Rank Tracker

What is Rank Tracker?

Rank Tracker shows you how your keywords are performing in Google search results. Instead of manually checking positions in Google Search Console, Rank Tracker surfaces trends, alerts you to changes, and helps you prioritize optimization work.

Key insights:

• Position trends — Is this keyword improving or declining?
• Top movers — Which keywords gained or lost the most positions?
• Milestone alerts — When keywords enter/exit top 10 or top 3
• Target tracking — Set position goals and track progress

Unlike raw GSC data, Rank Tracker computes trends, identifies patterns, and tells you what to do about them.

Getting Started

Accessing Rank Tracker

1. Log in to your ILLIXIS account
2. Navigate to Intelligence → Rank Tracker in the left sidebar
3. You'll see your keyword ranking dashboard

First-time setup:

• Connect Google Search Console (if not already connected)
• ILLIXIS automatically syncs your ranking data daily
• No manual tracking required — all GSC keywords appear in Rank Tracker

Understanding the Dashboard

The dashboard has five main sections:

1. Stats Cards (Top)

• Tracked Keywords — Total keywords you're actively monitoring
• Avg Position — Your average ranking across all tracked keywords
• Improving — Keywords moving up in rankings
• Declining — Keywords losing positions
• In Top 10 — Keywords ranking on page 1

2. Filter Bar

• Date Range: 7 days / 28 days / 90 days
• Show: All keywords or tracked only
• Sort by: Impressions, position, or 7-day change

3. Keywords Table Shows all keywords with:

• Current position
• 7-day change (green = improved, red = declined)
• Impressions and clicks
• Monthly search volume
• Track/star buttons

4. Top Movers Sidebar

• Biggest gains (keywords that improved most)
• Biggest drops (keywords that declined most)
• Updates every 7 days

5. Recent Alerts Notifications for:

• Keywords entering/leaving top 10
• Keywords entering/leaving top 3
• Position drops exceeding your alert threshold
• New rankings detected

How It Works

Automatic Position Tracking

ILLIXIS analyzes your existing GSC data to track rankings:

1. Daily GSC sync — ILLIXIS pulls query/page/position data from Google Search Console
2. Trend computation — Every Wednesday, ILLIXIS computes 7-day and 30-day trends
3. Alert generation — When significant changes are detected, alerts are created
4. Email notifications — Opt-in to receive weekly ranking summaries

How trends are calculated:

• Current position = Average position over last 3 days (for stability)
• 7-day change = Current position minus position 10 days ago
• 30-day change = Current position minus position 33 days ago
• Trend direction = "Up" if improved by 2+ positions, "Down" if declined by 2+, otherwise "Stable"

Position Chart (Inverted Y-Axis)

Click the chart icon next to any keyword to see position history:

• Y-axis is inverted — position 1 appears at the top (better rankings are visually higher)
• Hover over data points to see clicks and impressions for that date
• Default view shows 90 days of history

Why inverted? In search rankings, position 1 is better than position 10. An inverted chart makes visual trends intuitive: lines going up = rankings improving.

Automation Schedule

Rank Tracker runs on a fully automated schedule so you always have fresh data without manual intervention.

| Task | Schedule | What Happens |
|------|----------|--------------|
| Daily Rank Checks | 4:00 AM UTC | ILLIXIS syncs the latest position data from Google Search Console for all tracked keywords |
| Trend Computation | After daily checks | System calculates 7-day and 30-day position changes, updates trend direction (up/down/stable) |
| Alert Generation | After trend computation | When significant position changes are detected (±5 positions, entering/leaving top 10), alerts are created automatically |
| Weekly Summary Emails | Mondays at 9:00 AM UTC | Subscribers receive a digest of top movers, position changes, and keywords entering or leaving top 10 |

Why 4:00 AM UTC? Running rank checks in the early morning ensures fresh data is ready when you start your workday. By the time you check Rank Tracker, overnight position changes have already been processed and alerts generated.

What triggers alerts:

• Keyword position drops by 5+ positions
• Keyword position improves by 5+ positions
• Keyword enters or leaves top 10
• Keyword enters or leaves top 3

Email frequency: Weekly summary emails are sent every Monday. If you prefer not to receive emails, you can disable ranking notifications in Settings → Notifications (coming in Phase 2).

Core Features

1. Auto-Track Top Keywords

ILLIXIS automatically tracks your most important keywords based on GSC data.

How it works: After each daily GSC sync, the system automatically tracks keywords with the highest search impressions. This ensures your most visible keywords are always monitored without manual setup.

Configuration:

• Default: Top 50 keywords by impressions are auto-tracked
• Adjustable: Set between 10-100 keywords in Settings > Analytics > Rank Tracker

What gets auto-tracked:

• Keywords with highest monthly impressions
• Keywords where you rank in positions 1-50
• Excludes keywords you've explicitly untracked

When auto-tracking runs:

• Immediately after daily GSC sync (5:00 AM UTC)
• Results appear in Rank Tracker within minutes

Benefits:

• New high-traffic keywords get tracked automatically
• No manual keyword discovery needed
• Ensures you never miss important ranking changes

To disable auto-tracking: Set the auto-track count to 0 in Settings > Analytics.

2. Manual Tracking Keywords

What is tracking? By default, Rank Tracker shows all keywords from GSC. Tracking a keyword adds it to your "priority watchlist" with these benefits:

• Appears in tracked-only filter view
• Cached metrics for faster dashboard loading
• Can set custom alert thresholds
• Can set target positions

How to track a keyword:

1. Find the keyword in the table
2. Click the Track button (turns green when active)
3. The keyword is now in your tracked list

How to untrack:

1. Click the Tracked button (green checkmark)
2. Keyword remains in "All Keywords" view but leaves tracked list

Best practice: Track 20-50 high-priority keywords (brand terms, money keywords, quick wins). Don't track everything — use filters to surface what matters.

2. Starring Keywords

Stars mark your most important keywords. Use this for:

• Brand terms you must defend
• High-value commercial keywords
• Keywords with target positions

How to star a keyword:

1. Click the star icon in the first column of the table
2. Starred keywords display with a filled star icon

Starred keywords can be filtered/sorted separately (feature available when you have 10+ tracked keywords).

3. Date Range Filtering

Use date range presets to change the analysis window:

| Range | Use Case |
|-------|----------|
| 7 days | Spot recent changes, react to algorithm updates |
| 28 days | Default view, balances recency with trend stability |
| 90 days | Long-term trends, seasonal patterns |

How date range affects data:

• Table metrics (clicks, impressions) aggregate over the selected range
• 7-day change is always 7 days, regardless of range selected
• Chart view always shows 90 days when opened

4. Target Position Tracking

Set a goal rank for each keyword and track progress toward it.

How to set a target position:

1. Currently not exposed in UI — targets are backend-ready for Phase 2
2. Once set, keywords display a progress indicator toward target
3. Alerts trigger when target is reached

Coming soon:

• Click keyword → Set target → Track progress
• Target visualization in position charts
• "Distance to target" column in table

5. Ranking Alerts

Alerts notify you when significant ranking changes occur.

Alert types:

• Position Drop — Keyword declined by 5+ positions
• Position Gain — Keyword improved by 5+ positions
• Entered Top 10 — Keyword moved from page 2+ to page 1
• Left Top 10 — Keyword dropped from page 1 to page 2+
• Entered Top 3 — Keyword reached positions 1-3
• Target Reached — Keyword hit your target position

Alert thresholds (default):

• Position drop: Alert when keyword declines by 5+ positions
• Position gain: Alert when keyword improves by 5+ positions
• These can be customized per keyword (UI coming in Phase 2)

How to dismiss alerts:

1. Find the alert in the "Recent Alerts" sidebar
2. Click the X button
3. Alert moves to "Seen" status

Email notifications: Opt-in to receive weekly ranking summaries via email (opt-in UI coming in Phase 2). Emails include:

• Top movers (gains and losses)
• Keywords entering/leaving top 10
• Keywords declining by 5+ positions

6. CSV Export

Export all ranking data for offline analysis or reporting.

How to export:

1. Click Export CSV button (top right)
2. Current filters are applied (date range, tracked-only)
3. CSV downloads with columns:

• Keyword
• Current Position
• 7-Day Change
• Trend (up/down/stable)
• Clicks (period total)
• Impressions (period total)
• Monthly Search Volume
• Tracked (Yes/No)
• Page URL

Use cases:

• Share rankings with clients or team members
• Build custom dashboards in Google Sheets
• Merge with other analytics data
• Monthly reporting

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Weekly Rank Check (5 minutes)

Goal: Quickly spot problems and opportunities.

1. Open Rank Tracker dashboard
2. Check Top Movers sidebar:

• Any keywords with big drops? → Investigate
• Any keywords with big gains? → Note what's working

3. Review Recent Alerts (if any):

• Keywords leaving top 10 → Priority fix
• Keywords entering top 10 → Momentum — keep pushing

4. Filter to Tracked Only → Focus on priority keywords
5. Dismiss irrelevant alerts

When to dig deeper:

• Keyword dropped 10+ positions → Check page for technical issues
• Keyword entered top 10 → Add internal links to push it higher
• Multiple keywords declining → Possible algorithm update

Workflow 2: Find Quick Wins (10 minutes)

Goal: Identify keywords close to page 1 that you can push over the edge.

1. Set date range to 28 days
2. Sort by Position (ascending)
3. Look for keywords ranked #11-20 with:

• High impressions (200+/month)
• Positive 7-day change (already improving)

4. Click the keyword → Review ranking page
5. Add internal links from 2-3 high-authority pages
6. Track the keyword to monitor progress

What makes a good quick win:

• Position 11-15 (just off page 1)
• High search volume (500+/month)
• Your content is already comprehensive
• Low competition (weak SERP results)

Workflow 3: Defend Declining Keywords (15 minutes)

Goal: Stop traffic loss before it becomes a crisis.

1. Open Recent Alerts → Look for position drops
2. Sort table by 7-Day Change (show largest declines first)
3. For each declining keyword:

• Click chart icon → See 90-day trend
• Is this a temporary dip or long-term decline?

4. For long-term declines:

• Check if content is outdated (old stats, broken links)
• Compare to top 3 SERP results — what are they doing better?
• Create a Refresh Brief from the keyword

5. Track the keyword to monitor recovery

When to refresh content:

• Declined 5+ positions over 30 days
• Content is 12+ months old
• SERP features have changed (new video carousels, featured snippets)

Workflow 4: Track Campaign Performance (20 minutes)

Goal: Measure the impact of a content optimization campaign.

1. Before optimization:

• Track all keywords you're targeting (5-10)
• Note current positions and 7-day trends
• Export CSV as baseline snapshot

2. After optimization (30 days later):

• Return to Rank Tracker → Set date range to 28 days
• Compare current positions to baseline
• Export CSV for side-by-side comparison

3. Identify:

• Winners — Keywords that improved by 3+ positions
• Losers — Keywords that declined despite optimization
• No change — Keywords needing additional work

What success looks like:

• 50%+ of targeted keywords improved by 2+ positions
• At least one keyword entered top 10
• No keywords declined by 5+ positions

Workflow 5: Monthly Reporting (30 minutes)

Goal: Build a ranking report for stakeholders.

1. Set date range to 28 days
2. Export CSV (all keywords)
3. Open in Google Sheets
4. Calculate:

• Total keywords tracked
• Average position change
• % of keywords in top 10
• % of keywords improving vs. declining

5. Create pivot table:

• Rows: Trend (up/down/stable)
• Values: Count of keywords

6. Highlight:

• Top 3 gains (with position improvement)
• Top 3 declines (with action plan)
• Keywords entering top 10 this month

Include screenshots:

• Top movers sidebar
• Position charts for key wins
• Recent alerts (if any major changes)

Understanding the Data

Where does ranking data come from?

Rank Tracker uses Google Search Console as its data source. ILLIXIS syncs GSC data daily via OAuth connection.

What gets synced:

• Query (keyword)
• Page URL
• Position (average position in search results)
• Clicks (number of users who clicked your result)
• Impressions (number of times your result appeared in search)
• Date

Limitations:

• GSC only shows queries where your site appeared in top 100 results
• Low-volume queries may be anonymized by Google ("query not shown")
• Position is an average — it fluctuates based on personalization, location, device

How is average position calculated?

Google reports position as a weighted average:

• If your page appeared at position 5 for 100 impressions and position 10 for 50 impressions, average position = 6.7
• ILLIXIS uses a 3-day rolling average for stability (reduces daily noise)

Why do positions fluctuate?

Search rankings change constantly due to:

• Algorithm updates — Google tweaks ranking factors
• Competitor activity — New content enters the SERP
• Seasonality — Search intent shifts (e.g., "tax software" in March vs. June)
• User signals — CTR, dwell time, bounce rate affect rankings
• Your own changes — Content updates, new internal links

How to tell if a fluctuation is real:

• Look at 7-day change → Ignores daily noise
• Check trend direction → Confirms sustained movement
• Review 90-day chart → Shows if this is part of a larger pattern

What's the difference between "All Keywords" and "Tracked Only"?

| View | What It Shows | Use Case |
|------|---------------|----------|
| All Keywords | Every query from GSC | Discovery — find new keywords to target |
| Tracked Only | Keywords you explicitly tracked | Focus — monitor priority keywords |

Best practice:

• Use "All Keywords" weekly to discover new opportunities
• Use "Tracked Only" daily to monitor what matters

Alerts & Notifications

How ranking alerts work

ILLIXIS generates alerts when:

1. Wednesday automated analysis runs
2. The system compares current position vs. 7 days ago
3. If change exceeds threshold, alert is created
4. Alert appears in "Recent Alerts" sidebar
5. If email notifications are enabled, alert is sent

Alert creation logic:

• Position drop: Change >= +5 positions (e.g., moved from #5 to #10)
• Position gain: Change <= -5 positions (e.g., moved from #15 to #10)
• Entered top 10: Current position <= 10, previous position > 10
• Left top 10: Current position > 10, previous position <= 10
• Entered top 3: Current position <= 3, previous position > 3

Email notification preferences

Current status: Backend infrastructure ready, UI opt-in coming in Phase 2.

What you'll receive (when enabled):

• Weekly ranking digest (every Wednesday)
• Critical alerts only (keywords leaving top 10)
• Summary of top movers (gains and losses)

How to opt in (coming soon):

1. Navigate to Settings → Notifications
2. Toggle "Ranking Alerts" → On
3. Select frequency: Weekly or Critical Only
4. Save preferences

Unsubscribe:

• Click "Unsubscribe" link at bottom of any ranking email
• Or toggle off in Settings → Notifications

Managing alerts

Mark as seen:

• Alerts automatically mark as "Seen" when you view the Rank Tracker dashboard
• "Seen" alerts remain visible for 30 days, then auto-archive

Dismiss an alert:

1. Find the alert in "Recent Alerts" sidebar
2. Click the X button
3. Alert moves to "Dismissed" status and disappears from dashboard

Why dismiss vs. mark as seen?

• Mark as seen = "I know about this, keep it visible for reference"
• Dismiss = "Not relevant to me, remove it"

Troubleshooting

"No Ranking Data Yet"

Cause: Google Search Console isn't connected or hasn't synced yet.

Fix:

1. Go to Intelligence → GSC Insights
2. Click Connect Google Search Console
3. Authorize ILLIXIS to access your GSC account
4. Wait 24 hours for initial sync to complete
5. Return to Rank Tracker

How long does sync take?

• Initial sync: 15-30 minutes (pulls 16 months of data)
• Daily syncs: 2-5 minutes (incremental updates)
• Scheduled at 2:00 AM UTC daily

Keyword not appearing in table

Possible causes:

1. Keyword doesn't rank in top 100 — GSC only shows queries where you appear in top 100 results
2. Low search volume — Google anonymizes very low-volume queries
3. Filtered out — Check if you have "Tracked Only" enabled
4. Hidden in GSC — You may have manually hidden the query in GSC settings

Fix:

• Try searching "All Keywords" view
• Lower date range to 7 days (shows recent queries only)
• Check Google Search Console directly to confirm data exists

Position chart shows no data

Cause: Keyword has no historical position data (new ranking or just started tracking).

Fix:

• Wait 7 days for trend data to accumulate
• Chart requires at least 3 data points to render
• If keyword is brand new to GSC, data won't backfill

Tracked keyword shows stale position

Cause: Cached metrics haven't updated yet.

Fix:

• Cached data refreshes every Wednesday during the automated trend analysis
• For immediate refresh, wait for next scheduled run (Wednesdays at 6:00 AM UTC)
• Or manually trigger sync: Intelligence → GSC Insights → Refresh Data

Alert shows incorrect position change

Cause: GSC data fluctuates daily. Alerts use 3-day averages to reduce noise, but edge cases can occur.

Fix:

1. Click chart icon to see 90-day history
2. Visually confirm if trend matches alert
3. If alert is incorrect, dismiss it
4. If pattern persists, report to ILLIXIS support

Export CSV is empty

Cause: No keywords match current filters.

Fix:

• Remove "Tracked Only" filter (if enabled)
• Increase date range (try 90 days)
• Check if GSC has synced recently

Best Practices

How many keywords should I track?

Recommended: 20-50 tracked keywords per site.

Why not track everything?

• Tracking is for focus — too many keywords = noise
• Cached metrics update weekly — tracking 500 keywords adds database load
• You can't act on 500 position changes anyway

What to track:

• Brand terms (defend)
• Money keywords (commercial intent, high CPC)
• Quick wins (positions 11-20)
• Content pillar topics
• Competitor target keywords

How often should I check Rank Tracker?

Weekly check (5 minutes):

• Review top movers
• Dismiss irrelevant alerts
• Spot declining keywords

Monthly deep dive (30 minutes):

• Analyze trend patterns
• Export data for reporting
• Identify optimization opportunities

Daily checking is NOT recommended:

• Rankings fluctuate daily (noise, not signal)
• 7-day trends are more reliable
• Over-monitoring leads to premature optimization

When should I refresh declining content?

Refresh if:

• Keyword declined 5+ positions over 30 days
• Content is 12+ months old
• SERP has changed (new video features, PAA boxes)
• Your page has lower word count than top 3 results

Don't refresh if:

• Decline is less than 7 days old (too soon to react)
• Keyword is low-priority (low volume, off-brand)
• Content was just updated within last 60 days

How to refresh:

1. From Rank Tracker → Identify declining keyword
2. Navigate to Strategy Hub or Briefs
3. Create a "Refresh Brief" for that keyword
4. ILLIXIS generates update recommendations
5. Publish refreshed content
6. Track keyword to monitor recovery

Should I set target positions for all keywords?

No. Use targets strategically:

• Brand terms → Target position 1-3
• Quick wins → Target top 10 (position 10 or better)
• Long-tail → Don't set targets (rankings are volatile)

Target-setting workflow (coming in Phase 2):

1. Identify keywords ranking #11-20
2. Set target = Position 10 (page 1)
3. Optimize content (add internal links, update stats)
4. Track progress over 60 days
5. If keyword hits target, celebrate 🎉
6. If keyword stalls, create refresh brief

Advanced Tips

Use Rank Tracker with Strategy Hub

Workflow:

1. Rank Tracker → Find declining keywords
2. Strategy Hub → Check if ILLIXIS already recommended this keyword
3. If yes → Approve the opportunity
4. If no → Create custom brief for declining keyword

Why this works: Strategy Hub may have already detected the ranking decline via "Content Decay" or "Quick Wins" sources. Approving the recommendation creates a brief automatically.

Combine with Content Decay Alerts

Content Decay monitors traffic loss. Rank Tracker monitors position loss. Use both:

• Keyword declining but traffic stable? → SERP intent may have shifted
• Keyword stable but traffic declining? → CTR problem (improve title/meta)
• Both declining? → Urgent refresh needed

Track competitor keywords

How to identify competitor keywords:

1. Run competitor gap analysis (Intelligence → Strategy Hub)
2. Review "Competitor Gap" opportunities
3. Track keywords where competitors rank but you don't
4. Set target position = Top 10
5. Monitor progress as you publish content targeting those keywords

Competitor tracking workflow:

1. Export competitor keywords from Strategy Hub
2. Track top 10 competitor keywords in Rank Tracker
3. Publish content targeting those keywords
4. Watch for position gains (you're stealing their traffic)

Use position charts to spot algorithm updates

How to detect an algorithm update:

1. Multiple keywords drop on the same date
2. Position chart shows sharp vertical drop across 3+ keywords
3. Decline happens suddenly (not gradual)

What to do:

1. Check industry news (Search Engine Roundtable, SEO Twitter)
2. Identify commonality (all keywords for transactional pages? All old content?)
3. Wait 2 weeks — Google often reverses volatility
4. If stable after 2 weeks, refresh affected content

Batch-track keywords from CSV

Use case: You have a list of 50 target keywords from an SEO audit.

Workflow (manual for now, automation coming):

1. Export current Rank Tracker data (all keywords)
2. Cross-reference your target list with exported data
3. For each keyword appearing in GSC, click Track button
4. For keywords not in GSC, add to Strategy Hub → Keyword Discovery

Future automation: Bulk import CSV to auto-track keywords (Phase 2).

FAQ

Q: Does Rank Tracker consume additional API quota? A: No. Rank Tracker uses existing GSC data — no additional API calls.

Q: Can I track keywords for multiple sites? A: Yes. Each tenant (site) has its own Rank Tracker. Switch sites in the dashboard to view different rankings.

Q: How far back does historical data go? A: ILLIXIS syncs 16 months of GSC data on initial connection. Charts show up to 90 days by default, but data is retained indefinitely.

Q: Can I see rankings for specific pages? A: Not directly in Rank Tracker. Use GSC Insights for page-level analysis. Rank Tracker is keyword-focused.

Q: Why do my rankings differ from manual Google searches? A: Google personalizes results based on location, search history, and device. GSC reports average position across all searchers. Use GSC as the source of truth, not manual checks.

Q: Can I track rankings for YouTube videos or images? A: No. Rank Tracker uses GSC "Web" property only. Video/image rankings aren't tracked.

Q: How do I delete a tracked keyword? A: Click the Tracked button (green checkmark) to untrack. The keyword remains in "All Keywords" view but leaves your tracked list.

Q: What happens if I disconnect Google Search Console? A: Historical data is retained, but new data stops syncing. Rank Tracker will show stale positions. Reconnect GSC to resume syncing.

Q: Can I share Rank Tracker data with my team? A: Export CSV and share via email or Google Sheets. Multi-user dashboard access is an Enterprise feature.

Related Features

• GSC Insights — Page-level performance analysis
• Content Decay Alerts — Traffic loss monitoring
• Strategy Hub — Quick win recommendations
• Unified Analytics — Cross-channel performance overview

Need help? Contact ILLIXIS support or visit the Help Center for video tutorials.