Search research

Use research to decide which questions to answer, which pages to improve and which competitors matter. These tools use external search data and do not require a Google Search Console connection or your own provider API key.

Choose the target, country, language and device where available. Keyword research and Domain Overview support 94 countries. Each tool has Report, Check history and Saved checks tabs. Read an existing report first when its inputs and date fit the question. New measurements use your Organization's monthly SEO credits; saved reports remain readable without another charge.

Keyword Research and SERPs

Start with terms relevant to your audience. Review available search-volume estimates, difficulty and related metrics, or narrow the list with Easy to rank, Questions and Rising. Open a keyword for its monthly volume history and organic search results.

Selecting a keyword can collect its SERP snapshot if that report does not have one yet; this uses research credits. Reopening the same saved snapshot does not. The inspector retains ranks, titles, URLs and available descriptions with the observation date and report's market settings.

Read the pages behind a query before deciding to target it. A large estimated volume does not establish relevance, and missing historical months are not zero demand.

Domain Overview

Check your website or another domain to explore its estimated search presence on Keywords, Pages and Competitors tabs. Use shared keywords to understand why another domain appears in the comparison.

Search competitors can differ from commercial rivals. If you already use a dedicated research tool, SiteOS vs Ahrefs explains how the two fit together. Estimated traffic is provider research; it is not your Google Analytics visits or Search Console clicks. Domain totals and the returned keyword or page samples have different coverage.

Rank Tracking

Choose queries and the competitors you want to compare, and save them as a Keyword set to repeat later. Each run saves a search snapshot for the selected market and device. The report shows average position, keywords in the top 10, found keywords and movement against the previous comparable check, with a position trend for each keyword. Compare reports with matching inputs to understand changes.

With Search Console connected, the Dashboard's keyword positions can suggest your Google queries that are not tracked yet, and Opportunities offers to track queries that are close to the top.

Check positions automatically

A keyword set for your Project's website can repeat on its own. Choose Set up automatic checks for the set, turn on Check positions automatically and choose every day or a day of the week, a time and a time zone. The dialog estimates a check's cost from the last automatic check, or shows the maximum before the first one.

Each set has a monthly limit in US dollars. A scheduled check holds up to $0.25 per keyword against that limit until its actual cost is known, and needs at least $1 of available SEO credits. Editing the set's keywords or competitors pauses the schedule until you save it again. Automatic and manual checks share one history, labelled by how they ran, so movement compares both.

To hear about changes, open Notifications in the SEO/GEO sidebar, choose the Keyword positions topic and turn on Enable position alerts. After each automatic check, SiteOS sends one message to the destinations you choose, such as Slack, Telegram or email, when a rule you selected matches: a keyword entered the top 3 or left the top 10, moved by a chosen number of positions, is no longer found, or ranks with a different page. Manual checks never send alerts.

Not found means the domain was not found within the returned results. It does not mean Google has not indexed the page. For Google's own indexing evidence, use Google Search Console and indexing.

Backlinks

Review referring domains, source and destination URLs, anchor text, follow status and available first-seen, last-seen, lost or broken-link evidence. Reports include a domain-strength estimate and, when returned, its monthly history.

Group similar links combines related saved rows for easier reading; expand a group to inspect its members. One link per domain changes what is collected and requires a new check. New full checks save bounded samples of up to 500 general links and up to 500 broken links. Provider index totals can be much larger than the displayed sample.

Domain strength is a provider estimate, not a Google metric or a guarantee that a link is useful. Missing history remains a gap.

Save, compare and recover

Save inputs for checks you expect to repeat in Saved checks (Keyword sets in Rank tracking). Opening history, filtering a table, changing pagination or exporting a report reads saved evidence. A fresh run records a new observation and can use credits.

If a report is partial, inspect which parts succeeded before repeating anything. Waiting work can continue when capacity becomes available; do not launch duplicates. The CLI supports an explicit retry of eligible missing parts, preserving successful evidence. A retry can use credits and is different from running the entire comparison again.

The SiteOS CLI and agent plugin can read history, prepare research plans, save inputs, run authorized checks and export results. A plan validates inputs and available credits without starting a measurement.

For brand mentions and model answers, use AI visibility. For first-party Google clicks and queries, use Search Console.