How do you track Google rankings for clients?

[rj87uk]

Hey All,

So I started a new project and looking at ways to track progress in Google SERPs. Aside from traffic reporting (which I know is gold) and looking at your main keywords that you are targeting how do you track progress and how specifically?

I was browsing some tools and found one that uses Google Sheets however I managed to get my IP blocked on all Google platforms for sending too many requests, funny but resolved within the hour. So apart from checking 200 long tail keywords manually how are you doing it now?

This is not a post looking for specific tools I'm wondering how do yous track progress for a client and show it to them?

• Do you use paid tools?
  
• Do you take the top 20 KWs use that as a base and extrapolate?
  
• Do you only use traffic reports?
  
• Access to Analytic Tools? (my client isn't PC savvy)
  
• Track enquiries?
  

A thread to discuss how best to inform clients of their Google rankings / results.

RJ

[jediviper]

If u want to track dozens of hundreds of kws in one or more markets, of course you should use a paid tool or else your daily task will be just checking manually every kw.
Some of the big SEO platforms like SEMrush and Ahrefs do include a ranktracker, but they are not day to day updated, so I don't find them very accurate.
In my opinion, if u care about accurate daily info, then only specific tools can offer such service. One of them is Accuranker.

[RedBar]

What's the purpose for tracking these KWs, is it for an ecommerce or brochure site?

Does your client equate high ranking KWs with success / sales?

Is this solely for one market, say UK, or a global one?

I don't use any KW trackers or programmes since G is such a fickle beast these days that, from the ones I have tried, they've only been able to give a sort of historical inkling that they've been able to ascertain.

An observation from me would be that if this were to be for an ecommerc site of popular products and cometition then you'll have your head banging and spinning everywhere since you'll never know what advertisers are doing.

Note: High ranking KWs do not automatically generate profits!

[buckworks]

I use the Search Console and create custom filters to monitor things we care about. Ranks and CTRs for keywords, countries, time periods, overall averages, etc.. I care about performance in some countries but not others, so filter accordingly. Checking once a week is usually enough.

Tip: Track CTRs and optimize to improve CTRs as well as ranks. Better CTRs can boost traffic just as much as better ranks would, and are often easier achieve. Teach your client to respect both when measuring progress.

Monitor your analytics so you know which searches drive the most conversions, and aim your work accordingly.

[dolcevita]

Rank Tracker from link assistant do great job for KW position tracking and it is not expensive compare it to others.

[NickMNS]

The one to one relation ship between keyword and search result does not hold. Any service that provides a single rank for a single keyword, eg: For keyword "Blue widget" your rank is 7.452 is wrong.

That is the result may or may not be representative of your true ranking. This is because, your site may rank #1 for a user in South Dakota on iPhone at 3pm searching for "Blue Widget" but may rank #27 for another user in South Dakota on iPhone at 3:07pm searching for "Blue Widget" after having previously searched for "Blue Gadget". The number of permutation and combination of factors that influence what is returned in the search results is so large that it is impossible for any third party know whether or not the result they show are relevant and representative. To pay for a service that it essentially displaying a value that at best can be called a guess, and worst a random number to me is crazy. But to then take that information resell it to a client is simply wrong.

The information that Search Console provides is not great, but it is the best you can hope for. Just remember the ranking reported in GSC are conditional. It is the rank for a keyword given that you received an impression. If the keyword is searched by users but you do not get an impression the rank isn't calculated. eg: 1000 searches for "widget" by all users, your website gets impressions for only 100 of those 1000, in GSC your "average position" is calculated as x/100 not as x/1000. To make matters worse Google does not provide "1000" number, one has no way of knowing what the total number of searches for a keyword is.

[rj87uk]

That is the result may or may not be representative of your true ranking. This is because, your site may rank #1 for a user in South Dakota on iPhone at 3pm searching for "Blue Widget" but may rank #27 for another user in South Dakota on iPhone at 3:07pm searching for "Blue Widget" after having previously searched for "Blue Gadget". The number of permutation and combination of factors that influence what is returned in the search results is so large that it is impossible for any third party know whether or not the result they show are relevant and representative. To pay for a service that it essentially displaying a value that at best can be called a guess, and worst a random number to me is crazy. But to then take that information resell it to a client is simply wrong.

Yeah the more I have looked into the local results the more I have found the results to be fluid in that I mean almost all local results seem to have a distance factor in play. The closer a business is to a searcher (almost regardless to the local term used) seems to have a larger impact on how a website ranks.

In the end I decided to show the client the improvements in traffic, website metrics and ultimately enquires that they have been receiving rather than you rank for x.

I found it actually really interesting in how to present content and ways to increase ranking for local results.

So yeah I have ended up just giving % increase in traffic and % increase in enquiries month on month.

[tangor]

I use the one that counts:

What's your bottom line ROI this month? Is it up or down?

(Client knows the answer by what goes in their bank account, anything else is just statistics and smoke and mirrors...)

[Shai]

@tangor i partially agree but you need to also be aware of actual rankings as a measure of success. Its quite possible to still do your job well, rank your client at no.1 but still have external factors affecting your actual traffic and therefore bottom line. In short, bottom line is not always a good indicator of good/bad SEO.

[tangor]

The client will always look at the bottom line regardless of "seo". If you/me, the webmaster for hire, are not raising that number regardless of "hitting number one in the serps", we are toast.

The client is always right, even when they are wrong. :)

It is easy to manipulate "Shoddy Blue Widget Company and Products" to #1, but if their product does not sell, or have an audience, no amount of SEO can correct that defect. Don't get me wrong, I shovel statistics with the best, but it all comes down to the bottom line for the one who expends funds for the paycheck. If they are not happy ... well, likely you/me will be looking for another client.

I track for client happiness, not "serps".

(side note: Some of my more satisfied clients follow BING results, not g.)