There is no such thing as "your ranking". There is your mobile ranking and your desktop ranking, and for some queries they disagree by pages. Most sites never split the two numbers apart, which means device-specific problems hide inside blended averages for years.
Here is how to find the gaps, which ones are normal, and the parity audit that fixes the ones that are not.
First, the fact that changes the stakes
Google indexes the mobile version of your site. Not as a factor, as the source: what the mobile page contains is what exists, for rankings on every device.
Find your gaps in the data
In Search Console: Performance, add the Device dimension, then compare mobile against desktop for the same window. Sitewide first for the climate, then per-page and per-query for the weather, with the mix-shift caveats in force: compare the same queries across devices, not blended averages.
The gaps worth flagging: queries where the device positions differ by 5 or more sustained over weeks, and pages whose mobile CTR sits far below desktop at similar positions, which points at snippet or SERP-furniture differences rather than rank.
The Website Ranking Checker builds this view from your own Search Console data, splitting rankings by device so the gap list arrives sorted instead of hand-assembled.
Normal gaps vs pathological gaps
| The gap pattern | Verdict | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Local-flavored queries rank better on mobile | Normal | Mobile SERPs weigh proximity and packs harder |
| A few positions of scatter on contested queries | Normal | Different SERP layouts, ordinary volatility |
| One template consistently worse on mobile | Pathological | Template-level parity or UX problem |
| Sitewide mobile lag across query types | Pathological | Speed, interstitials or thin mobile content |
| Mobile CTR craters at equal positions | Pathological | Snippet or feature differences on mobile SERPs |
The parity audit
For any page on the pathological list, compare what the mobile version actually serves against desktop. Not visually: in the code Google reads.
Check four things on the rendered mobile page: the full text content present, the headings intact, the structured data present, and the internal links there. Accordions and tabs are fine; content that mobile templates drop "for cleanliness" is the classic self-inflicted wound, and under mobile-first indexing it was dropped from Google, not from mobile.
Then the experience layer: mobile Core Web Vitals in Search Console's report, and the interstitial check, because a popup that swallows the mobile viewport is exactly the pattern Google's guidelines name. Speed and popup fixes move mobile positions with unusual directness.
The device-gap routine
Quarterly, twenty minutes: pull the device comparison, list sustained 5-plus gaps, sort into normal versus pathological with the table above, and parity-audit the worst template. Wire anything structural into the monitoring layer, since mobile templates break silently just like everything else.
Most sites find one real problem per quarter this way, and it is usually worth more than a month of new content, because it was capping everything.
The one-line takeaway: rankings come in two numbers, and Google builds both from your mobile page. Split devices in GSC, flag sustained 5-plus gaps, audit parity in the code rather than the design, and remember that fixing mobile lifts the desktop ceiling too.