In the previous post we covered how to check “how many of your pages a given search engine has actually indexed.” Today we go one level deeper into a step that is more useful and far more often skipped: finding out exactly where you rank.
Because being “indexed” and being “usable by AI” are two entirely different things. When an AI answers a question with web access, it only looks at the top batch of search results. Ranking 3rd and ranking 300th both count as “indexed”, but the outcomes are worlds apart.
We ran this check on ourselves, and the result was unexpected: on one platform, we weren’t “unfindable”, we were ranked 3rd on page 2. Just barely short of page one.
That finding directly changes what you should do. Below: how to check, and three completely different remedies for three different positions.
Why “what rank” matters more than “whether you’re indexed”
What AI does when it goes online is essentially run a search on your behalf, then read the first several results to summarize an answer. It will not page down to page 5 to find you.
So from the AI’s point of view, ranking low and not existing at all are the same thing. But for you, the two situations call for completely different responses: one is “a little more push will do it,” the other is “start from scratch.” Without checking your position, you have no idea which one you’re in.
How to check: the dumbest method works best
- ① Pick the phrase “a customer would actually type”, not your company name. Something like “city + industry + company.”
- ② Search it on each engine, page by page, and find which page and which position you show up on. If you’re not there by page 5, record it as “beyond page 5.”
- ③ Write the results down: platform, keyword, page number, position, date. That’s your baseline.
- ④ While you’re at it, see who ranks above you — it’s more eye-opening than any tutorial, and you can immediately see how their titles are written and what type of page they are.
It sounds crude, but you can get through several engines in ten minutes, and what you end up with is an exact position, not a vague “it doesn’t feel great.”
Three positions, three completely different remedies
| Position found | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not on any of the first 5 pages | Either you’re not indexed, or this term has nothing to do with your page | Go back and check your indexed count first. If indexing is normal, it means you’re missing a page actually written for this term |
| On pages 4-5 | Indexed, but relevance and authority are both insufficient | Real work required: rebuild the landing page + add internal links + add external endorsements. This is month-scale work |
| On pages 2-3 (that’s where we are) |
Not far off, the foundation is there | Optimize the existing page’s title and description, add internal links, submit it to trigger a re-crawl — the best return on effort of the lot |
| On page 1 | You’re already in the AI’s candidate pool for this term | Maintain it, and shift your effort to other keywords |
The third row is the one most worth emphasizing. If you’re on pages 2-3, the search engine already recognizes that you’re relevant to this term; you’re just slightly behind on ordering. At this point a small amount of effort can produce a visible change, yet many people, having never checked, assume they’re “not there at all” and go make completely unnecessary overhauls.
A problem that surfaced along the way: the index may hold a version of you from years ago
After paging through and finding yourself, don’t close the tab just yet — look carefully at what that result actually says.
We were taken aback when we saw our own listing: the title and description shown were both versions from several years ago. The title used wording we changed long ago, the business focus described no longer matches, and nothing reflects the work of the past few years.
What this means: the changes you made to your website were never updated in that search engine’s records. It’s ranking you on a version from years ago, and feeding that same version to AI.
The positioning you rewrote, the qualifications you added, the introduction you restructured — the other side knows none of it. This is another kind of silent failure: the site is fine, the content is new, but what the outside world sees is old.
How to check: compare the title and description shown in the search results against what’s actually on your site right now. If they don’t match, the index hasn’t updated. What to do: submit the URL through the relevant webmaster platform and request a re-crawl. This is where “active submission” earns its keep: it’s not just about getting new pages discovered, it’s about getting stale records refreshed.
One more thing: don’t assume all engines perform the same
Same day, same keyword, same website: the results we found across platforms differed so much it hardly looked like the same company:
- One engine: page 2, promising, but the index is stale.
- Another engine: we tried seven different phrasings — from the broadest industry term to highly specific scenario terms like “how many employees,” “equipment included or not,” “which district” — and all seven came back without us; what’s more, our website never appeared once among the sources it retrieved.
- Yet another: describes us accurately, and mentions us in recommendation-type questions.
The conclusion is the same as before: the search systems behind each AI are independent, and one engine’s performance tells you nothing about another’s. If you’re going to do this, check each one separately, record separately, fix separately. Treating a good result on one engine as proof that “our GEO is in good shape” is the easiest mistake to make.
See who ranks above you: that’s where you learn the most
I strongly recommend this step, and it costs no time. Spend a few minutes studying the search results of the companies ranked above you, and you’ll usually spot something very concrete:
- How their titles are written — most just lay out their core business terms instead of writing a company slogan.
- What kind of pages get indexed — mostly the homepage or pages like “Company Profile / Services”, rather than a specific article.
- How many pages they have indexed — run a quick
site:search while you are at it. We turned up a counterintuitive result: one of the companies ranking ahead of us has fewer indexed pages than we do. That shows ranking is not simply a matter of who has more indexed pages — how well the content matches the keyword matters more.
Ten-Minute Action Checklist
- Pick 1–2 terms your customers would actually search for, then page through each search engine you care about to find yourself, and note the page number and your position.
- Look at the title and description shown for your listing and compare them with your current website — if they do not match, the index is out of date.
- See how the companies ranking ahead write their titles and what page types they use.
- Match your position to the table above to decide whether you need a “push” or a “rebuild”.
- Record these numbers in a spreadsheet and update it once a month. Changes in position are more reliable than any subjective impression.
A Few Common Questions
Q: How long do rankings take to change?
A: After you update the content and submit it, usually weeks to a month. They also fluctuate, so do not draw conclusions from a single day. Use monthly records to spot the trend.
Q: I am on page 2 — what is the most effective thing to do?
A: In order of cost-effectiveness: ① Write the title and description of that page accurately (target the keyword directly, do not write a slogan) ② Add more internal links to it from other pages on your site ③ Submit the URL through the webmaster platform to request re-crawling. All three cost very little.
Q: Why do some companies rank ahead with very few indexed pages?
A: Ranking is about “how well this page matches this keyword”, not “how many pages you have”. One page whose title, content and structure are built precisely around a single keyword can beat a hundred generic pages.
Q: If I find problems after checking, can I fix them myself?
A: Titles, descriptions and internal links are routine changes — just get your website developer or IT operations team to help. Submitting through the webmaster platform requires verifying site ownership first, usually by uploading a file or adding a snippet of code; once that is done you can use it long term.
Want to know exactly which page you rank on in each search engine?
Siwenlide provides website and SEO/GEO content-driven lead generation for small and medium-sized businesses in Beijing and the surrounding area: we check your rankings and indexed pages for each of your core business terms across search engines, verify whether the version stored in the index is out of date, analyze what the peers ranking ahead are doing right, then recommend the right plan — a “push” or a “rebuild” — and track your position changes month by month. We ran this method on ourselves first; the positions and findings in this article are all measured results. Visit siwenlide.com (or take a look at our Company Profile) or call 400-686-2011 to talk it over.
