Rankings and rank changes
New & Lost Rankings and Rank Changes show how positions moved between two equal periods. This page gives the exact rules the workspace uses, the filters and thresholds, and the limits of Search Console exports.
✓ Checked in the workspace and code · 4 October 2026
Two reports about ranking movement
New & Lost Rankings answers “what appeared and what disappeared”. Rank Changes answers “what moved up or down among queries that were visible both times”. Both compare the current period with a comparison period, so a comparison must be switched on (see dates, comparisons and data delay).
Both report positions as Search Console does: the topmost position, averaged (metric definitions).
New & Lost Rankings
| Term | Rule |
|---|---|
| New | has impressions in the current period and had none in the comparison period |
| Lost | had impressions in the comparison period and has none in the current one |
The page shows four counters, New Queries, Lost Queries, New Pages and Lost Pages, a New and Lost switch and a Queries and Pages switch. With comparison turned off the lists stay empty.
Because Search Console returns a limited number of rows, a query that is missing from the comparison export may simply have been cut off. The workspace re-checks the leading new-query candidates with an exact filter before showing them as new. Page candidates are shown with a warning when the export reached its limit.
Rank Changes
Rank Changes uses only rows that had impressions in both periods. For each row the position change is the previous position minus the current one, so a positive number means a better position.
| Class | Rule |
|---|---|
| Improved | position improved by more than 0.1 |
| Worsened | position worsened by more than 0.1 |
| Unchanged | moved by 0.1 or less |
The page has tiles for total keywords, improved, worsened and unchanged, a chart of position before and after with PNG export, tabs for All, Improved and Worsened, and a table sorted by the size of the move. Thresholds for minimum clicks and minimum impressions hide rows too small to matter.
Filters
- Search type: all, Web, Discover, News, Images or Video.
- Query or URL contains and Branded queries (all, branded, non-branded) with your brand keywords.
- GSC filters: add your own conditions, save them and reuse them.
- Presets: Questions, 4+ words, 1–2 words, Comparison, Transactional, Informational, Navigational, Local, Negative, Years, PDF only and URLs with parameters.
The filters are applied by Google to both compared periods, so the two sides stay comparable.
How to read the results
- Start with the thresholds. Set a minimum number of impressions so single-impression queries do not dominate.
- Look at clicks, not only position. An improved position on a query with few clicks changes little.
- Check Lost before reacting. A lost query can be a seasonal or one-off term, or a cut-off row.
- Open the page. For a big mover, find the page that ranks and compare the result’s title with the query.
- Confirm over a longer window. A move that holds on 28 and 90 days is more likely real.
Position buckets, shown as impressions at positions 1–3, 4–10, 11–20 and 21 or more, help you see whether visibility is shifting between pages of results.
Export and sharing
Both reports offer Export CSV, Export HTML report, copy and a share dialog. The share dialog lets you add clients and gives a client report link. Exports contain the rows after the active filters.
Limits to keep in mind
- Averages. Position is an average of topmost positions and can differ from what a person sees.
- Export caps. Search Console returns the most important rows, so “new” and “lost” depend on what was exported.
- Preliminary days. The newest days can be revised; read the delay label.
If something looks wrong
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| “Enable a comparison period to see rank changes” | Rank Changes needs a comparison; open Period and comparison and choose a mode |
| New and Lost lists are empty | comparison is off, or no row appeared or disappeared with the current filters |
| “Not authorized” | your Google session expired; sign in again |
| Some dialog text is in Russian | a known localization gap in the period dialog; the data is not affected |
Rankings and rank changes, answered
What counts as a new ranking?
A query or page with impressions now and none in the comparison period.
How big must a position move be?
More than 0.1 positions counts as improved or worsened; smaller moves are unchanged.
Why are my Rank Changes empty?
The report needs a comparison period, and only rows with impressions in both periods are included.
Are filters applied to both periods?
Yes. Google applies them to both compared periods.
Continue
Next, see queries, pages and countries, or read the glossary entry for average position.