How to measure PR changes following multiple site changes?

[Steveboy]

hi guys,

after reading all weekend and with the help of this forum I am going to change my sites content, title tags, metas and add/change keywords.

Before I do, I want to be sure that I can track the success or failure of any changes. So my question is, how do the pros do this? Is there a subscription service or software that can be used?

I would basically like to track the rise or fall of my PR for different keyword's in google.

Help is appreciated as always

[tedster]

We don't discuss specific tools here (see the Google Forum Charter [webmasterworld.com]) but you can find a ton of them through appropriate searches - desktop tools, server-based tools, third party services, free tools, low-cost tools, enterprise tools with major price tags, and so on. But whatever tool you choose, my advice is this...

Focus on your search TRAFFIC, rather than your rankings.

The way Google rankings work today, you cannot assume that you will be seeing what another person sees, because of factors like geo-location, ongoing split tests of different algorithms, peronalization of results and so on.

But if you watch the exact Google traffic you get in your server logs (what queries bring how much traffic to which pages) you are measuring a more important end result. You can always use rankings when you try to analyze why traffic has changed, but the traffic itslef is the key.

[Steveboy]

thanks tedster. The measuring really was for the benefit of my client. Would be good to say "in march you went up 2 positions" for example :)