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URL ranking analyzer

Per-URL traffic shifts between two periods.

  • Lesson 7 of 7
  • Intermediate
  • 5 min read
  • Checked against the product 2026-11-03

In shortThe URL ranking analyzer (Analytics → Search Console → URL ranking analyzer) compares every URL's Google impressions and clicks between two periods, such as this week against last week. Each URL is labelled Gaining, Losing, Stable, New, Lost or Zero. Add your sitemap to also see pages that got no impressions at all. Filter, sort and export the result as CSV. It uses no AI and is charged only when the data comes back.

What it's for

The overview tells you that clicks fell 12%. The URL ranking analyzer tells you which pages fell, which rose and which disappeared. It's the tool for weekly check-ins, for measuring a refresh or title change, and for finding pages Google never shows.

It's also the cheapest analysis in this course and the only one with no AI step: it reads Search Console twice, once per period, and compares the results line by line.

Run a comparison

  1. Open the analyzerGo to Analytics → Search Console → URL ranking analyzer. Active Site shows the property selected in the top bar.
  2. Add your sitemap (optional, recommended)Paste your sitemap address in Sitemap URL, for example https://example.com/sitemap.xml. A sitemap index works too: it reads up to 20 child sitemaps and up to 5,000 URLs. Without a sitemap, you only see pages that had impressions in at least one period.
  3. Choose the periodsUnder Comparison Period, pick Week / Week, 14-Day, Month / Month, 90-Day, Yesterday or Custom. The presets stop two days ago, because Search Console's newest days are often incomplete. Custom shows Current Period (A) and Comparison Period (B) date pickers.
  4. Click Analyze URLsClick Analyze URLs. A message confirms how many URLs were analysed and the credits used. If the sitemap can't be fetched, you get an error and nothing is charged.
  5. Filter and exportUse the tabs All URLs, Gaining, Losing and Zero Impressions, the Filter by URL box and Min impr. to cut noise. Export CSV downloads the full table.

What each status means

StatusRuleWhat to do
GainingMore impressions than in the comparison periodFind out why and repeat it elsewhere
LosingFewer impressions, but still someCheck queries and position for that page in Search Console
StableExactly the same impressionsUsually tiny pages; nothing to do
NewImpressions now, none beforeNew pages or newly ranking ones; confirm they're the URLs you want indexed
LostImpressions before, none nowCheck it still exists, returns 200, isn't noindexed and hasn't been redirected by mistake
ZeroIn your sitemap, no impressions in either periodPages Google isn't showing: check indexing in Search Console, then improve, merge or remove them

Statuses are based on impressions, not clicks. A page can be Gaining impressions while losing clicks if it ranks for more queries but lower. Read the click columns before you celebrate. In the summary cards, Gaining includes New pages and Losing includes Lost ones.

URLs must match exactly

The analyzer matches sitemap URLs to Search Console URLs as exact text. If your sitemap lists http:// or no trailing slash while Google reports https:// with a slash, the same page shows twice: once as Zero (from the sitemap) and once as New or Gaining. If Zero looks suspiciously large, compare a few addresses character by character. A mismatch is also worth fixing on the site, because your sitemap should list your canonical URLs.

Compare equal periods

Use periods of the same length. The 14-Day preset currently compares 14 days with the 13 days before them, so its totals lean slightly towards the current period; for exact work, use Custom. To measure a change you made, set period A to the weeks after the change and period B to the same number of weeks before it.

Results stay on the page until you leave it, so export the CSV if you want to keep them or share them with a client.

Check yourself

1. Why add a sitemap URL?
2. Your Zero count is huge and many New pages look like the same URLs. What is the likely cause?
3. When is the URL ranking analyzer charged?

0 of 3 answered.

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