How to check your position in Google?

Table of Contents

In the era of online presence, appearing on the top page of Google search results is similar to hitting jackpot. Companies are investing formidable amounts of time, money, and effort to make sure their website is as visible in Google as possible. After all, 75% of clicks go to the first page of search results.

Checking the ranking of your website in Google can help you figure out how well you stand against the competition. In this article, we’ll discuss Google rankings, why they are important, how to check them, and how to ensure the best results.

What is Google Ranking?

When a user makes a query in Google, the search engine finds the most suitable web pages to answer it. Google goes over more than 200 factors to determine the ranking of your website. They include:

Number of backlinks
Sitemap
Internal links
Keyword usage
Content optimization
URL structure
Loading time
Time spent by users on the website
Bounce rate
Click through rates
How up to date the website is

Google uses a variety of algorithms to figure out the true ranking of the website. In 2020, the most common one is RankBrain. Depending on the keyword, this algorithm decides to increase or decrease the importance of such factors as content freshness, internal links, bounce rates, etc.

Then the program monitors user activity to figure out how searchers “like” the result. If they are happy, it continues with the same approach. If not, it goes back to the old algorithm.

The more marketers and SEO experts try to “trick” Google into pushing their website to the top of the rankings, the more Google works toward strengthening the algorithms. In 2020, the only way to achieve high rankings is to practice white hat SEO.

10 Top Google Ranking Factors in 2020

This year, top Google ranking factors include:

Site security (HTTPS)
Mobile-friendliness
Proper schema markup
Quality of content
Page loading speed
Proper content length
Social signals
Quality of backlinks
Image optimization
User experience

Google Rank Checker: What is It?

A Google rank checker is a tool that helps you figure out website rankings. Based on the information you get from the tool, you can figure out which steps to take to improve your marketing efforts.

You can also take advantage of the checker to see how your competitors rank on Google. This information can give you priceless insight into how you can outrun the competition.

Why Check Your Site Position in Google Search with a Rank Checker

Using a rank checker comes with many different benefits. It doesn’t just give you a clear picture of where the website stands but also:

Allows you to monitor the search engine presence regularly and help build a solid SEO strategy
Helps you maintain and target certain sets of keywords.
Since you need to target a big set of keywords to diversify your marketing efforts, the ranker can help you make sure you are making progress.
By checking the Google keyword ranking regularly, you can get insight into choosing the right content to post and the right keywords to target.
Since you need to maintain a high position on the search engine results, you need to keep perfecting your SEO strategy. To achieve that, you need to check your website rankings daily.
Google changes its algorithms regularly. Your website may be ranking high today and falling behind tomorrow. This happened to many companies in January 2020 as Google came up with its latest update. A rank checker can help you catch changes as they happen to adjust your strategy timely.

A website rank checker is an integral part of search engine optimization. You can take advantage of a variety of tools available on the market today. Some of them are free.

Free Google Rank Checkers and How to Choose Them

Whether you are just starting your SEO campaign or looking for a way to save money, free Google rank checkers can become your tools of choice. Even though paid versions usually have more features, free tools can be useful as well.

Rank checkers usually come as part of other useful SEO tools.

When you are choosing the best paid or free ranking tools, you need to consider the following factors:

Accuracy – to make sure your SEO efforts are working, you need an accurate reading on the rankings. To find out how accurate your rank tracker is, you need to read reviews or make up your own statistics.
Number of keywords – your SEO strategy may require thousands of keywords. If it doesn’t today, you may still need this option in the future. Is the rank checker you’ve chosen capable of handling that many?
Local ranks tracking – if you are focusing on local marketing, you need the rank checker to accommodate this need. The program should figure out which results users get based on their geography.
Mobile rank checking – mobile ranks may differ from desktop ranks, so the rank tracker should be able to track both depending on your needs.
Search engine choice – while Google is definitely the most popular search engine, it’s not the only one. Ideally, your rank tracker should be checking your keyword rankings on other search engines as well.

Free ranking tools have limited possibilities but may be highly useful for small SEO campaigns.

How to Check Your Position in Google

To check your position in Google you need to use one or several keyword position-checking tools.

1. How do Position Checkers Work?

The majority of these tools work the same. They perform searches in Google (or in other search engines, if you need them to) for each of the keywords you mention.

These tools adjust the search query to view more than ten results per page so the number of requests to each search engine is minimized. Then they store the result page.

The tool checks the result page with the assistance of a script to get as much information as possible from the result, including the website keyword ranking position.

2. How To Use the Information Acquired By the from the Rank Checker

If you’ve been creating content specifically to target several search pages, the ranking tool will tell you where the page is located in the SERPs. If the rank is low, you can inspect the content in detail to figure out why it’s not ranking as high as you wish. You can also check the competitor’s websites to figure out what they are doing to rank high for the same keywords.

As you are changing the content, you can check how well your alternations fare by running the page through the rank checker over and over again.

Each rank checker has a different console with a different variety of options and parameters. You can see all queries that display your website in the SERPs, the number of clicks on the results, the CTR (click-through rate), and average position across queries.

The report generated by the checker is an excellent resource to find out which keywords people are using to find your website. You may be surprised to see a few that you haven’t considered before. You can use this information to focus on optimizing for new keywords to improve the search volume.

How to Check Google Position Ranking

Ranking high on Google is the key to success. Ranking high for the most important keyword can put you ahead of the competition. If your keyword ranking is high, you can continue improving your website to maintain it. If it’s low, you need to work hard on content improvement while tweaking other website parameters.

Keep in mind that articles on page one of Google search get as much as 92% of attention from all searchers. Meaning that if you fail to appear on the coveted page, you are likely to be left in the dark.

The click-through rate of the top result on Google search is an impressive 31.7%. Being on the first page helps you increase brand awareness, get more backlinks, and earn more trust from your target audience.

The more traffic your website gets, the more conversions you are likely to make. If these results are organic, your SEO efforts are paying off. Today, Google’s algorithms don’t allow websites with high bounce rates to succeed with getting on top of the search.

Learning about Alexa Rank

Alexa Rank is a measurement of your website’s popularity compared to the rest of the websites in the world. The popularity is directly related to the amount of traffic you are getting. A lower Alexa Rank shows higher traffic and vice versa.

For example, a website with 300 Alexa Rank receives more traffic than a website with 3,000 Alexa Rank.

You can check the Alexa Rank with a rank tracker.

How is Alexa Rank Calculated?

According to Alexa’s official website, it calculates the rank by considering the estimate average daily unique visitors and the estimated number of page views over the past three months. The ranking algorithm audits the website to calculate the frequency of visits. If one visitor comes to the website more than twice throughout the day, it counts as one visit.

What Keywords is My Website Ranking For?

The rank tracker can help you find out which keywords your website is ranking for. You can figure out if the keywords you are using are working and learn which keywords visitors search for when they see your website.

Each ranking tool can have a different approach to identify which keywords your website is ranking for. However, the results will be similar, just wrapped in different wrappers. You can use this information to improve your SEO efforts.

How to Improve Google Website Rankings

Once you acquire sufficient information from the rank tracking tool, you can take the following steps to improve your website’s rankings in Google and other search engines.

Improve website structure and architecture to make it appealing to the visitor.
Check images and videos to figure out what may be slowing down the page loading time.
Fix duplicate content issues.
Optimize your website for mobile use.
Work on the links (fix broken links, use more internal links, acquire backlinks).
Improve on-page optimization.

By taking full advantage of the latest SEO tactics, you can improve your Google website rankings over time.

Final Thoughts

Knowing the rankings of your website is an integral part of any SEO strategy. By using rank tracking tools, you can figure out how well your SEO efforts are working. These tools are irreplaceable for any search engine optimization campaign.

As soon as you learn your rankings, you can go on to tweaking your SEO techniques, work on new keywords, and make your website more appealing to the target audience.