Advice and answers from the Advanced Web Ranking Team
Keyword Changes joins the Trends reports
Track ranking volatility like a pro. The Keyword Changes report in AWR shows position shifts, SEO wins, and red flags in one clear and actionable view.
The Trends section in Advanced Web Ranking got smarter! Until now, you had two dedicated reports to help you track how your website’s rankings evolved across a selected time frame:
Summary: offering the big picture of your overall SEO performance, with metrics like average visibility, rank, click share, or estimated visits, all plotted over time so you can spot trends and fluctuations at a glance.
Dates Comparison: helping you track individual keyword positions across multiple update dates, so you can easily spot ranking stability or shifts over time.
Now, say hello to the newest addition: Keyword Changes, a report built to highlight ranking volatility across your tracked keywords, helping you quickly identify sudden position gains or drops, and performance trends that may signal algorithm shifts, technical issues, or content wins.
The Keyword Changes report brings a more dynamic perspective to the way you monitor keyword performance. Instead of just showing you where your website’s rankings are, it shows you how they move in position and how that movement impacts its visibility and estimated traffic.
You'll see which keywords are the most volatile, helping you prioritize SEO efforts where they matter most. Whether a keyword has jumped 5 positions or slid out of the top 10, you’ll spot it right away.
What makes this report even more powerful is the ability to compare performance year over year or month over month, and see which movements align with algorithm updates or content improvements.
What this article covers
You'll get a complete walkthrough of the Keyword Changes report: what metrics it shows, how to read, and how to use them to uncover actionable insights.
We’ll cover:
How to spot ranking trends and performance drops using the Performance Chart
How to detect unusual SERP activity or volatility spikes with the Volatility Trend
How to identify high-impact keyword movements in the Keyword Table
How to dig into performance changes using the flexible date options
How to filter keyword data to spot the biggest gains or drops
How to export and share the report with your team or clients
A closer look at the Keyword Changes report
This new report is built around three key sections, each designed to help you uncover performance trends, detect ranking volatility, and focus on what matters most.
1. Overall Performance
The performance chart helps you spot ranking trends and potential performance drops. You can switch between five metrics:
Visibility Percent – A website’s share of visibility based on its top 30 ranking keywords. It reflects how prominently the website appears in the search results page. The higher the rankings, the more visible the website is.
For example, if a website ranks in positions 1 to 3 for most of the tracked keywords, its visibility score might be around 80–100%, indicating a strong presence in SERP. If most keywords rank lower, between positions 15–30, the score might drop to 10–20%, showing limited visibility.
Average Rank – Average position of a website across the set of tracked keywords. The lower the number, the better your rankings overall.
For example, an average rank of 3 means the website appears near the top of the first search results page for most keywords. An average rank of 15, on the other hand, likely places the website on the second page, where visibility and click-through rates tend to drop.
Click Share – An estimate of potential clicks a website may receive from organic search, based on its top 20 keyword positions.
It’s a spotlight on how likely users are to visit a website depending on where its ranking keywords appear in the SERPs.
Estimated Visits – Projected monthly traffic a website may receive, from its top 20 keyword positions, based on their related Search Volume and Click Share.
Higher numbers mean stronger SEO-powered traffic potential. Just keep in mind it’s an estimate, and actual website traffic may vary based on search trends, seasonality, and user behavior.
Ranked - The total number of keywords a website shows up for in the SERPs, out of the full set of tracked keywords. The bigger this number, the broader your reach!
If Visibility Percent and Average Rank measure how strong a website’s positions are, the Ranked metric shows how far its content stretches. Growing this number over time means the website is expanding its presence in search, one keyword at a time.
2. Volatility Trend
The SERP volatility trend chart shows how much URL rankings have changed across updates. It helps you detect unusual SERP activity or spikes in ranking volatility. Each bar reflects how much movement occurred on each update.
A blue overlay line shows the Visibility Percent of the selected website, helping you link volatility levels with actual performance impact. If rankings and visibility dropped at the same time, you know it's not just noise.
For instance, let’s say on May 26, you notice a high spike in volatility, and at the same time, your Visibility Percent dips sharply. That’s a strong indicator that multiple top-ranking keywords may have dropped in position, possibly due to an algorithm update. It’s the perfect cue to dig into the Keyword Table, filter by high changes, and review which terms need attention.
3. Keyword Table
The table gives you a close-up view of how individual keywords perform over time. It helps you quickly identify high-impact movements, track rankings stability or volatility, and focus your attention on the keywords that matter most.
For each keyword, you’ll see its Average Change level (Low, Medium, or High), helping you quickly gauge volatility across the selected timeframe.
Position changes between updates are color-coded, green for low, yellow for medium, and red for high, so you can scan the table at a glance.
You’ll also find the ranking position for each update, along with helpful tooltips showing full movement context (like “Position 42, 2025 on May 22→ Postion 65 on May 29, 2025”), so you can instantly understand how a keyword has shifted over time.
Use the built-in Average Change filter to focus only on keywords with High, Medium, or Low movement, perfect for zeroing in on what needs your attention most.
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How to interpret the table data
Example 1 – Big decline compared to the previous year
The keyword “dinner ideas” dropped dramatically from position 13 last year to position 66 on May 28, 2025, a fall of 53 positions in one year. This YoY drop is flagged as High volatility and suggests a sharp decline in relevance or visibility. It could be due to outdated content, stronger competitors, or a recent algorithm shift. Time to dive into the page and see what’s dragging it down.
Example 2 – Major improvement into position #1
The keyword “pie recipes” wasn’t ranking at all on May 27, 2024, and jumped straight into position 1 a year later. That’s a High change level for the right reasons - possibly thanks to new content, schema updates, or stronger authority. It’s a strong win worth analyzing and replicating across similar terms.
How the data in the Keyword Changes report is computed
Everything you see in the Keyword Changes report, from the performance charts at the top to the keyword-level shifts in the table, is computed based on your selections:
The keywords you're tracking (all or a specific group)
The website and search engine you're analyzing
The date range and comparison timeframe you choose in the picker
This flexibility means you’re always seeing ranking movements in the exact context that matters most to you.
How to control the date range and comparison settings
You can mix and match timeframes and comparison modes to zoom in on short-term updates or explore long-term trends. Here’s how it works:
📅 What period do you want to analyze?
Last 7 days – Includes all updates completed between the latest update date and 7 days prior. Ideal for spotting fresh shifts in performance.
Last month – Includes updates completed between the latest update and 30 days prior. Useful for reviewing short-term trends.
Last 3 months – Includes updates completed between the latest update and 90 days back. Great for tracking gradual changes or slow-moving gains.
Last year – Covers updates completed between the latest update and 12 months ago. Perfect for analyzing seasonality or long-term strategy results.
Custom range – Lets you select any start and end update date. Ideal when you want full control over the timeframe.
Custom dates – Allows you to manually pick individual update dates. Best for granular checks, one-off updates, or irregular update patterns.
🔁 What do you want to compare it with?
Once you’ve selected a date range (e.g., Last 7 days, Last 3 months, etc.), you can choose how to compare that period, and all keyword changes shown will reflect that comparison:
Previous update – Compares each update in your selected date range to the update immediately before it. Ideal for catching update-over-update changes like day-over-day movements.
Previous period – Compares each update date in your selected range to the ones in the period of equal length directly before it. Useful for evaluating if rankings have improved or declined between two consecutive time blocks.
Year over year – Compares each update date in your selected range with the same calendar date from the previous year. Best for spotting seasonal shifts and long-term performance trends.
How to export or share your Keyword Changes report
Need to loop in your team or share your findings with clients? You can download the Keyword Changes report in PDF, CSV, or XLSX format, or upload it straight to Google Drive to keep everything neatly organized. And if you want to share a live version of the report without exporting or attaching files, just use the built-in permalink and send it over. It’s a quick and easy way to give your team or clients direct access to the report view without needing an AWR login. Here’s how link sharing works.
Whether you want to monitor daily volatility, monthly trends, or yearly progress, the Keyword Changes report gives you the tools to see what’s moving.
Ready to explore? Head to Trends > Keyword Changes in your AWR account and see what’s moving in your rankings!
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