What it is
This article explains:
What each ranking position means in Keyword.com
How ranks are collected (Top 20 vs Top 100)
What OTR and >100 mean
How movement columns (1d, 7d, 30d, Life) are calculated
How historical charts work
How the Maintain Continuous Rank (MCH) setting affects your data
This is your reference guide to understanding how ranking data behaves across the platform.
Why it matters
Rank data is only useful if you understand:
What depth was scraped (Top 20 vs Top 100)
Whether a keyword was actually found
How gaps are treated
How movement is calculated
Without this context, rankings can look inconsistent when in reality they are behaving exactly as designed.
1. What “Rank” actually means
The Rank column shows your current Google position for the tracked keyword and URL.
Important:
Rank is device-specific (desktop, mobile, maps)
Rank is region and location-specific
Rank is tied to your tracking settings
If you change device, region, or location, you are effectively running a different search.
2. How deep we track (Hybrid tracking model)
Keyword.com uses Hybrid tracking.
By default:
Top 20 → updated daily or weekly (depending on plan)
Top 100 → updated weekly (or monthly for weekly plans)
This means:
Most days you see Top 20 precision
Once per week (or month), you see full Top 100 depth
If you need Top 100 daily, you can upgrade to full SERP 100 tracking.
For details on how and when rankings are collected, see How Keywords Are Tracked & Updated
3. Understanding OTR vs >100
This is one of the most important distinctions.
OTR = Out of Tracked Range
OTR means:
The keyword was scraped
But it was outside the depth collected that day
Example:
That day we scraped Top 20
Your keyword ranked #34
Result = OTR
It may still be ranking between 21–100. We just didn’t scrape that depth that day.
For more details about how OTR works and how this impacts reporting, see Maintain Continuous Rank (MCR) article.
>100 (Unranked)
100 means:
We scraped Top 100
Your keyword was not found at all
This indicates it is not ranking within the Top 100.
4. Movement columns (1d, 7d, 30d, Life)
Movement columns compare your current rank to a previous point in time.
1d → compared to yesterday
7d → compared to 7 days ago
30d → compared to 30 days ago
Life → compared to when the keyword was added
Important behaviours:
If there was no data on the comparison day → movement may show N/A
If a project is archived and restored → movement resets
If MCH is enabled → filled ranks affect movement values
5. Maintain Continuous Rank (MCH)
MCH controls how missing days are displayed. You can toggle this in Settings > Table
🟢 MCH = ON
Missing days are filled with the last known rank
Charts look smooth
Movement is calculated using filled values
Best for:
Client reporting
Clean charts
Visual consistency
🔴 MCH = OFF
Only actual scraped data is shown
Missing days show gaps
Movement shows N/A if comparison data doesn’t exist
Best for:
Maximum transparency
Technical SEO analysis
⚠️ Important:
We never display a rank that we know is no longer valid.
If we scraped and confirmed a drop out of range, we show OTR, not the previous rank.
6. Historical Charts
You can access historical charts by clicking the chart icon next to a keyword.
Features include:
Multiple timeframes (10 days → all time, depending on plan)
Competitor comparison
Google update incident markers
SERP History (Top 100 snapshots over time)
Ranking URL history
Export as PNG, JPEG, PDF, SVG
You can also compare multiple keywords on 1 Historical Chart by selecting multiple keywords (max 10) from the table and then clicking the Historical Chart in the Keyword Action list.
Chart with multiple keyword histories.
SERP history
You can view the Top 100 results for your keyword on previous dates. You can access this from the Keyword Ranking Table or from within the Historical Charts.
From the Ranking Table:
From the Historical Chart:
This is useful for:
Investigating ranking drops
Understanding competitor movement
Debugging algorithm impact
Fill rank drop gaps
If MCH is enabled:
Chart lines connect missing periods
This does not mean the keyword ranked during that time
It visually links the last known rank to the next confirmed rank
7. Why rankings may differ from manual searches
Differences can occur due to:
Google data center variance
Personalization
Device differences
Location/IP differences
Time difference between refresh and manual check
You can verify any keyword using the Spyglass tool, which shows the exact snapshot we collected.
For deeper troubleshooting, see Ranking Inaccuracies Explained .
8. What “Last Updated” means
The project-level “Last Updated” timestamp reflects the most recently updated keyword, not all keywords.
Individual keyword update times are visible inside the table.
9. Out of range behaviour (New)
What it is
Out of range behavior controls how keywords marked as OTR (Out of Tracked Range) are handled in performance metrics.
As a reminder:
OTR means the keyword was found, but outside the tracked depth for that day (e.g. ranked #34 when only Top 20 was scraped)
It does not necessarily mean the keyword is completely unranked
Why it matters
This setting directly impacts how your performance metrics reflect ranking changes.
Without it:
Keywords that drop from Top positions to OTR may be ignored
Metrics like Movement since start or Top 3 / Top 10 changes can appear artificially positive
This can create confusion or reduce trust in dashboard data
With this update:
You can choose whether OTR represents a neutral gap or a real ranking drop
Metrics now align with how you interpret ranking performance
How it works
You can choose between two modes:
1. Exclude (default)
OTR keywords are ignored in comparisons
Preserves existing behaviour
Best for:
Cleaner trend reporting
Avoiding noise from partial tracking (Top 20 vs Top 100 days)
2. Count as dropped
OTR keywords are treated as not ranked
Drops are fully reflected in:
Movement metrics
Top N distribution changes
Best for:
Accurate performance tracking
Competitive / high-volatility keywords
Identifying real losses
Where this applies
This setting affects all performance calculations across the platform:
Dashboard metrics
Project overview
Weekly email reports
PDF exports
API outputs
How to set it
Go to your project settings
Find Out of range behavior
Select your preferred mode:
Exclude
Count as dropped
What to expect
Switching to Count as dropped may:
Decrease Top 3 / Top 10 counts
Show more negative movement
Reveal previously hidden ranking losses
Switching to Exclude will:
Smooth out fluctuations
Remove OTR-related noise from metrics
Best practices
Use Exclude for:
Client reporting
High-level trend tracking
Use Count as dropped for:
Internal analysis
Competitive keyword monitoring
Diagnosing ranking losses
If you track mostly Top 20, expect more OTR fluctuations—choose based on how strict you want your reporting to be