or you're in a very competitive niche, setting up daily rankings for your highest priority keywords may make sense for the short term. If you're in a relatively stable industry, you can check rankings every two weeks or every month for long-term tracking.

Organize Your Keywords Into Logical Groups

Group similar keywords into an organized logic instead of trying to track every variation. This will make the data truly usable instead of too overwhelming or cumbersome.

Smart Grouping Options:

• By product line or service line
• By user intent (for example, informational, transactional)
• By campaign or content cluster
• By priority (for example, high-value or experimental)

Tracking The Right Keywords

Track and focused on the keywords that have value to your business goals and have a clear match to user search intention, don't just go after high-volume keywords (if they are not converting).

Many long-tail keywords will have low competition, drive more targeted traffic, and be easier to rank for longer tail queries, while many times converting better due in part to matching user search intent.

Create Automated Alerts

Set up daily alerts for all your most important keyword position changes of ±5. This will allow you to react immediately when something changes drastically/noticeably.

You will see alerts when your competitors enter your one of your top positions. Celebrate when you finally break onto page one for the targeted keyword. The alerts provide ease of mind and assurance without manually checking each time.

Mistakes in Common Ranking Checks to Avoid

These are common mistakes that even seasoned marketers make. Let’s help you avoid the mistakes the hard way.

Don’t rely on customized results. Google displays different results generated from GPS data and your IP address, along with trustworthiness of sites you visited. You only see results for your unique search behavior.

Don’t lose your mind about daily results. Rankings will bounce given the circumstances. If you really want to keep an eye on rankings, weekly or even monthly rankings will tell you the whole story, not the one daily ranking.

Don’t be complacent about mobile rankings. 96% of all Internet users use mobile. If you only track desktop, you are missing a large segment of your audience.

Don't underestimate SERP features. In 2025, AI Overviews appeared in 30% of SERPs. SERP features, like featured snippets or local pack takes clicks, even from position 1.

Want to Track Your Rankings Like an Expert?

Tracking keyword rankings is not very difficult. However, consistently and strategically tracking your rankings can make all the difference in terms of growth versus guessing.

Start tracking your rankings today with Google Search Console. It’s free and will give you rock solid baseline data. As you scale your content planning, you may want to invest in a dedicated rank tracker that fits your budget and needs.

Bear in mind rankings are just one piece of the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) puzzle. Rankings should always be tracked along with click-through rates, conversion rates, and overall organic traffic to get the complete picture of your SEO health.

Looking for a powerful, all-in-one rank tracking tool that makes your entire SEO process a breeze? MaxRankr gives you accurate daily updates, competitor insights, and reports delivered to you automatically that establish your SEO success. Stop guessing where you are in the rankings. Start tracking with MaxRankr today and watch your rankings climb!