Using a Keyword Rank Checker to Improve Rankings (2024)

A keyword rank checker is an essential tool for improving your website's performance.

Rank checkers allow you to monitor the terms your website ranks for in search results. Real-time insights into keyword performance can drive more traffic and result in higher conversions.

So, how often should you track your keywords? And how should you respond when your keyword rankings drop?

Read on to learn how and when to use keyword rank checkers!

What Is a Keyword Rank Checker?

A keyword rank checker is an SEO tool that monitors a website’s position for specific keywords in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Typically, ranking tools provide data on:

• Current keyword ranking: Your website's position for the selected keyword on a specific search engine (e.g., Google, Bing).
• Historical ranking data: Changes in rank over time, with the opportunity to see trends and fluctuations.
• Competitor ranking data: Where competitors rank for the same keywords, allowing you to benchmark your performance against them.

Checking keyword rankings is a vital part of SEO. It helps you stay ahead of the competition in four ways:

SEO Performance Tracking

Regularly monitoring your keyword rankings allows you to track the effectiveness of your SEO efforts:

• If your rankings are improving, it means your strategies are working.
• If they’re dropping, it indicates that something needs to be addressed.

Keyword Optimization

Identifying low-performing keywords sooner lets you quickly shift focus to improve your content’s visibility:

• You can prioritize against high-volume keywords that will bring in more traffic, or long-tail queries that may target more qualified visitors.
• It can help you manage efforts in light of changing trends, seasonal cycles, or breaking news and events.

Competitor Analysis

Analyzing your competitors gives you valuable insights into their SEO strategies.

It can also help you identify opportunities to outrank them:

• Seeing your competitors ranking for new keywords (or sets of related keywords) may signal a shift in their marketing strategy.
• If they start to overtake your rankings for some queries, it may signal a concerted effort to target your areas of strength.

Analyzing this information helps you to understand which keywords they’re targeting in Google search. You can also see the search volume of important keywords.

Search Intent Understanding

Keyword rankings can reveal the search intent behind those keywords:

• Understanding intent lets you develop tailored content that aligns with user searches.
• Tracking keyword rankings over time lets you see how user search behavior changes in relation to that query
• Understanding social media trends can validate your research.

How Often Should You Track Keyword Rankings?

How frequently you should check keyword rankings depends on your industry, competition, and available resources.

• Monthly: If your keywords are generally stable and competition is light, you can wait a little time between checks.
• Weekly: Check more often in competitive industries where Google rankings fluctuate regularly.

The good news is that checking your keyword positions can be automated!

Automating Your Keyword Rank Checking

The Semrush Position Tracker is a powerful tool that tracks rankings for the keywords you identify.

This tool goes beyond simply showing your current position in the SERPs. With Semrush, you can:

• See Historical Rankings – Examine performance over time to see the impact of SEO changes and identify trends for further attention.
• Review Competitive Analysis – Compare your performance against established rivals, up-and-coming disruptors, and everyone in between.
• Check Featured Snippets – Real SEO power comes in knowing which SERP features you can claim with a few tweaks of your content.

In Position Tracking, Semrush will notify you if there is a significant change in one of your keywords. This saves you time, since you won’t need to check your rankings on a regular schedule.

To set up ranking alerts in Semrush's Position Tracking tool, log in to your Semrush account and follow the steps below:

1. Access Your Position Tracking Campaign

Navigate to your existing project and open the Position Tracking tool.

In the Position Tracking dashboard:

• Click on the gear icon located in the top-right corner to access the settings.
• Select "Triggers" from the dropdown menu.

2. Configure Custom Triggers

In the Triggers section, click "Add Trigger" to create a new alert.

Define your alert as follows:

• Keyword(s): Choose specific keywords, or apply the alert to all tracked keywords.
• Condition: Set conditions such as "Position drops below" or "Position rises above" a certain rank.
• Value: Specify the rank position that will trigger the alert.

Make sure to give your alert a name so you can find it later.

3. Set Notification Preferences

Choose where and when to receive the alerts:

• Email: Enter the email address you’d like to use for alerts from your rank checker.
• Timing: Choose how often you'd like to receive alerts (e.g., immediately, daily, weekly).

Click "Save" to activate the alert.

You can always go back to edit or delete the keyword position change alert by clicking the appropriate icon next to the saved alert.

How to Respond to a Drop in Keyword Rankings

A drop in keyword rankings can be frustrating. However, before jumping in and making changes, it's important to analyze the situation.

Here are some things you can do to assess a ranking drop:

1. Conduct a Site Audit

To set up a new site audit in Semrush:

• Log in to your Semrush account.
• Navigate to the "Projects" section and click "Create Project."
• Enter your website's domain and project name, then click "Create."

Now run an audit and allow some time for it to complete.

Once the audit is ready, access the "Overview" report to view your site's health score and a summary of issues.

Issues are categorized as:

• Errors: Critical issues requiring immediate attention.
• Warnings: Important issues that should be addressed, but which are less critical than errors.
• Notices: Minor issues or recommendations for improvement.

For each issue, Semrush provides a description and guidance on why it matters and how to fix it.

• Focus on Errors – Fixing these will have the most significant impact on your site's performance.
• Proceed to Warnings, then Notices – Addressing these will further enhance your site's health.
• Use the provided recommendations – Semrush will suggest ways to implement changes that will help your site regain its keyword rankings.

Once you’re done, you can re-run the Site Audit to verify that issues have been resolved. If Semrush finds any new issues, you can address those following the above process.

2. Update your content

Google loves fresh content. Unfortunately, this means that outdated content can hurt rankings.

Review your content for relevancy and freshness, ensuring it aligns with user search intent. If it’s been awhile, you may even want to do a complete content audit.

Semrush offers a suite of tools to help:

• SEO Content Template provides actionable recommendations for creating high-ranking content based on the top 10 competitors for your target keywords.
• SEO Writing Assistant integrates with platforms like Google Docs and WordPress. It offers real-time suggestions to improve readability, tone of voice, and SEO elements, ensuring your content is both engaging and search-friendly.
• ContentShake AI assists in creating SEO-friendly articles by providing weekly content ideas, optimized drafts, and AI-generated images. It also allows direct posting to WordPress websites.

Start Boosting Your Keyword Rankings with Semrush

Semrush is packed with powerful marketing tools that will help you capitalize on trends, optimize your online presence, and beat your competitors. Its keyword rank checker is just one part of the toolset.

Sign up for Semrush today to take it for a test drive.