# Ranking changes, paths, sitemaps and portfolio > How MeasureScale compares rankings between two periods, groups traffic by URL path, reports sitemaps and summarizes several sites. These four reports cover a whole site or several sites. They do no statistical modeling. They compare, group and sum the numbers Google returns. - **Ranking changes** list queries or pages whose average position moved since the previous period. - **Breakdown by path** groups traffic by site section, such as /blog. - **Sitemap performance** shows submitted sitemaps beside the site's best pages. - **Portfolio summary** gives one summary for up to 25 Search Console properties. ## How to read the answer - In ranking changes, a positive change is a gain. The query or page moved toward position 1. - In the portfolio summary, a rise in average position means a worse position. It runs the opposite way. - A query or page missing from one period may rank below the top 1,000. It is not necessarily new or lost. - A sitemap that reports 0 indexed URLs may still have indexed pages. Ask your assistant to inspect one URL. - The path breakdown merges pages on www and on the bare domain of one property. ## What it answers - Which queries or pages gained or lost positions since the previous period? - Which sections of the site bring the most clicks or sessions? - Which sitemaps are submitted, and what do their counts say? - How is each site doing compared with the previous period, and how are all of them doing together? ## Inputs All four reports read Google Search Console data. The path breakdown can read GA4 data instead. The portfolio summary adds GA4 totals for each linked GA4 property. With no dates, the window is the last 28 settled days. A **settled day** is a day whose data Google has finished processing. The **prior window** has the same length and ends on the day before the window starts. [Data windows and freshness](/concepts/data-windows/) explains the windows. The **average position** is Search Console's impression-weighted average ranking position for a query or page. Position 1 is the top result, so a lower number is better. ## Ranking changes ### How it works MeasureScale compares the top queries or pages in the window with those in the prior window. It compares queries by default. You can ask for pages instead. It keeps entries found in both windows. The largest changes come first. You can narrow the list in three ways: - An entry needs at least 100 impressions in each window by default. You can ask for a different minimum. - You can ask for only changes of a given number of positions or more. By default, every change counts. - You can ask for gains only or losses only. By default, the list shows both. A positive change is a gain. The entry moved toward position 1. A negative change is a loss. If the prior window would start before the earliest date your plan allows, there is nothing to compare. The list is then empty, and the result says the data was too short. The result counts the entries found in only one window. Those entries are not compared. ## Breakdown by path ### How it works MeasureScale groups pages by the start of their URL path and sums each group. The host, the query string and the fragment do not count. By default, a group is the first path segment. You can ask for up to 5 segments per group. You can also count only pages under a prefix. The segments then count from the end of the prefix. | Page | What you ask for | Group | |---|---|---| | /blog/seo/title-tags | 1 segment | /blog | | /blog/seo/title-tags | 2 segments | /blog/seo | | /blog/seo/title-tags | Pages under /blog/, 1 segment | /blog/seo | | /pricing | 2 segments | /pricing | | /blogger/news | Pages under /blog/ | Not included. The prefix matches whole segments. | ### Sources You can ask about either of two sources. Search Console is the default. - **Search Console** reads the top 1,000 pages by clicks, plus the property's totals. It reports clicks, impressions, CTR and average position. - **GA4** reads GA4 page paths, most sessions first. It reports sessions and views. GA4 needs a GA4 property linked to the Search Console property. Without one, the result says so. GA4 active users cannot be summed across pages. The GA4 breakdown omits them. Groups are sorted by clicks (or sessions), highest first. Ties are sorted by path. Each group shows its share of all grouped pages. For Search Console, the result also shows what share of the property's traffic the grouped pages cover. A low share means the top 1,000 pages miss much of the traffic. ## Sitemap performance The Search Console API lists each submitted sitemap with its URL counts. It does not list the URLs inside a sitemap. MeasureScale therefore cannot say which sitemap URLs earn clicks. It returns two lists side by side instead: - One row per submitted sitemap, sorted by path. - The property's top 100 pages by clicks for the window, with their totals. Each sitemap row shows what Search Console reports. That includes when Google last read the sitemap, its errors and warnings, and its submitted and indexed URL counts. Google can report 0 indexed URLs for sitemaps whose pages are indexed. The result says whether any sitemap reports indexed URLs. When none does, do not read 0 as "nothing is indexed". Ask your assistant to inspect one URL. ## Portfolio summary ### How it works You name up to 25 Search Console properties. MeasureScale removes duplicates and keeps your order. For each property, it compares the window with the prior window. It adds GA4 totals when a GA4 property is linked. Every property uses the same dates. Search Console days are Pacific-time days. The GA4 window uses the GA4 property's own time zone. A percent change is empty when the prior value is 0. The CTR change is in percentage points. A positive change in average position means a worse position. It runs the opposite way to ranking changes. The GA4 totals are sessions, active users, new users, views and key events. A property with no linked GA4 property says so, with a link to the page where you link one. A linked GA4 property you cannot read is reported as not granted. The other properties are not affected. When Search Console returns no data for a window, its numbers are empty. They never read as 0 clicks. The prior window and the change are empty when the prior window starts before the earliest date your plan allows. ### Totals The summary also combines all properties for each window and compares the two windows. - A property with no data adds nothing. The result counts such properties. - When no property has data, every total is empty, not 0. ## Limits - **Average positions.** Google's position is an average over the window. A change in which devices or queries drove the impressions can move it. - **Top 1,000 only.** Ranking changes and the Search Console breakdown read the top 1,000 entries. An entry missing from one pull may rank below the cap. It is not necessarily new or lost. [Sampling, thresholds and row caps](/methodology/sampling-and-row-caps/) explains the caps. - **Hosts merge.** The breakdown uses paths only. Pages on www and on the bare domain of one property fall in the same group. - **No sitemap join.** Sitemap performance does not match pages to sitemaps. It reports each sitemap row as Search Console returns it and never sums rows. - **One window for all sites.** The portfolio summary uses one set of dates for every property. - **No property tags.** The portfolio summary takes a list of properties. It cannot select properties by tag.