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Every page on your site is competing for a spot in Google’s search results right now. Rank Tracking monitors where you stand for the terms that matter to your business, so you can tell whether you’re climbing or slipping.
Rank Tracking combines two data sources. Search Console keywords come from Google Search Console (GSC). Tracked keywords are the ones you add yourself, and SnowSEO checks them with its own live Google SERP checks, so they work even without a GSC connection.
Tracked keywords refresh on your plan’s cadence: every 7 days on Starter, every 3 days on Pro, and daily on Scale. The number of keywords you can track is also plan-based (50 on Starter, 150 on Pro, 300 on Scale).

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Keywords to Track

Open Analysis → Rank Tracking in the sidebar. SnowSEO charts the keywords your brand ranks for and lets you add your own.

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Rank Tracking - Overview

This dashboard helps you monitor how your keywords are performing in search results over time. It immediately answers critical questions like:
  • Are my rankings improving or declining?
  • How many keywords are moving up vs down?
  • Am I gaining more top positions?

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Top Section Controls

Switch between All, Search Console, and Tracked:
  • All - everything you rank for: Search Console organic queries combined with the keywords you track.
  • Search Console - organic queries from Google Search Console only. This is the only scope that needs a connected Search Console property.
  • Tracked - only the keywords you actively track, ranked by SnowSEO’s own SERP checks.
Why this matters: You can start tracking keywords right away without GSC. Connect GSC when you also want impressions, clicks, and the keywords you already rank for.

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Keyword Ranking Summary (Main Graph)

The Rank Tracking dashboard highlights which keywords are improving or declining in rankings, helping you identify growth opportunities, protect top positions, and optimize underperforming keywords. Key trend interpretation: If rising keywords are consistently higher than falling ones (with growth acceleration spikes), it provides the clear insight that your overall SEO performance is steadily improving. Rising vs Falling Keywords Graph

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Right-Side Summary Cards

Rising Keywords

The number of keywords that improved in ranking (e.g., 9 keywords, +29% of total). This is a strong, positive indicator of SEO progress.

Falling Keywords

Keywords that lost ranking positions (e.g., 4 keywords, -13%). These should be actively monitored, investigated, and targeted for re-optimization.

Top 10 Keywords

The number of keywords ranking in the top 10 positions (Page 1 of Google). Critical metric: More Top 10 keywords equal exponentially more traffic potential.

Dropped Top 10 Keywords

Keywords that fell out of the top 10. Seeing 0 here is highly positive, meaning you’ve sustained your most valuable rankings.
Below the cards, Rising Keywords and Falling Keywords lists show the biggest movers so you can jump straight to the keywords that need attention. Keyword Rank Tracking Dashboard

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Adding Keywords to Track

Click Track Keyword in the Tracked Keywords card and choose how to add keywords:
  • Add keyword - enter one or more keywords (separate them with commas or Enter), pick a country or city, and choose a language.
  • Bulk import - paste many keywords, one per line. Duplicates are removed automatically.
  • Auto-Create from GSC - pick keywords from your Search Console queries by position band. Requires a connected GSC property.
  • Ask Snowy - let Snowy suggest keywords to track.

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How This Connects to Website Traffic

Your keyword movement directly correlates to your traffic outcomes. Here is what the data signals mean:
  • More rising keywords: Rising keywords are early indicators of future traffic growth, especially if they are approaching the top 10.
  • Falling keywords: Top 10 keywords are the primary source of your website traffic, so optimizing these yields the highest ROI.
  • More Top 10 keywords: Exponentially higher Click-Through Rates (CTR).

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What You Should Do Next

1

Double down on rising keywords

Identify exactly what is working, structure your internal links around these winners, and expand similar content to capture even more traffic.
2

Fix declining keywords

Actively update decaying content, improve backlink structures to those lagging pages, and check competitor moves to reclaim lost positions.
3

Push near-top keywords into the Top 10

Focus on keywords in positions 11-20. Small, targeted content optimizations here represent your single biggest traffic opportunity.

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Reading the Dashboard

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What Do the Columns Mean?

The Tracked Keywords table (SnowSEO’s own SERP checks): The All Ranking Keywords table (Search Console data) adds Impressions and Clicks columns instead of Top Results and Location. A ”-” in a metric means Search Console has no data for that keyword.

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Using Filters to Find Quick Wins

Don’t try to monitor every keyword at once. Use the Category filter above the All Ranking Keywords table and the Ranking distribution chart to surface the most actionable data:
Rising and Falling are based on the change in Avg. position between the current and previous period. Falling keywords are your fire alarms - investigate content changes, competitor moves, or algorithm updates affecting these pages.

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Deep Dive: Keyword Detail View

Click any keyword row to open a detailed panel. If the keyword is tracked in several locations, use the location picker at the top to switch between them. This is where you diagnose why a ranking changed:

Keyword Metrics

Search Volume, Difficulty, CPC, search Intent, and the top competitors for the keyword.

Timeline

A line chart of your ranking over time. Look for steady upward trends vs. sudden spikes or crashes. Gradual drops often signal content decay; sudden drops often signal an algorithm update or technical issue.

Top Results

The pages currently ranking for the keyword, so you can see which competitor domains sit above or below you. Useful for understanding if a drop was caused by a competitor improvement rather than something you did wrong.

On This Results Page

Special result types on the page - AI Overview (with cited sources), related searches, and more - plus People also ask questions. These can push regular results lower and reduce your click-through rate even if your position didn’t change.
The Ranked Pages column opens a list of which of your pages rank for the keyword. If more than one appears, that’s keyword cannibalization: two of your pages competing against each other, causing both to rank poorly. Merge or consolidate them.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Not immediately. Small fluctuations of 1-5 positions are completely normal. Google runs constant A/B tests on its results, causing daily “dances.” Only investigate if the drop persists across several refreshes, affects many keywords at once, or coincides with a known Google algorithm update.
On the All and Search Console scopes, SnowSEO surfaces keywords your site is already ranking for via Google Search Console. These are shown so you can discover organic opportunities you didn’t know about and track them yourself. Use Auto-Create from GSC to add many at once.
It means your site doesn’t rank in Google’s top 100 results for that keyword yet, or it’s a brand-new keyword whose first check hasn’t finished. Wait for the next refresh on your plan’s cadence. If it still shows ”-” after that, consider whether you have any content targeting this keyword.
Tracked keywords refresh on your plan’s cadence: every 7 days on Starter, every 3 days on Pro, and daily on Scale. Search Console data is pulled as soon as Google makes it available for your account, typically with a delay of a couple of days.
Your plan sets the limit: 50 keywords on Starter, 150 on Pro, and 300 on Scale. Untrack a keyword to free up a slot.
Only for the Search Console scope and for Impressions and Clicks. Tracked keywords are checked by SnowSEO directly and work without it.
Yes. When you track a keyword, the location picker searches countries and local geo-targets - cities, counties, states, provinces, boroughs and neighbourhoods. Pick a country to track nationally, or search for somewhere more specific (for example “Palm Beach County” or “Roy, Utah”) to track locally.A keyword can be tracked in several locations at once. The Tracked Keywords table merges them into a single row - expand it to see each location’s own position, ranked pages and SERP. Use Edit on the row to add or remove locations later.
Keyword cannibalization happens when two or more of your pages target the same keyword - they compete against each other, and Google struggles to decide which one to rank. The fix is to either merge them into one comprehensive page, or clearly differentiate the content so each page targets a distinct angle. The Ranked Pages list for a keyword shows when more than one of your pages ranks.