Going through SEOmoz's Indextools analytics recently, I noticed that while the popularity of tools like Linkscape & Trifecta have been growing rapidly, they're still not yet on par with our most popular tool, the Rank Checker:
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There are tens of thousands of reports run each month on it - across every engine and TLD combination. Granted, it's a time saver, generally accurate and pretty reliable, but it still surprised me. After all, rank checking is, at least in my mind, not one of the most valuable SEO tasks you can pursue. You're not going to get higher rankings by checking them constantly. The best you can do is perhaps measure progress from an optimization or link building campaign, but wouldn't that time be better spent doing more to boost results?
There's a striking resemblance to electoral poll addiction - a fairly common phenomenon (according to articles like this one) wherein folks concerned about the election stay glued to the TV or Internet, consuming news in the vain hope of calming their nerves. You can't change much by watching the polls every day (or hour), yet I have to admit that along with my daily dose of SEO Book, Search Engine Journal & SELand, I'm on Memeorandum & Electoral-Vote almost every morning.
Thankfully, it's all over (barring a repeat of 2000) tomorrow night, and I strongly suspect productivity in offices across the country will quickly recover. But the question of why we're so concerned with constant data collection remains.
Luckily, this afternoon, lightning struck. Mystery Guest and I were attending a baby shower for some friends and since it was Sunday (and the TV in the room was broken), there was a flurry of mobile web activity so those of us addicted to the NFL could follow the scores. I couldn't help but draw the parallel - NFL scores, election news, search rankings - they all share a common thread - vested interest.
In each scenario, we care about what happens, and we're anxious, sometimes to the point of nervousness, for the results to be revealed. This vested interest means a demand for information, even when we can't affect the outcome (though I suppose it's possible that pulling up ESPN's box scores somehow caused another Eagles sack on poor Seneca Wallace). Maybe it's just human nature to shore up anxiety with data. Maybe this shouldn't be any surprise at all. Maybe this is exactly how we cope with uncertainty - whether it's in the keyword rankings that could bring traffic to our site or elections bringing change to our politics or, most important of all (insert tongue into cheek), whether the home team wins.
Of course, all this desperate need for data made me think that perhaps, it's time for us to upgrade the rank checker into a rank tracker - one that can automatically follow and collect this data to help save some of that time and effort. Of course, there are a lot of programs, websites and tools out there to keep track of search results, so I thought I'd ask two questions:
- Would you like to see SEOmoz offer automated rank tracking?
- What are your favorite tools/services that currently provide this feature and what do you like/dislike about them?
Now to get my election news fix one more time...
p.s. I've railed against rank tracking in the past, though some smart folks argued that valuable data can be found through the process.
Rank checking is awesome, I spend like twelve hours a day doing that.
It's an excellent way to go insane, which is why I prefer to do it by hand. Then I print them all out, tape them all over my walls and connect seemingly unrelated results with thumbtacks and string.
Does anyone want to hear my formula for the PowerBall?
You print them out? I sketch them all with colored pencils.
I think a rank tracker is a great idea. I have mainly used Google Web Master tools in the past for this, however, I am not happy with that tool at all. I think it only updates when the spider re-visits your website so for the smaller websites that don't get spidered to often don't seem to show the most recent results.
One cool thing about Google Web Master Tools' rank checker (or at least the only reason I even check it) is to see if there are keywords I am ranking well that I didn't even know about. (well until I notice the traffic coming in from analytics).
I think you should create a tool that you could track multiple keywords for a website that also tracked keywords for all of the pages site wide (with details). Not only that, but if there was a way (like google webmaster's tool) to discover keywords that the website is also ranking top 20 results and automatically start tracking those.
(P.S. I think I am having a problem with parentheses on this comment! (yea, I am for sure (well maybe they are in the right spots))). ;-) As long as your updating things, how about a spell checker for this comment box too?
track multiple keywords for a website that also tracked keywords for all of the pages site wide (with details).
I am for it. A good feature. In multiple keyword / multiple SEs tracking - we may get failed results, so option for checking failed rankings.
A rank comparision over time would be a good addition e.g
site : https://
keyword date1 date2 date3
A rank tracker could be used as third-party documentation of SEO progress. Very valuable to run before client work begins and then periodically through the project. (Clients might run it also to peek and see if their linkbuilding money is getting any return.)
Setting this up to track "by page" the rankings for primary terms along with the number of backlinks and internal links into that page.
Then, if all of this data could be exported in a format that loads into excell a person could marry it with query traffic by date and see how traffic changes with rankings increase. Are we getting a return on our linkbuilding costs?
The Rank Checker is a great tool when i want to depress myself! ;)
Of course they won't. The Seahawks suck this year.
I guess I'm not in line with most of the other posters so far. I don't think offering rank tracking would be good, especially since you (Rand and SEOmoz in general) seem to stand pretty strongly against using rankings as a guage of success. This to me would be like going back on what you've been preaching. Maybe I'm thinking too much into it, and I realize some companies demand ranking reports, but if we give in to every demand of a client are we really offering a service?
I realize that watching your rankings can be a great way of showing clients that things are working, but the opposite can also be true. What do you show a client when their rankings slip by one or two? You and I know this probably isn't the end of the world, but if you've been showing them rankings as a guage for success, you now have put yourself in a very tight situation.
Just my $0.02
We have five page sites that come in that offer ridiculous amounts of services. I focus on the most important 10-15 keywords but also track many others just to watch what happens, and while the majority of the most appropriate traffic-driving terms rise over time, a few of the long tail ones just take nose dives and there are the occasional dips for any keyword. It is very hard to explain these to clients without sounding like we're bullsh*tting them.
I'd asked before if a rank monitor from SEOmoz was in the works, but now that I've been set up using Advanced Web Ranking for about two months, I can't say that I would use the SEOmoz version. Advanced Web Ranking works very well and has dozens of customizations on the reports, such as only showing which terms are in the top ten, only showing which terms have improved, etc.
PS: I've been glued to the Yahoo Political Dashboard. Talk about data addiction, click on each state. The graphs make me happy. (Well, not all of them, if you know what I mean).
I would agree with this sentiment. Not even that "rankings are bad" necessarily, since I think the whole debate is larger than if rankings are bad but instead move onto their actual viability as a metric.
I think if SEOMoz offered a ranking service it'd probably be useful but I wonder if it would become "the" rank tracking service given SEOMoz's disproportionate influence in the SEO field. As IgniteMedia implies above it would essentially cement the status of the metric in many people's minds. This isn't good or bad necessarily, but perhaps something to be considered. I wouldn't personally use it.
True, but clients like to see numbers.
Automated tracking would be cool, but even just batch rank checking would be a valuable time-saver. Something a la SEObook's Rank Checker, but with your current list of search engines.
The only reason I don't use SEObook's tool is because it's limited support for international (particularly Canadian) search engines.
Edited for formatting.
I am sure in my office the 3+ hours gained from no longer following election polls will just be re-invested into the remaining weeks of Fantasy Football.
Then when that is over, everyone will be online shopping for the holidays.
In January and February we'll all have to tune into weather.com every day to see about the next blizzard coming our way.
The weather should clear up in early March just in time for March Madness.
April is usually a pretty productive month though ;-)
April is productive unless you're a golf fan :)
Hi Rand. I've always been a supporter of the use of rankings as an agency and in-house SEO. In the early days they served as a great health check and I would always recommend tracking over time to monitor your progress, by campaign. These days I monitor my top revenue generating terms and report on visibility as a percentage and revenue by keyword position. It hardly takes any time at all too.
I wrote this post at the "peak" of the "rankings are worthless" debate. I hope you find this useful in looking at the issue from a few different view points!
Personalised search is quite a big stumbling block but fundamentally, I do believe that having access to rankings data as one of your sources of info is extremely useful.
If you're planning to build a rankings checker from scratch, automatic emailed reports, time tracking on multiple keywords, multiple engine monitoring would be sweet.
If you want to build something super sweet, could you localise the search query routed via a proxy server? A search query in google.com that originated from the UK looks way different to one originated in the US!
Given the increasing complexities of google algorithm and continuous rank changes, a rank checker is simply not useful if you were doing your own SEO but as an agency SEO, I can say that some clients simply insist on it. Were you planning to provide the service as a full substitute of the currently available software? If so I am fully for it as IP based Google and Yahoo wrath(IP query blocks) is getting truly annoying when using your own software (especially for emergency reports).
Ranking Report Sharing System
I would love to give excess to ranking reports generated to my clients via client login.
WebCEO - Rankings
+ Good tool for automated rankings
- Not so good with output. I spend hours reformatting data.
IBP 10 - Rankings and Web Analysis.
+ Good tool with lots of detail for rankings reports.
- Not found one yet :-)
The biggest problem is not so much the tools or the data it provides back. It's more the flexibility of the output data and formatting.
I can't be the only one who has to almost re-format any report from any tool, before presenting back to clients
I like to provide top level summary's for CEO's (My formatting) and provide the detailed report (output from tools with a little branding :-)) as an appendix.
As for ranking reports, I generally agree with everything said so far.
I do think it is important to deliver them to clients that request them, because it reinforces that progress is being made.
Along with link building reports and traffic reports it is one of the few tangible things that clients easily grasp about SEO.
I don't think they should be provided any more frequently than on a monthly basis - quarterly is better, and I do think before ANY SEO work is done that a baseline report should be run on all the targeted keywords for all of the pages on the site (not just the first page that shows up in the rankings).
Web CEO is my preferred choice. I set the timing on it to run all day - and I generally avoid (so far) any IP Banning issues.
Before you agree to give a client a monthly ranking report - I would educate them on how search engine rankings vary from location to location, personal search settings, etc.
Some clients will think this explanation is a big cop-out, so come prepared with 3rd party sources and examples to back you up.
I tend to explain to clients that ranking reports are accurate within 5 positions up or down.
For all my keywords I would want to know the following:
What page of the results am I on (assuming 10 results per page)? If I'm not on Page 1 I only care about the number of the page I'm on.
If I'm on page one, am I in the top 5 or above the fold? If I'm below the fold and on page one I consider all of those the same rank.
If I'm in the top 5 - that is when I care about the actual position of the result.
Hi,
I am also using WEB CEO for seo anlaysis for too many websites and happy with its resutls.
1) Yes, that would be helpful. Clients especially like that kind of thing.
2) I generally don't use them.
I was under the impression that Google doesn't like / has banned automated rank checkers, based on the Web Postion Gold announcement. Is this no longer true / is there a format that is acceptable?
1. Yes please!
2. SEOBook's Rank Checker.
Please enable graphic output (or atleast .csv so we can make the graphs ourselves). Clients love those colors lines!
I was just going to write about Aaron's Rank Checker... it's very simple to use and pretty quick.
1. Yes, that would be great as an offering if you could set up multiple key phrases to track .
2. SERP Tracker from https://raven-seo-tools.com/ is great.
https://newsexaminer.net/lifestyle/californias-1-5-billion-powerball-winner-comes-forward/ California winner admits to using help of Google Expert - Graham Ware to win the Jackpot using algorithm similar to semantic predictability.
would be good and yes indeed it would perpetuate the data fix we tend to have to calm our nerves of potential outcomes
I agree that checking a rank is not that important, but that it also serves as a proof point to others.
I am pretty sure there is decent correlation between rank, engine type and keyword phrae type. 27 might a profitable rank in a particular niche. That's whn the rank checker with historica trending tells you that you made a bit more a 7, but not necessarily enough to justify building back up there.
Likeeise, matching rank and revenue (or better yet, profit) is important to help educate your clients. Holding all other viariables equal, I'm relatively confident that I can prove that 27 is just as good 7 argument if the data supports that assumption.
Hi Rand,
I am not sure it will be worth putting time and effort into such a project like a website rank tracker. There are already enough cutting edge products out there that do the job pretty nicely. Unless you guys are able to come up with something that gives you the edge with all the other products, i would rather see the linkscape product getting better at doing what it does, if there is still scope for improvement.
Like many others out there I use Web CEO, not being really proud of it as technical support is not exactly brilliant, but it is a good product that integrates very well with all other SEO reporting tools an SEO professional may need eg: keyword research, indexing reports, competion ranking reports, etc. I have recently started using Advanced Web ranking, which is really drawing my attention, and it's too early to reach a conclusion but i will dare to say, it is superior to WebCEO and many other free tools out there. Another one tool I have been told to be really good by an SEO friend in the US is SEO suite.
Automated rank tracker would be greatttttttttttttttttttttttttt
Glad to read I'm not the only one obsessed with following the polls. I can't wait until the election is over so I can get back the 3+ hours a day I spend on sites like fivethirtyeight.com and electoral-vote.com.
1 - Automated rank checking would be amazing. I see this as a good replacement of my obsession with tracking polls on those sites that aggregate all of the days polling and put it in their prediction models.
Hi!
I think rank report would be useful and would be glad to have it available. I think it would work if it maintained that aspect like the sport results: simple and direct.
If you wished more information you'll go to the source.
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I'd definitely like to SEOmoz introduce automated rank tracking. Although I know it's frowned upon by many, for many others it's (one of?) the most quantifiable metrics for one's SEO.
I think this is particularly relevant for those, like me, where a single keyphrase can bring as much traffic on it's own then all other keywords and phrases put together, meaning high rankings for this phrase are paramount.
I use SheerSEO.com for this, and it does the job very nicely. It has multiple keyword tracking, and also tracks number of referrers as well as a few other metrics.
I anticipate that there will be an overwhelming YES to ranking reports from the industry. There are a LOT of people who want something to check rankings in an automated fashion. We've actually become better at SEO since we stopped focusing on ranking reports at Distilled and I think it forces you to educate the client better by not providing monthly ranking reports so I'm happy not having the feature.
That said, I do think that one-off or periodical ranking reports can help focus your strategy, for example looking at sections of your site which under-perform or looking at trends in rankings following site-wide changes.
I would definitely like to see automated rank checking. Clients often ask for rankings analysis (which we provide on demand), but I am still looking for a way to fully automate this on a weekly or monthly basis. This would be a huge value ad to the premium membership in my view.
A tool like this is a good idea. However how is it going to compete with the long-established Rank Tracker from Link-Assistant company? I like your ideas for the link checking tool a lot because they're pretty new. Wouldn't it be smarter to invent a new tool rather than compete with the guys spent several years mastering their tool?
While that's a good point, there are a lot of people who would use the SEOmoz version because they use the site all day long and they could consolidate their resources a little bit. I'm confident that they could introduce some new features and functionality that might even make me give up Advanced Web Ranking.
There's always room for improvement.
I want rank tracking. I repeatedly check ranks because ranks matter to my clients and I want to know how well I am doing. The best report I can give a client is a line chart of their rankings annotated with actions I've taken for them. To them, it's proof SEO works, even though the work is done whether or not the rank is checked.
Well, I'm not sure about automated rankings, I think that would take some of the fun out of it. I do check rankings week over week, more to assist me in pointing out potential problems. Example, last week I found one product completely out of the results, and when I checked GWT, I saw that googlebot was having issues getting to our site. This information helps me to escalate trouble tickets... "We're completely out of the results because of network issues" is a truly galvanizing statement. Using rank checker saves me checking the results manually.
Automated rankings would be a nice to have. While I agree that the ultimate goal for any SEO campaign is traffic and/or conversion, rankings are one of the factors that can be used to diagnose changes in traffic or conversions.Rankings can also be useful for competitive analysis. What are the terms sites in the same space doing well for? We've identified areas for several sites to beef up content because we saw competitors ranking well for these terms.In the end, I feel it's better to have ranking data overtime and not need it then to need it and not have it. Just another data point to use. And data is a good thing.