Tracking Entities and Topics Using Ranktracker’s Rank Tracker

Intro

As search engines evolve into answer engines, the foundation of visibility is no longer just keywords — it’s entities and topics.

Modern SEO and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) require you to understand not just what people search, but how AI systems understand the relationships between entities, concepts, and brands.

That’s why Ranktracker’s Rank Tracker isn’t just a position monitor anymore — it’s a real-time map of how your brand, products, and content topics perform in an entity-driven search ecosystem.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to track entities, measure topical growth, and align Ranktracker data with your AEO strategy to increase visibility in both traditional SERPs and AI-generated answers.

Why Entities Matter More Than Keywords

Entities are the building blocks of modern search. They’re specific, machine-understandable concepts (like “Ranktracker,” “SEO tools,” or “Answer Engine Optimization”) that AI systems use to organize knowledge.

Traditional SEO focuses on keywords — the words users type. AEO focuses on entities — the ideas AI understands.

Concept	Example	How AI Uses It
Keyword	“best SEO tool”	Interprets query intent
Entity	“Ranktracker (Organization)”	Maps relationships to trusted brands
Topic	“Keyword tracking and AEO analytics”	Groups related concepts for summarization

When you track entities, you’re not just following rankings — you’re measuring trust and understanding in the AI knowledge graph.

Step 1: Identify Core Entities and Topics

Start by defining which entities and topics your brand wants to own.

You can categorize them into three tiers:

1. Brand Entities

Your organization, products, or people.

• Ranktracker

• Felix Rose-Collins

• Ranktracker SEO Tools

2. Topical Entities

The subjects you want authority in.

• Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

• Keyword Tracking

• SERP Analysis

• Structured Data

3. Supporting Entities

Connected ideas or partner concepts that reinforce your topical depth.

• Google AI Overview

• Bing Copilot

• Schema.org

• SEO automation

Pro Tip: Use Ranktracker’s Keyword Finder to discover question-based keywords that reference these entities — these become the queries you’ll track in the next step.

Step 2: Add Entity-Driven Keywords to Rank Tracker

While Ranktracker tracks keywords by default, you can use it to monitor entity and topic signals by strategically adding entity-based queries.

Examples of Entity-Optimized Keywords:

• “Ranktracker SEO tools review”

• “What is Answer Engine Optimization”

• “Felix Rose-Collins Ranktracker CEO”

• “Best AEO dashboard software”

• “Google AI Overview SEO impact”

These phrases connect your brand entity with topical relevance, helping you monitor visibility across the semantic web — not just in classic SERPs.

Step 3: Segment Keywords by Topic Cluster

To track entity performance effectively, organize your keywords inside Ranktracker by topic cluster.

Example Topic Clusters:

Cluster: Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

• What is AEO

• AEO vs SEO

• Structured data for AEO

• Best tools for AEO

Cluster: Rank Tracking Tools

• Ranktracker SEO tools

• Keyword rank monitoring

• Daily SERP tracking software

• Compare Ranktracker vs Ahrefs

Cluster: Technical SEO & Schema

• JSON-LD schema examples

• FAQPage structured data

• Article schema optimization

This gives you a clearer picture of which topics drive the most impressions, clicks, and citations — and which entities are gaining traction over time.

Step 4: Analyze Entity Visibility in AI Overviews

Ranktracker’s SERP Checker works hand-in-hand with Rank Tracker to reveal where your brand entity appears inside AI results.

You can check: ✅ Whether your brand appears in Google AI Overview sources.

✅ Which competitors are cited alongside your entity.

✅ What content types trigger AI inclusion (FAQ, how-to, guides).

By cross-referencing this with your tracked keywords, you can measure which entity clusters have AEO visibility — even when traditional traffic declines.

Step 5: Measure Topic-Level Growth Over Time

Your goal isn’t just ranking higher for a single keyword — it’s expanding your entity footprint across related topics.

Track how many total keywords in each topic cluster improve in:

• Average position

• Impressions

• SERP feature visibility (snippets, FAQs, AI panels)

Use Ranktracker’s Trends View to visualize growth over time.

If your brand appears across multiple keywords tied to one entity (e.g., “AEO,” “structured data,” “AI citations”), it means you’re building topical dominance — a key AEO success signal.

Step 6: Track Competitor Entities

In AEO, you’re not just competing for rankings — you’re competing for AI trust.

Add your top competitors to Rank Tracker and observe:

• Which entities they dominate (e.g., “Surfer SEO” for content optimization).

• Where they appear in AI Overviews or “People Also Ask” results.

• How their domain authority shifts in Ranktracker’s data over time.

This helps identify entity gaps — topics your competitors own in AI summaries that you can reclaim with structured, verifiable content.

Step 7: Link Entities to Structured Data Health

AI systems understand entities through schema markup. To maintain entity clarity, run Ranktracker’s Web Audit regularly and verify:

✅ Each article has Organization, Person, or Product schema where relevant.

✅ FAQ and HowTo pages include structured data.

✅ Pages about your brand link to official social and company URLs via sameAs.

Entity tracking without schema is like mapping a city without street signs — schema tells AI who you are and how you connect to topics.

Step 8: Combine Rank Tracker with Backlink and Mention Data

Entity authority isn’t built on content alone — it’s reinforced by citations and mentions.

Use Ranktracker’s Backlink Monitor to see which pages and topics attract new mentions or AI citations. Then, match those URLs to their topic clusters in Rank Tracker.

If your Rank Tracker position improves after new mentions, it’s likely your entity gained AI trust signals — a powerful feedback loop to measure authority growth.

Step 9: Create an Entity Performance Dashboard

To make your entity-tracking process visual and actionable, build a simple AEO dashboard in Ranktracker or Looker Studio.

Suggested Sections:

🧠 Entity Visibility Overview

• of tracked entity-related keywords

• Average position across entity topics

• AI Overview visibility percentage

📈 Topical Growth Metrics

• Keyword improvements per cluster

• New impressions by entity group

• Organic vs AI-driven visibility

🔗 Citation & Mention Impact

• Number of mentions (Backlink Monitor)

• Pages cited by AI platforms

• Changes in Rank Tracker positions post-citation

⚙️ Technical Health

• Structured data coverage

• Entity schema validation (Web Audit)

This ties together your technical, topical, and trust layers of AEO success.

Step 10: Iterate and Refine Based on Data

Entity tracking is an ongoing process. Revisit your Rank Tracker reports every month to:

✅ Add new entity-related queries discovered via Keyword Finder.

✅ Retire outdated or irrelevant keywords.

✅ Monitor changes in AI Overview presence via SERP Checker.

✅ Correlate entity improvements with traffic and mention trends.

The goal isn’t just to track rankings — it’s to prove your entity’s growing footprint in the AI-powered search ecosystem.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake	Why It Hurts	Fix
Tracking keywords only	Ignores AI understanding	Include entity and topic-based tracking
No schema markup	AI can’t connect entities	Add Organization and Person schema
Poor clustering	Hard to see topical growth	Group by semantic relationships
Ignoring mentions	Misses off-page signals	Use Backlink Monitor
One-time setup	Entity graphs evolve	Refresh every 4–6 weeks

How Ranktracker Helps You Track Entities Effectively

Ranktracker provides the full AEO tracking toolkit:

• Rank Tracker: Monitor entity-based keywords and topic cluster rankings.

• SERP Checker: Detect AI Overview inclusion and entity visibility.

• Keyword Finder: Uncover new entity-related search questions.

• Web Audit: Validate schema to support machine understanding.

• Backlink Monitor: Track mentions that reinforce your entity trust.

Together, these tools help you turn rankings into relationships — showing how AI and users alike interpret your brand’s authority within key topics.

Final Thoughts

Tracking entities and topics is how modern SEO teams bridge the gap between human visibility and machine understanding.

By using Ranktracker’s Rank Tracker, you can map not only where your content ranks, but how your brand entity evolves within the AI knowledge ecosystem — from keywords to concepts, from links to trust.

In the AEO era, visibility isn’t about search volume — it’s about semantic recognition.

And with Ranktracker, you can measure exactly how — and where — that recognition grows.