How RankChecker collects and reports rankings
This page explains where our data comes from, how positions are counted and what each result status means. We update it when something changes.
Where the data comes from
Every result is a Google search run through the DataForSEO Google Organic SERP API. Instant checks use the Live endpoint, which returns results within seconds. Scheduled tracking uses the Standard queue, which costs less and returns results within minutes. We request the location, language and device you choose; results are not personalised to any account or search history.
What counts as a position
A position is the organic rank of a result: position 1 is the first organic result. Ads, the AI Overview, featured snippets, People also ask, video and image packs are recorded as SERP features and do not take a position number. A domain matches its subdomains, so blog.example.com counts as example.com. If a site ranks with several pages, the highest one is reported.
Depth and pages
Since September 2025 Google returns 10 results per request instead of up to 100, so each block of 10 results is collected as a separate page. You choose how deep to look: 10, 20, 30, 50 or 100 results. For tracking, collection stops as soon as your site and every competitor you track have been found, which saves credits; in that case the stored results page ends at that point and is marked as stopped early.
Result statuses
| Status | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ranked | Your domain appears at the reported organic position within the depth checked. |
| Not found within depth | Every result down to the requested depth was checked and your domain was not among them. |
| End of results | Google returned fewer results than the depth requested; your domain was not among them. |
| Partial check | Fewer results came back than expected for other reasons. We do not guess a position. |
| Failed | The search could not be completed. It is not charged and tracked keywords are retried with increasing delays (5 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours). |
| Stale | A tracked keyword has not been updated for more than two of its scheduled cycles. |
Caching and reuse
The free checker caches each search for up to 24 hours. Tracking reuses a results page collected for the same keyword, location, language and device within the last 20 hours when it can answer the question with certainty. Every result shows when it was collected.
AI Overviews
We detect AI Overviews in the results page and list the sources they link to. Some overviews load after the page appears; unless a fully loaded overview is requested, citation results reflect the overview as first delivered.
Known limits
- Google results vary by time of day and between data centres, so positions can move by one or two places between checks without any real change.
- City-level locations come from Google’s location targets. Very small places may be grouped into a nearby city or region.
- We report organic web results. Google Maps rankings are not included.
Changelog
- October 2026: RankChecker 2.0. Collection moved to DataForSEO with Live checks and Standard-queue tracking, explicit result statuses, early stopping, result reuse and a public API.
