Keyword ranking
A keyword ranking is where your page appears in a search engine's results for a given search, such as position 3 on Google.
A keyword ranking is the position your page holds in a search engine's results for a particular search. If your guide is the third result on Google for "how to make cold brew," that's your ranking for that keyword: position 3.
Rankings have been the scoreboard of SEO for decades. Higher positions get more clicks, so moving from 8 to 3 on a search people make often can mean a lot more visitors.
Why rankings are fuzzier than they look
There isn't one Google results page. Results change with where you are, what device you're on, and what else is on the page, like ads, maps, videos and AI Overviews. So rank trackers check from a set place and device and report a snapshot. Search Console reports an average position across everyone who saw your page, which is why it can show 4.7 for a page that's never in position 4.7.
A number one ranking can also sit below an AI Overview, a row of products and a map. Position 1 isn't always the first thing people see.
The AI search version
An AI answer names brands in some order and cites some pages. So the AI equivalents of a ranking are whether you're named, how often, and where in the answer you come.
For example, Fernhill Coffee might rank first on Google for "best decaf coffee," but in ChatGPT's answer to the same question it's named in 3 answers out of 10, and usually fourth. Both numbers are true. They measure different things.
In AnswerOrbit
Visibility is the share of answers that name you, and position is where you're named, averaged over the answers that name you. Read them together: a position of 1 in two answers out of 140 isn't much to celebrate. Your visibility rank puts you in order among every brand the answers name, including ones you don't track.