How to Check If Your WordPress Blog Posts Are Ranking for the Right Keywords

Are you wondering if your WordPress posts are ranking for the correct keywords? Many beginners manually check their rankings by typing keywords into Google, but this method is not entirely accurate. It’s important to have a clear understanding of where your articles stand in terms of target keywords. In this article, we will show you an easy way to check if your WordPress blog posts are ranking for the right keywords.

Why Checking Keyword Rankings is Important for Your WordPress Posts

If you’ve followed our comprehensive WordPress SEO guide, you know the importance of optimizing each article on your website for specific keywords. This optimization helps drive more traffic to your website. However, most beginners simply search on Google to see if their posts appear for those keywords, typically checking only the first or second page of search results.

The problem is that your article may be ranking far below the first two pages or may not even be ranking for the desired keyword. By relying solely on manual checks, you miss out on valuable information that can help improve your SEO rankings and increase traffic to your site.

Now, let’s dive into the methods to properly check keyword rankings for your WordPress blog posts. We’ll cover three different keyword reference tools and explain how to use the information obtained to boost your website’s traffic.

Method 1: Checking Keyword Rankings with Semrush

Semrush is a powerful SEO and keyword research tool widely regarded as one of the best in the market. It provides a comprehensive SEO suite with all the necessary tools for optimizing your website.

To check if your blog is ranking for the right keywords using Semrush, simply enter the domain name you want to analyze. Semrush will provide you with a wealth of information. Click on the “Organic Research” tab to access the complete list of keywords for which your website is ranking.

The results can be sorted by position, URL, traffic, and more. You can export the data to a CSV file for offline research using your preferred spreadsheet program. Additionally, Semrush allows you to track specific keywords on your dashboard, enabling you to monitor their performance in real-time.

This tool is not limited to your own domain. You can also enter your competitors’ domain names to discover the keywords they are ranking for. This valuable insight can help you outrank your competition by optimizing your content accordingly.

Method 2: Checking Keyword Rankings with Google Search Console

Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) is a set of tools designed to assist webmasters in improving their websites for search. To access this tool, you need to add your website to Google Search Console.

On the Performance tab of Google Search Console, you’ll find a graph displaying your website’s performance in search results. As you scroll down, you’ll see the keywords data. Next to each keyword, you can view the number of clicks and impressions it receives, as well as its position on the search results page.

You can sort this data by clicking on any column. By sorting the list by position, you’ll be able to identify your top-ranking keywords. As you scroll further down the list, you’ll discover keywords for which your site appears lower on search engine results pages. You can export this data and analyze it using your preferred spreadsheet software.

Method 3: Checking Keyword Rankings Inside WordPress with AIOSEO (Recommended)

AIOSEO (All in One SEO) is a highly regarded WordPress SEO plugin utilized by over 3 million professionals. This comprehensive SEO toolkit enables you to easily optimize your WordPress blog for better search rankings.

AIOSEO comes with a Search Statistics add-on that allows you to view your top-ranking content, top-performing keywords, and other important SEO statistics directly within WordPress. By integrating with Google Search Console, you can save time by accessing ranking data without switching between platforms.

After connecting the Search Statistics add-on with Google Search Console, you can access the Search Statistics dashboard by clicking on “Search Statistics” in the AIOSEO menu on your WordPress dashboard. From there, you’ll find overviews of SEO statistics, keyword positions, keyword rankings, and content performance.

To obtain more detailed information about the keywords your blog posts are ranking for, navigate to the “Keyword Rankings” tab. Scroll down to the “Keyword Performance” table to view your top-performing keywords. You can utilize the built-in search function to find specific keywords or explore the “Top Losing” and “Top Winning” tabs to focus on particular keywords.

Clicking on any keyword in the table will provide you with information about the specific content ranking for that keyword, including clicks, average click-through rate (CTR), and more.

AIOSEO has recently introduced a Content Rankings report to its Search Statistics add-on. This report enables you to identify content decay and track important content performance trends, helping you optimize your content effectively.

AIOSEO offers additional features such as built-in SEO recommendations, automatic internal linking, social media integrations, rich snippets schema markup, and more.

Method 4: Checking Keyword Rankings with Ahrefs

Ahrefs is another widely used SEO tool favored by professional marketers. It boasts an easy-to-use interface and aims to make information understandable even for beginners. To check your keyword rankings using Ahrefs, simply enter your website’s domain name in the search box. The tool will generate a well-organized report with visually appealing graphs and charts.

You can find all your keyword rankings under the “Organic Keywords” report. Each keyword is accompanied by its search volume, ranking position, keyword density, and more.

Utilizing Keyword Rankings to Boost Traffic in WordPress

Now that you know how to check keyword rankings for your WordPress site, it’s time to focus on improving your rankings. When analyzing keywords that require improvement, keep in mind that not all keywords are equal. Ranking at number 5 for a high-traffic keyword is more advantageous than ranking first for a low-traffic keyword.

Additionally, appearing in the number 1 position does not guarantee the highest amount of traffic. You may notice that while some of your keywords rank well, they do not generate significant clicks or impressions. During your research, you may also come across surprise keywords that you were unaware of ranking for. If these keywords have substantial search volumes and impressions, consider making strategic changes to your content to improve their rankings.

To enhance rankings for specific keywords, consider the following tips:

Utilize the All in One SEO plugin: This plugin provides helpful suggestions on improving important keywords. When editing a post, scroll down to the AIOSEO settings and enter your focus keyphrase and additional keyphrases. The plugin will analyze your content and provide a score, along with practical tips to enhance your content for those keyphrases.

Update old articles: Identify articles that are outdated, lack sufficient content, or need improvement. By updating these articles with current information and enhancing their overall quality, you can give them an SEO boost.

Improve internal linking: Enhance your internal linking strategy by linking to articles from other related pages on your site. Using your target keyword as the anchor text for these internal links can provide an SEO boost.

For more detailed guidance on optimizing your WordPress blog posts for SEO, refer to our comprehensive article on the subject.

Learning About Visitor Behavior on Your Website

While Semrush and Google Search Console can help you discover your keyword positions, they do not provide insights into the number of visitors, their geographic locations, or their behavior on your website. This information is crucial when planning your content strategy to target specific keywords.

To gain these valuable insights, you can utilize Google Analytics. This tool provides data on pageviews, top content, visitor information, and more.Setting up Google Analytics can be challenging for beginners. To simplify the process, we recommend using MonsterInsights, a Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. This plugin makes it easy to install Google Analytics and view all reports directly within your WordPress dashboard.

To learn more about tracking website visitors to your WordPress site, refer to our guide on the subject.

In conclusion, this article has provided you with various methods to check if your WordPress posts are ranking for the right keywords. By utilizing tools like Semrush, Google Search Console, AIOSEO, and Ahrefs, you can gather valuable data on your keyword rankings and use it to enhance your SEO strategies. Remember to analyze which keywords require improvement, optimize your content accordingly, and utilize tools like Google Analytics to understand visitor behavior on your website.

We hope this article has helped you gain insights into your keyword rankings and improve your WordPress SEO efforts. For further guidance, consider exploring our articles on website security and expert picks for the best analytics solutions for WordPress users.