Keyword rankings are a measure of success in SEO
In a competitive digital world, owning a website goes beyond website design. To really stand out and reach potential customers, you need to get your website high on search engines. And that's where keyword rankings become the most important measure of the success of your SEO strategy.
Each increase in search engine results position (SERP) can help you significantly increase clicks, attract more leads and ultimately increase revenue. Not tracking keyword rankings is like driving without looking at a map – you can go but not know where you are and whether you are going in the right direction.
Fortunately, we have powerful tools to help with this, typically Ahrefs and Google Search Console (GSC). Not only do they help you track your positions, but they also provide valuable data for you to continuously improve your SEO performance. This article will show you how to track keyword rankings and continuously improve using Ahrefs / GSC, helping your website grow sustainably. Tan Phat Digital - a professional Ho Chi Minh Website Design unit - will accompany you to discover this.
Overview of keyword rank tracking tools
To effectively track keyword rankings, understanding support tools is the first step. The two most popular and powerful tools today are Google Search Console (GSC) and Ahrefs. Each tool has its own advantages and when combined, you will have a comprehensive picture of your SEO performance.
1. Google Search Console (GSC):
Functions: This is a free tool provided directly by Google. GSC is the bridge between your website and Google, helping you monitor search performance, detect technical issues and manage Google's indexing.
Advantages:
Original data: All search performance data comes directly from Google, ensuring the highest accuracy in impressions, clicks, CTR (click-through rate) and average keyword position.
Free: There is no cost to use GSC's basic and advanced features.
Technical error detection: GSC notifies you about indexing errors, mobile usability issues, and security warnings. secret.
2. Ahrefs:
Functions: Ahrefs is a comprehensive, paid SEO toolset (with trial or monthly/annual plans). It provides powerful features such as backlink analysis, keyword research, competitor analysis, website health check (site audit) and especially keyword rank tracking (Rank Tracker).
Advantages:
Competitor analysis: Ahrefs allows you to easily see the keywords your competitors are ranking for, the backlinks they have, thereby helping you build an effective competitive strategy.
Diverse data and daily updates: Ahrefs collects huge data and updates regularly, providing a detailed view of keyword rankings changes over time.
Powerful Rank Tracker feature: Track the position of hundreds, thousands of keywords, group, compare with competitors, and submit automatic reports.
💡 Suggestion: To have a complete view and make optimal decisions, you should use a combination of both tools. GSC provides data from Google, while Ahrefs provides in-depth analysis and competitor research capabilities. Website design service at Tan Phat Digital always advises customers on how to make the most of both tools, ensuring the website is fully optimized. We are a Ho Chi Minh website design service that focuses on practical efficiency.
How to track keywords with Google Search Console (GSC)
Google Search Console (GSC) is a free and essential tool for you to capture your website's search performance directly from Google. Tracking keyword rankings on GSC helps you understand how your website is displaying in search results and how users are interacting.
To track keyword rankings with GSC, follow these steps:
Step 1: Access and log in to GSC
Open a browser and access search.google.com/search-console/.
Sign in with a Gmail account that has verified ownership of your website.
Select the correct "property" (website) you want to monitor from the list in the upper left corner.
Step 2: Go to "Performance"
In the left menu bar, click on "Performance".
Here, you will see an overview graph of the number of clicks, impressions, average CTR and average position of the website over a certain period of time (default is 3 months).
Step 3: View "Queries" and "Pages" data
Below the chart, you will see tabs like "Queries", "Pages", "Countries", "Devices"...
The "Queries" tab will display a list of keywords that the user has used search and your website appears. You'll see columns:
Total Clicks:The number of times users clicked on your result.
Total Impressions:The number of times your result showed on the SERP.
Average CTR:Click-through rate (Clicks/Impressions).
Average position average:The average position of that keyword on the SERP.
The "Pages" tab will show you which pages are showing up on Google and attracting visits.
Step 4: Filter the data for deeper analysis
You can use the filters above the chart to narrow down the data and do specialized analysis depth:
Date: Choose a specific time period (last 7 days, last 28 days, last 3 months, or custom).
Query: Filter by specific keywords (for example, containing the word "website design").
Page: Filter the performance of a specific page.
Setting device: Track performance on desktop, mobile, or tablet.
Important tip: Filter out keywords with an average position of 8–20. These are keywords that have great potential for you to further optimize (raise the top) because they are close to the first page. By improving the content or increasing backlinks for these pages, you can easily push them to the top 1-5, bringing greater efficiency.
Tan Phat Digital provides website design services in Ho Chi Minh and always ensures your website is integrated with GSC from the beginning, helping you easily monitor performance and optimize SEO. We are a Ho Chi Minh website design unit that puts efficiency first.
How to track keywords with Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a powerful paid SEO tool, providing many in-depth features that GSC does not have, especially the ability to track keyword rankings (Rank Tracker) in detail and analyze competitors.
To track rankings.
To track rankings keywords using Ahrefs, follow these steps:
Step 1: Go to Ahrefs and go to the Rank Tracker tool
Sign in to your Ahrefs account.
On the main menu bar, select "Rank Tracker".
Step 2: Add projects and word tracking settings lock
If this is your first time, you will need to add a new project. Click "New project" or "Add new website".
Enter your domain: Fill in your website URL (e.g.
https://tanphatdigital.com).Select country: Select the country where you want to track rankings (e.g. "Vietnam" if you do business in Vietnam). This ensures accurate ranking data for each market.
Add a set of keywords you want to track: This is the most important step. You can:
Manually enter the list of keywords you're SEOing for.
Import an existing keyword list from GSC or other tools.
Use Ahrefs' keyword suggestion feature to find more.
Select competitors: Add the URLs of your main competitors to Ahrefs tracks their position relative to you.
Update frequency settings: You can choose how often Ahrefs updates keyword ranking data (daily, weekly, monthly).
Email notification settings: Set up Ahrefs to send emails reporting keyword ranking changes every week or every month.
Step 3: Analyze data from Ahrefs Rank Tracker
Once set up, Ahrefs will begin collecting data. In the Rank Tracker interface, you will see:
Overview: The graph shows the average rank change, the number of keywords in the top 3, top 10, top 100.
Movement: Immediately see which of your keywords have increased or decreased in rank in a certain period of time. This is extremely useful information so you know what content is working or needs improvement.
Competitors: Compare your position with your competitors for each keyword. Ahrefs will tell you which keywords your competitors are ranking above you for, helping you plan to outrank them.
New Keyword Suggestions: Ahrefs also suggests related keywords you can target.
💡 Hint: Use Ahrefs to discover keywords that your competitors in the industry design website's ranking is high. This is a great source of ideas for you to expand your content and keyword strategy. Tan Phat Digital provides high quality cheap website making services and always encourages customers to use Ahrefs to optimize SEO effectiveness.
Effective keyword ranking improvement strategy
Tracking keyword rankings is just the first step; What's more important is that you have a strategy to continuously improve them. Below are effective strategies that Tan Phat Digital often applies and recommends to customers:
Update and expand old content:
Add new information: Add the latest information, data, and research to existing articles.
Extend the length: If your article too short, expand it with more in-depth content, covering more aspects of the topic. Google often prioritizes long, in-depth articles if they are really useful to readers.
Optimize related keywords (LSI Keyword): Don't just focus on the main keyword, use semantically related keywords (LSI keywords) in the article to help Google better understand the content and increase visibility for many different queries.
Optimize Internal Link (Internal linking):
Linking articles on the same topic: Build a tight network of internal links between related articles on your website. This helps Googlebot easily discover new pages, and at the same time transmit "SEO power" (link equity) between pages.
Increase user experience: Internal links encourage users to stay longer on the website, explore more content, reduce page bounce rate.
Build quality Backlinks:
Links from the website related: Backlinks from reputable websites that have the same topic as yours are an extremely strong signal to Google about your website's credibility and authority.
Diversify your backlink sources: Don't just focus on one type of backlink. Look for opportunities from guest posting, collaborating with bloggers, newspapers, or partners.
Improve user experience (UX/UI) and page loading speed:
Friendly interface: Ensure the website is easy to navigate, intuitively designed, and easy to use on all devices (responsive design).
Fast page loading speed: Fast website loading (under 3 seconds) is an extremely important factor, directly affecting rankings and user experience. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to test and optimize.
💡 Practical example: Tan Phat Digital applied this strategy for the keyword "spa website design". We have updated the existing article content, adding more in-depth information about spa design trends, required modules, and comprehensive Onpage SEO optimization. As a result, after only about 30 days, this keyword increased from page 2 to top 3 on Google, bringing in a significant amount of traffic and potential customers. This is a testament to the effectiveness of combining professional web design services in HCM with a methodical SEO strategy.
Continuous monitoring and periodic improvement
SEO is not a one-time job. To maintain and improve sustainable keyword rankings, you need to have a continuous monitoring schedule and a periodic improvement plan.
How to schedule monitoring and reporting:
Check Google Search Console (GSC) once a week:
Spend 15-30 minutes each week to review the above "Performance" report GSC.
At the beginning of each month, access Ahrefs Rank Tracker to export an overall report.
Analyze keywords that increase/decrease rankings, general trends of the website, and compare with competitors.
Based on this report, re-evaluate the SEO strategy of the previous month and adjust for the next month.
Prioritize improving keywords with potential Features:
Focus resources on keywords that are in positions 6-20. These are the easiest keywords to push to the top 1-5 with less effort than optimizing keywords that are too far away.
Make a list of articles or pages that need to be updated, add content or optimize internal links every month to maintain growth momentum and current position.
💡 Suggestion: Use project management tools like Google Sheet or Notion to Create a keyword tracking table. You can record the initial position, date of inspection, actions taken, and results after optimization. This helps you have an overview of your work performance by month/quarter.
Tan Phat Digital provides website design services at Tan Phat Digital and always advises customers on the importance of this continuous monitoring, helping their website stay stable and develop.
Tan Phat Digital: SEO standard website design unit - comprehensive keyword tracking support
Work tracking keyword rankings and continuously improving them with Ahrefs / GSC requires both technical knowledge and a solid SEO strategy. If you are looking for a reliable partner to build a website and support SEO, Tan Phat Digital is the top choice.
We provide website design services in Ho Chi Minh with the commitment to:
Design SEO-standard websites from the beginning: Every website designed by Tan Phat Digital is optimized in terms of structure, page loading speed, and code The source is clean and search engine friendly right from the start of the project. This creates a solid foundation for all future SEO activities.
Instructions for using GSC and connecting to Ahrefs: We not only hand over the website but also teach you how to use important tools like Google Search Console to monitor performance yourself. For customers in need, we also support connecting websites with Ahrefs for more in-depth analysis.
Support for tracking and improving keywords for free for the first 1–3 months: We understand that SEO takes time. Therefore, Tan Phat Digital provides free support for tracking and consulting on improving your keyword rankings in the first 1-3 months (depending on the service package), helping you get off to a good start.
Commitment to fast website speed, optimized content, easy indexing: Our team of experts ensures your website operates smoothly, the content is optimized to be easily indexed by Google, thereby improving visibility.
💡 If you are looking for a Ho Chi Minh website design service combined with comprehensive SEO support, Tan Phat Digital is a trusted partner. We provide high-quality low-cost website building services but the effectiveness is not "cheap".
Keyword tracking: An indispensable step in the SEO journey
In short, tracking keyword rankings and continuously improving with Ahrefs / GSC is not a complicated or too difficult job, but it requires perseverance and a right strategy. This is an indispensable step in any SEO journey.
Use Google Search Console to understand your website's actual performance on Google, tracking the keywords that are driving impressions and clicks.
Use Ahrefs for more in-depth analysis of ranking changes, research your competitors, and find keyword opportunities new.
And most importantly, regularly improving content based on collected data is the key to constantly growing your website and achieving sustainable TOP rankings on Google.
✅ Start tracking your keyword rankings today to see clear SEO effects in the next 30 days!
✨ Need website design SEO standards and professional keyword ranking tracking support?
📞 Contact Tan Phat Digital - Reputable Ho Chi Minh website design service, full Ahrefs + GSC support for customers, helping your website reach the top sustainably!
Share
