Rank tracking is the process of tracking a website's search engine ranking positions for a chosen set of keywords or search queries. It is about tracking and analyzing the organic positions of keywords in/over time.
These keywords are generally:
Keywords that are used on the website
Keywords that your competitor rank for.
Other search terms you may not optimize for
Rank tracking is based on current rankings and historical data, so you can analyze the progress and its subsequent impact on organic traffic.
Why Is Rack Tracking Important?
Keyword rank tracking is important for a whole range of reasons:
It allows you to analyse how effective your keyword strategy is. If you make a change to your strategy and see a dramatic rise in ranking, this is a strong indicator that your keyword strategy is working.
You can keep an eye on how your competitors are doing. Are they beating you in the rankings for high-volume purchase intent keywords? Finding out this information can help you make the necessary changes to your campaign.
It can help you discover pages that are under-performing on your website and incite you to improve the content and alter target keywords.
You can make more money. By identifying which pages have the highest conversions, you can redistribute your efforts in order to discover new keyword opportunities that will drive sales.
Rank Tracking Best Practices
There are two main ways to conduct your rank tracking.
1. Use The Google Search Console
By using the Google Search Console, you can gather key data including how your keywords are performing over time. This can be accessed under the ‘Performance’ tab.
2. Use A Tracking Tool
Other tracking tools go into more detail about ranking data, touching upon search volumes, historical data, and display how different metrics effect ranking.
There are a range of great online tools that can help you with the task of rank tracking.
SE Ranking is a feature-rich rank tracking software. You can track results on search engines, Google Maps, and Adwords; and measure how your snippets and videos rank. For every keyword, this tool lets you measure performance on up to 5 search engines (Google, Bing, YouTube, Yahoo, and Yandex) and across several locations.
This is in addition to the usual position ranking, search volume, and traffic analytics. Best part: you can access the same extensive ranking insights for 5 of your competitors.
Pro Rank Tracker is an advanced SEO rank tracking solution. It provides a means to track performance on all major search engines, along with Amazon and YouTube.
On Google, Pro Rank Tracker lets you monitor organic local results, 3-Pack listings, and top 100 map listings. You can also track your ranking in any language from any city globally, with a mobile app to ensure you never lose sight of your analytics.
It also offers advanced reporting, along with a Rankings Discovery feature for hidden keywords.
Wincher is a simple but powerful rank tracker. It helps you monitor keyword performance, optimize website pages, and discover clever ways to increase traffic and cut costs.
Via its interactive dashboard, Wincher provides an overview of your traffic volume, the keywords you’re tracking and their positions, and the competitors you’re keeping tabs on.
Wincher also comes with a Keyword Research tool that integrates with the rank tracker to give you deeper insights and automatic keyword recommendations. For users who want external integration, Wincher offers full API access.
Nightwatch is an advanced rank tracking software. It offers tools that help you track your ranking across mobile and desktop, and on all major search engines, including DuckDuckGo.
It aggregates data from prominent sources, including Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Google Keyword Planner. This improves its capacity to provide you with accurate rank tracking and unique keyword opportunities.
With this tool, you can also monitor ranking for keywords at every stage of the funnel, and get daily ranking updates that keep you informed.
Zutrix is a Google-focused rank tracker and keyword analysis tool. It uses AI-powered algorithms to track your ranking, helping you stay on top of your SEO efforts.
Zutrix provides real-time tracking, and it notifies you via Slack, Telegram, or email when changes occur in your SERP position. You can also set up instant notifications to track your competitor’s rankings and keywords.
Furthermore, this nifty tool lets you live-share ranking reports, and has a white-label reporting feature for SEO agencies.
Other tools include: SEMrush, Serpstat, RankWatch, LinkResearchTools, The HOTH etc.
You need to ensure that you take into consideration current data and compare it with historical data in order to get an overall impression of keyword ranking.
Geographical location data is also essential when conducting this kind of analysis, as well as conducting separate ranking traffic for mobile devices.
How Can We Help?
Looking to keep a closer eye on your rankings in SERPs? If you need a team to get involved then we can pair you with someone that will meet your needs.
If you already have a team - why not send them to our training courses where they can learn our tried and tested SEO strategies that will help boost your rankings.
